Marlon Miller is not typical.
Miller did not attend college during the school year after he graduated from Belton in 2005, choosing to work and play pickup basketball in Temple.
Even after he enrolled at TC for the fall of 2006, he attended for two years without being a member of the Leopard team.
Instead, Miller took a route less traveled to play for TC.
A lean, 5-11 wing with good quickness and leaping ability, he played ball well enough in two years in Johnson’s physical education class - TC’s “walk-on program,” - to earn a non-scholarship spot on the roster approximately 10 months ago.
Now, after averaging 10.7 points in conference play to help Temple reach the NJCAA Region V Tournament for the 10th straight year, Miller hopes to help the Leopards (18-12) upset sixth-ranked Midland (27-3) in the first round of the regional at 7 p.m. Sunday at Lubbock Christian’s Rip Griffin Center.
Johnson says Miller was the best player in his P.E. class two years in a row, but catching the coach’s eye the first time around wasn’t enough to make TC’s team.
“He always was athletic and made plays, and that first year I considered putting him on our team, but his grades were a question mark,” said Johnson, who has made it a tradition - and an effective one - to complement his scholarship players with worthy walk-ons.
“I told him, ‘You’re good enough, but there’s no point in putting you on the team if we’ve got to worry about you being eligible.’ Then the next year his grades improved dramatically, and last year about in the end of April I put him on the team. I always take just one (from the P.E. class).”
Needless to say, the low-key Miller - who says he watched TC play and could see himself fitting into its system - was ecstatic that his stellar play and admirable patience paid off.
“I was excited to get on the team, because I had tried as hard as I could,” said Miller, who added that he grew by two inches and 20 pounds the year after he left high school. “I was excited, but I still knew that I had a lot of work to do.”
Miller had personality traits that led Johnson to believe he could succeed as a Leopard.
“He was quiet, he worked hard and he was the best player in the class,” Johnson said. “I told him that he probably was not going to start and that he’d have to wait his turn. I knew Marlon could do that.”
And there certainly were growing pains for Miller during the first half of his long-awaited freshman season as he tried to earn respect and playing time. In fact, he played in 14 of the 16 non-conference games but scored just 58 points - 4.1 per outing.
The problem: Miller was turning the ball over too often and not making enough of his 3-point attempts, which limited his minutes on the court.
“When we played Ranger he had four bad turnovers,” Johnson said. “I told him, ‘In order for you to play, you’ve got to stop turning it over.’”
Said Miller: “It was frustrating, because you’d mess up and he’d take you out. I had to play with confidence.”
A midseason pep talk from Johnson got Miller going in the right direction, which is exactly what this uncharacteristically up-and-down squad needed.
“I had a talk with him and said, ‘You need to start playing to your strengths and away from your weaknesses,’” Johnson recalled. “Then he stopped shooting 3s and stopped turning the ball over and he started getting inside.”
Penetrating the lane is crucial for Miller, whose vertical leap (he says he high jumped 6-8 in high school) and ability to hang in the air longer than most defenders make him play larger than his 5-11 height.
Sophomore teammate J.B. Conley says Miller’s mid-range jump shot makes him difficult to defend during practices.
The Leopards were 1-3 in the Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference entering their Jan. 21 game at Southwestern Christian. Miller delivered a breakthrough performance, shooting 10-for-11 from the field and 4-for-4 on free throws to score 24 points in a vital 95-86 victory.
Miller starred again Feb. 16, scoring six of his 26 points in overtime as visiting Temple defeated rival McLennan 105-97 in overtime to avenge a home loss and grab a win that was crucial to pushing the Leopards’ playoff streak to 10.
“Those games helped my confidence very much, especially the MCC game,” he said. “The moves I was making and the baskets I was making gave me a lot of confidence.”
Miller says he hopes to help TC do some damage at the regional tournament and then have Johnson put him on scholarship for his sophomore season. And why not? Miller’s already come a long way.
“Now it’s like I’m one of them,” Miller said of Temple’s scholarship players. “The only time I think of being a walk-on is when someone says it."
gwille@temple-telegram.com
