High school basketball: Laid-back Nick Miller lets his game do the talking -- and it's been very loud for Buckeye

It's a good thing Nick Miller's statistics — and his coach and Buckeye boys basketball teammates — speak for him. Otherwise this story would be extremely short. The 6-foot-5, 195-pound senior power forward is averaging 12.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.5 blocks for the first team in the program's 69-year history to reach a district championship game, but when asked Friday if it would bother him if he had never been interviewed in his high school career, Miller didn't say a word. He simply smiled and shook his head from side to side. Though they point out he's fun-loving and even outgoing when around friends his age, that reaction did not surprise his teammates. "On the court, I can't tell if he's sad, mad or anything," Bucks senior point guard Danny Flood said. "He's always the same." Miller, a third-year varsity player who will be in the starting lineup at 4 p.m. today when ninth-seeded Buckeye (16-7) meets top-seeded St. Vincent-St. Mary (20-4) for the Stow Division II District championship, is far from rude. He'll politely and patiently answer every question, but he's not going to waste five sentences if five words will do. Sometimes, if a head movement won't do the trick, he'll even use letters instead of words. Asked if he played any other sports at Buckeye, Miller said he was going to play baseball this spring. Asked what position he played, he said "PO." Asked what that meant, he said "pitcher only." Right now, though, Miller's primary concern is extending the season of the first Buckeye basketball team to reach a district final. "It's obviously pretty special," he said. "We just want to keep it going." As for playing defending state champion SVSM, which has won nine state titles, Miller said, "They've got some pretty good athletes. We've just got to work to try and find their weaknesses." Those were two of the 18-year-old's longest answers in a 15-minute interview, which consisted of about 25 questions, but apparently he's much different when surrounded by close friends. "He's a quiet guy, but when he talks, he's really funny," junior small forward Caden Hudak said. "I love Nick Miller a lot. He's a really good kid. He's a fun guy to be around when he's in the right circle of people." Reporters are definitely not part of that circle. "Around you guys, it's different," Flood said, referring to media members. "But when it's just us friends, he's probably the funniest guy in the group and he talks the most. No one believes it, but it's true." What can't be questioned is Miller's importance to the Bucks. When his play picked up, so did the team's, which is a major reason why Buckeye is 13-3 over its last 16 games. "Nick's been the X-factor this year," Bucks coach Tom Harrington said. "You could draw a direct line from when he started playing well to us playing well. "He loves to play basketball and it means a lot to him. He is a quiet competitor and a great kid who is very coachable." Miller, who shoots .470 from the field, .330 on 3-pointers and .760 at the line, is at his best when driving right or picking-and-popping for shots behind the arc. "Nick Miller brings a ton to the team," Hudak said. "He's a very versatile player. He can hit an important three if he needs to and he can get to the rim at any time. Without Nick Miller, I don't think we'd be as successful as we are." All that is true, but when he was asked to describe what he brought to the team, the future Hiram basketball player and biology major simply said, "I'm a shooter and rebounder." Asked to pinpoint the most emotion he's seen from Miller on the court, Hudak singled out Buckeye's district semifinal win over Lutheran West on Thursday. "He was all smiles and happy," Hudak said. "He wanted to win as badly as everybody else and he really showed it." On the flip side, Miller was stoic after throwing down an alley-oop dunk in a game against Fairview. "I'm high-fiving him and telling him how great it was and he just goes, 'Yeah,'" Hudak said. "You don't get a lot of emotion with him." There's a logical explanation for that particular instance, as well as for why Buckeye's quiet, laid-back star rarely displays emotion of any kind on the court. "It was cool, but we hadn't won yet," Miller said of his dunk. "I just wanted to win." As for staying stone-faced on the floor, he said, "I try not to let things bother me too much. Anger never really solves a problem. I just try to stay relaxed." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on Twitter.