Article By: Kitchener Post Staff
Juwan Miller made the cut.
The Kitchener native and Huron Heights Secondary School student will
join defending national champion Team Ontario later this month at the
Canada under-17 boys basketball championship in Sherbrooke, Que.
Miller, a WCSSAA all-star last season with the league-champion Forest
Heights Trojans and a member of the Waterloo Wildhawks Ontario
Basketball Association under-19 boys club team, was informed of the
decision earlier this week.
Two other locals — Kitchener’s Sasha Simic and Waterloo’s Savo
Krajisnik, who played club ball with the Hamilton Wildcats this spring —
are on the under-15 team as well.
The U15 and U17 boys national championship tournament is July 31 to Aug. 5. Team Ontario swept both division titles last year.
Tara DeBoer, a 14-year-old Grand River Collegiate student, was named
to the under-15 girls development team, which is taking part in the
Classic in the North tournament this weekend in Mount Pleasant, Mich.
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Article By: Jordan Ercit
Finding a lockdown defender, someone who relishes the chance to go
head to head with the opposition’s best offensive player, can be a
pretty difficult task at the high school basketball level.
Right now, however, that is not much of a concern for under-19 Waterloo Wildhawks head coach Aaron Tomlin.
One of Tomlin’s star pupils, Kitchener’s Juwan Miller, is just as
comfortable imposing his will on the sublimely skilled as he is
distributing dimes from the point guard position.
“Most kids this age are interested in scoring baskets, because they
want the glory,” said Tomlin, who also coaches the senior boys team at
Huron Heights Secondary School. “But Juwan wants to be the shutdown
defensive player, he wants to have that guy on the other team, the one
who takes all the big shots.
“Playing good defence is truly a selfless act and Juwan is a selfless player by accepting those challenges.”
But that isn’t stopping Miller, who Tomlin said is the best defensive
player he has ever coached, from wanting more from himself.
He wants to be a leader, wants to drain shots when he has the chance
and never wants to be satisfied with the talent his dad Milton, a former
NCAA track athlete at Florida State University, handed down to him.
And he wants to be able to do that for the Ontario under-17 team.
The former Forest Heights Collegiate student, who is attending Huron
Heights for his Grade 12 year, is one of 18 athletes vying for a spot on
the final provincial team roster as Ontario looks to defend its
national title in Sherbrooke, Que., at the end of the month.
Kitchener’s Sasha Simic, of Cameron Heights Collegiate, and
Waterloo’s Savo Krajisnik, of Bluevale Collegiate, will be trying to do
the same with the under-15 provincial team.
“It feels good to know I have another chance at representing the
province,” Miller said. “And I feel like I have an edge this year,
because I’ve been working hard to get there.”
Last year, Miller was one of the final cuts for the U17 provincial squad, when he was told his shooting touch needed refinement.
So the 17-year-old took the advice to heart. He worked on his form by
taking hundreds of practice shots per session over the last year, while
also trying to become a leader amongst the older boys on his under-19
Ontario Basketball Association club team.
Because of that, Miller is confident he can contribute to Team
Ontario this time around. But he also knows hard work will be needed to
crack a lineup that includes several returnees — some of whom are
members of the cadet national team — and will be bolstered by under-15
team graduates.
“You have to be constantly thinking and working hard, because there’s
no break during tryouts,” said the high school all-star, who won a
WCSSAA league championship with the Trojans last season. “The minute you
let your guard down and relax, that’s when someone makes you look bad.
“That’s the difference between making the team and not making the team.”
But Miller is up for the challenge, something Tomlin sees on a constant basis at the OBA level.
A solid student in the classroom who plans to study computer
engineering after high school, Miller is constantly asking questions
about basketball strategy and looking for an edge, Tomlin said.
And when a tough assignment presents itself, Miller attacks it with zeal.
No better example of that came during an OBA tournament in Etobicoke
earlier this year when Miller and teammate Javon Masters were handed the
task of containing Burlington Skyhawks standout guard Grant Mullins, an
NCAA Columbia University recruit.
There were whispers that Mullins would have his way with the
Wildhawks. Instead, the Wildhawks won the tournament title and Miller
ended up with defensive player-of-the-game honours by holding Mullins to
15 points — an effort that Tomlin said put Miller "on the map".
“Everyone said Grant was going to go off . . . I said, ‘Let’s just wait and see what Juwan does,’” Tomlin said.
The provincial team, which meets next week in Toronto, will be named
later this month and until then Miller plans to keep working toward his
goals, which include attracting an NCAA scholarship.
Because of that, he’ll be studying for his SATs and working on his
game over the summer months instead of ditching his school books and
toiling at a part-time summer job.
“By next OBA season, I want to be at the point where college coaches
are coming to see me play,” Miller said. “I just have to keep working
hard and hopefully that way I’ll get my name out there on the map.”
He's baaaaaaack.
