For The Tribune

Jordan Miller says that when you play basketball at Seymour, you can’t afford to take any plays off, let alone give anything less than 100 percent.

“There’s not one game on our schedule that you can just go out there and win,” he said. “Anybody on our schedule, and anybody in our conference can beat anybody. The team with the worst record can beat the team with the best record.

“That’s why it is always fun to compete in this (Hoosier Hills) conference because it’s always competitive no matter what. We may not have had a winning record since I’ve been here, but if anybody came and watched our practices they would think we have a winning record how hard we continuously go no matter what happened the last game.”

Miller said the Owls always practice hard, and that’s where successes start.

“To me, the practices are more important than the games,” Miller said. “Practices should be more high intensity than the game so when you get to the games, the games come way easier to you, and it makes it more fun.”

As a guard, Miller often gets the ball at the start of a possession.

“I like to handle the ball at the top of the key,” Miller said. “I like to be the ‘floor general,’ and at all times I try. It takes a lot of responsibility but I’m pretty sure every guard has a dream of posting up every once in a while.”

The past two summers, Miller has played with in AAU with the Southern Indiana Select. The coach of that team was Dustin George, an assistant coach with the Owls this season.

The senior started playing basketball in Seymour in fourth grade.

“You make a lot of friends coming into high school, but a lot of my friends have been friends forever,” Miller said. “Tyler Bloom has been my friend forever, and Evens Cribs just came here his freshman year, and he’s one of my good friends.”

Miller said one of his favorite parts if basketball is the transition game, and he likes when the Owls fast break and when they press and turn defense into offense.

“I’m an energy player so I like to run up and down, and I like to press,” he said. “I love the competitiveness of basketball.”

Miller said you have to have a positive attitude every day.

“The mental part is probably bigger than the physical part,” Miller said. “My favorite quote is ‘It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s about the fight in the dog.’ You don’t have to be the biggest guy to be one of the best players out there.

“It’s all in your mind. If you tell yourself that you can beat them, then you can beat them. The person who carries that the best, to me, is Evens Cribs. He don’t care how big you are, he’ll get after you, and he knows he can win, no matter what.”

Miller has enjoyed being a student at Seymour.

“All the teachers are fair and all of them are fun,” he said. “A lot of them are alumni here and they understand that you have to make learning fun for the students. We have chrome books now and they do a good job of making learning fun for us.”

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Name: Jordan Miller

School: Seymour High School

Parents: Ebony Patterson, Andre Miller

Siblings; Anja, Jamya, Tanesha

Sports: basketball 4 years

Athletic awards: defensive player, most charges taken (JV awards)

Plans after high school: attend college

Favorite food: Payday candy bar

Favorite TV show: Martin

Favorite singers: J Cole, Beyoncé

Favorite movie: Love and basketball

Favorite athletes, team: Kyrie Irving, Detroit Pistons

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