North Adelaide Basketball Club recruits Aric Miller from US

AMERICAN shooting guard Aric Miller reckons he has never played in a losing basketball program and he does not plan to be part of one at North Adelaide.

North Adelaide Basketball Club's American import Aric Miller led all scorers in the state league's pre-season tournament.

AMERICAN shooting guard Aric Miller reckons he has never played in a losing basketball program.

And he does not plan to be part of one at his new club North Adelaide.

The Rockets will enter their opening round game against Eastern on Saturday on the back of their worst Premier League campaign in recent memory – a second-bottom finish with three wins from 18 games.

Miller is determined to lift them up the ladder.

“Everywhere I’ve been I’ve been part of a winning program,” Miller says.

“At my high school, we won the state championship, in college, I won a ring.

“These guys only won three games last year and I’m not allowing that to happen again.

“I feel like if I play the way I know I can play I can turn this program around.”

Miller, 24, grew up in Stone Mountain, Georgia, a district about 25 minutes outside Atlanta.

He attended Bethune-Cookman University before moving to Armstrong State, a smaller college where he became an All-American and led the team to the divisional playoffs.

A stint in Berlin was on the cards last year but it fell through.

Miller says he was left with few options but to sit out the season and concentrate on finishing his psychology degree.

“Once you sit out a year, it’s 10 times harder to get a job that next year because they (teams) don’t know what you’ve been doing or if you’re the same type of player.

“But I’m here now, better than ever.”

The Rockets came calling after former Woodville Warrior Alex Starling – a teammate of Miller’s at Bethune-Cookman – distributed videos of the sharpshooter to local clubs.

It is early days but Miller seems to be fitting in nicely at North, starring during the pre-season tournament which the Rockets won.

Starling has told Miller things will get tougher because teams know more about him, but the Atlanta Hawks fan is not setting a limit on what North can achieve.

“We’ve got a great group of guys and the season last year wasn’t as they expected it.

“Things are changing already.”