Bradley Miller goes up for a shot during a game against Darby. Miller averaged almost 20 points a game during his senior year at Seeley-Swan High School.
SEELEY LAKE - On May 30th, Bradley Miller spent his afternoon working out. The recent Seeley-Swan High School graduate did a dynamic warmup, ab exercises and a lot of sprints.
It took longer than he expected.
Two days earlier the athletic director at Rocky Mountain College had sent him his workout schedule for the summer. Technically, it was the first day of Miller's career playing collegiate basketball.
Miller signed his National Letter of Intent, committing to play basketball for the Billings school on May 4.
"When I had the opportunity," said Miller, "It was kind of a no brainer."
When he was in fifth grade, Miller wasn't interested in basketball. He played football and decided that was enough. Slowly, his parents encouraged him to play basketball-he might as well try everything.
Two years later Miller was on the court doing shooting drills during practice. The day still sticks out in his mind.
"I made every one of them," he said. "That really interested me and through that season, I got really hooked on basketball."
It became a habit.
When he got bored, he played basketball. During the summer, he played basketball. He also played video games "like a normal person."
When he started playing for SSHS, Miller set goals for himself in each of his sports. At the beginning of high school, his goal was to make the varsity basketball team as a freshman.
He did that quickly.
His sophomore year his goal was to be a starter on the team-he started in the first game of the year.
"I guess I set goals that I thought would be bigger than they were," said Miller. "Things were happening faster than I expected."
By his junior year, Miller had the idea that if he played well enough his senior year, he might have a chance to continue to the next level. His best year was his last at SSHS-he was the top scorer for the Blackhawks, averaging around 20 points per game.
After the season ended-and left a sour taste in his mouth after an unexpected loss at districts-Miller hadn't talked to any college coaches yet.
Eventually, an email came through from the assistant coach at Rocky Mountain College, inviting Miller to try out for the team.
He went down for a visit and open gym at the end of April. A few days later he got the call asking if he wanted to play.
He signed within the week.
Miller has accepted several academic scholarships but is still waiting for his final athletic scholarship offer.
Despite being sad to leave high school basketball, he's ready to play at the next level.
"My goal now is that by the time I'm a senior in college [I want to] be playing on the varsity team and hopefully be playing some good minutes."
Rocky Mountain College is a NAIA school (as opposed to the NCAA) and a member of the Frontier Conference. The Bears will kick off their 2017-2018 season with their first game in October.
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