LSU G Adam Miller shares perspective on return from portal, injury

Adam Miller said he was "this close," holding out two fingers narrowly apart, to potentially transferring to TCU this month before ever making an official debut at LSU.

The talented combo guard emphasized his appreciation of Horned Frogs coach Jamie Dixon and enjoyment of his visit to Fort Worth this month.

But a sense of unfinished — or in many ways unstarted — business and the strength of some key relationships in Baton Rouge stuck with him throughout his six weeks in the transfer portal before announcing Friday a renewed commitment to the new-look Tigers and coach Matt McMahon.

"It's big for me for LSU fans to get them to see and feel how I feel about the school, how I feel about that purple and gold, how I feel about the Tigers," Miller said. "I want them to understand that I was appreciative of them through the injury.

"I feel like (assistant coach Tasmin Mitchell) said it a good way. And I talked to the school president, (William F. Tate IV), too, because he's from Chicago. We went to the same high school. And he talked about how they always love a guy who stays through adversity."

Mitchell would have as much perspective as anyone on the way the LSU fan base will embrace an athlete sticking with the program despite various turbulence.

The highly sought-after prospect out of nearby Denham Springs signed with the home-state program in 2005 over Kentucky and other options and stayed five years through injury, a coaching change and teammates both older and younger departing for the NBA.

Mitchell finished his college career as one of the program's most-decorated and -beloved players in recent history and, after six year playing professionally, has been on his alma mater's staff since 2017.

Miller hasn't yet taken the Pete Maravich Assembly Center court in an official game since transferring from home-state Illinois last summer.

But he's already had to navigate more than his share of adversity, starting with a ACL injury in October that sidelined him for a season with high expectations and goals weeks before it could begin.

"Mentally, it was pretty hard going down," he said. "And at the time I did go down I was expecting a big season. Like I could talk statistics if anybody wanted to talk statistics, but I don't know what could've happened this year. But I expected a lot. I expected to be that guy, you know what I was saying?"

Miller underwent surgery in early November and has been rehabbing and working his way back since then.

But the university terminated coach Will Wade — "my guy," Miller says — and associate head coach Bill Armstrong on March 12.

And by late March, the bulk of the staff that had brought Miller to campus in the first place — other than Mitchell — were gone within two weeks.

All 13 scholarship players entered their names into either the transfer portal or the 2022 NBA Draft, leaving the program's outlook for the immediate future more uncertain by the day.

"For me, it was a must to put my name in the portal and just hear everybody out," Miller said. "And I'm not gonna lie that was the most stressful thing for me, because I'm still battling injury."

Miller said programs from all over the country checked on his availability.

Some had varying plans of how to approach his return to the court.

"One school said, 'We see you coming in, getting 10-15 minutes off the bench, then really helping us out the next year,'" he said. "And I said, 'I appreciate that a lot that you're thinking about my health, but I'm a dog, and my timetable was set that I should be 110%, 120% by the time the season comes.'"

Some tried to emphasize the uncertainty at LSU as a reason he should leave.

"Different people were telling me this and that, saying, 'Are people still gonna want me because I tore my ACL? How many people are on their team? Who do they have on their team already? How do they develop players? Do they have a winning culture?'" said. "Just thinking about all that again, it was just way too much for me."

Miller zeroed in on a pair of familiar options.

He would either stay in Baton Rouge or head to TCU for a reunion with Dixon, for whom he had played with the U.S. national team at the FIBA U19 World Cup last summer.

"For me, it was just, 'I've got two good options here,' because when I met coach McMahon, we kind of caught a vibe off rip," Miller said. "I understood what he was about, and he understood what I was about. He was big on having alignment and coaching as a partnership that we've got to hold each other accountable and we've got to invest in each other as a team if you really want to win. So that stood out."

Miller said he felt the underlying desire throughout the process to stick with the Tigers.

And the quick connection with McMahon and the new staff helped provide further clarity and confidence in that decision.

Miller took a quick break Friday to share that announcement to social media amid a long day of both rehab and basketball workouts.

And then he was back to his focuses on re-strengthening and re-training his muscles and working his way back into an on-court condition and rhythm.

While his purple-and-gold debut may come a year later than expected, Miller hopes he'll be better than ever and looks forward to sharing that with the fan base.

"Mentally, there were many times it challenged me, many times I wanted to break down, many times I felt alone," he said. "But I never folded. I still went at it. I just always knew that it was going to be right time and my story was gonna end the way it was supposed to end."