With Adam Miller officially inking his National Letter of Intent on Wednesday afternoon, Illinois has its backcourt of the future.
Miller joins fellow four-star guard Andre Curbelo and three-star forward Coleman Hawkins in the Illini’s class of 2020 — good enough for the 13th-best class nationally and second in the Big Ten.
“It came down to the final day,” Miller said on an Instagram Live signing ceremony. “Quarantine wasn’t the best time. But it came down to the day. I made my decision to continue to go to Illinois. I was locked in 100%.”
The 6-foot-3, 175-pound Morgan Park product originally committed to Illinois back on Nov. 21, turning down offers from blue bloods like Arizona, Louisville and Kansas in the process.
Miller is listed as the No. 33 player in the country according to 247 Sport’s composite rankings and the No. 2 player in the state.
A two-time Gatorade Illinois Player of the Year, the Chicago native averaged 23.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.8 assists, and over two steals per game while shooting better than 42% from behind-the-arc. He’s the first since former Naismith Player of the Year Jalen Brunson to win the award back-to-back.
Miller is following in former and current (for the time being) teammate Ayo Dosunmu’s footsteps — another top-35 guard who pledged his allegiance to Brad Underwood & Co. back in 2017. After one of the worst years in program history, Dosunmu’s decision to return for his sophomore season aided in the Illini’s resurgence back to the national scene. Miller will now face the same choice, however with the program in a much better state.
Despite a coronavirus-shortened 21-win campaign in which Illinois was a lock for its first NCAA Tournament since 2013, it now has a chance to build on that success with pieces such as Miller, Curbelo, Trent Frazier, and potentially Kofi Cockburn and Dosunmu, if they choose to pull their names out of the NBA Draft.
Underwood and his staff are also in on Miller’s Morgan Park backcourt mate Brandon Weston, a top-75 talent in the Class of 2021. Weston could potentially reclassify.
Check out some of Miller’s highlights from his past AAU season:
Here’s what the updated scholarship chart looks like as of now, with Dosunmu and Cockburn both having declared for the NBA Draft (with the option of still returning to Illinois).