Emanuel Miller a Driving Force for TCU Basketball

TCU basketball player Emanuel Miller’s journey to Texas was not like that of Davy Crockett, who was reputed to have exclaimed in some sort of fit after losing a bid for one of Tennessee’s seats in the U.S. Congress: “You all can go to hell and I will go to Texas.”

Who among us hasn’t used bits and pieces of that declaration under the influence of moonshine?

Anyway, Miller’s journey from Canada to Indiana to California as a high school and prep player, and finally to Texas A&M wasn’t anything like that of Crockett, the Texas revolutionary and folk figure.

However, when it came time to transfer from Texas A&M after two seasons, Miller said to hell with all the rest, he’s staying in Texas.

To his mother, who might be reading this, EMan, as he’s known, didn’t really say that. I made it up. Sort of.

“Never in my life did I picture myself being in Texas, but I think that was one of the best decisions of my life,” says Miller, who had initially committed to play at Virginia Tech but changed his mind when the coach there, Buzz Williams, took the job at A&M.

“When I entered the transfer portal, I knew being in a Texas school, being at Texas A&M, I knew TCU would be a perfect fit.”

It has been that, just like Texas A&M coming to Fort Worth, but that’s another story. And we love him here. It’s also been a delight to watch this 6-foot-7, 217-pound workhorse play forward, a driving force in the Horned Frogs’ march into the NCAA Tournament with a game on Friday against Arizona State.

The Frogs, a six seed, and the Sun Devils, the 11 seed, play in the vespertine portion of the NCAA’s second day, at 9:05 p.m. at Ball Arena in Denver. TruTV is the broadcast partner. If the radio is your thing, Brian Estridge and John Denton will have the call on KLIF/570 AM.

“Playing on that stage and what it means to play in March Madness and all the greats that came before me it’s always a blessing to even be mentioned in that category,” Miller says by phone. “I’m excited.”

Miller and his teammates return to the NCAAs for a second consecutive season, which is groundbreaking for TCU. The last time the Frogs went back to back to the NCAAs was 1953. No one associated with this game, neither of the coaches, not even this writer, had even dreamed of making an appearance on planet earth in 1953.

As a university, the Frogs are making their 10^th NCAA appearance, though it’s still very new territory. In the 30 years before coach Jamie Dixon arrived in 2016-17, TCU had been to one tournament.

Never have the Frogs won two games in the tournament.

That’s a bit of a sore subject considering what happened last season. With the score tied at 75-all and seven seconds left against Arizona in the second round, Frogs star guard Mike Miles was dribbling near midcourt. The officials made no call when he was bumped, causing him to lose the ball. The game went to overtime … the Frogs lost.

Did that bother anybody? Hell, yes, it did, Davey Crockett.

“We knew how close we were to making the Sweet 16 and what it takes to get to that level,” Miller says. “That feeling in the locker room and all the emotions that went through that game set a fire within our program because we know what we’re capable of.”

And they’re eager to show this world stage what that is, Miller adds.

The Frogs certainly have looked like one of those 16 teams. In fact, they were ranked as No. 11 this season before injuries and inconsistency reared its ugly head.

TCU enters the tournament ranked No. 22 with an overall record of 21-12.

Miller, a leader on and off the floor, is a major player for this team. He joined Damion Baugh and Mike Miles on the All-Big 12 Conference team as an honorable mention after averaging 12.4 points a game and 6.6 rebounds a game, sixth in the conference. He was second in the Big 12 in shooting percentage at 51.6%, and if you need him to shoot a 3-pointer, he can, scoring 20 for 49, a team-best 40%.

To advance, TCU just needs to “be ourselves, stay true to ourselves, and stay disciplined for 40 minutes,” Miller says.

Miller is a senior but still has a “Covid year” remaining, meaning he could come back for a fifth season and third at TCU. Every NCAA athlete who competed in the 2020 — the year of Covid, yes, hell, Davy Crockett — received an extra year of eligibility.

TCU QB Max Duggan had one, too. He decided against using it, instead making himself eligible for the NFL Draft. Miller says he isn’t yet sure what he will do with his. He is close to graduating with a degree in communications, needing just another summer or fall to finish.

Miller is the fourth of five boys in his family. The brood was a “handful,” he says.

He left Toronto after three years in high school for a final year in Indiana. He then went the prep school route, playing a year at Prolific Prep in Napa, California. He was rated a four-star prospect by ESPN. (One of these days, I want to see how the sausage is made on the star ratings for recruiting. How exactly are these ratings derived?)

Rivals rated him as the No. 21 power forward nationally. He also led Canada to its first gold medal at the 2017 FIB U19 World Cup in Egypt.

Miller will get an opportunity to play professionally, either in the states or overseas. When he’s done with that, don’t be surprised if you hear he is pursuing another passion: interior design. That’s right, interior design. He was interested in studying that at TCU but couldn’t fashion a class schedule and a basketball schedule that would mesh.

“It came from my mother at a young age,” he says. “My mother was always making a home and setting up events there.”

He’s also somewhat of a fashionista and a man of haute couture. He says fellas are apt to ask him advice on clothes. Shopping, too, is a favorite pastime.

And those years at Texas A&M introduced him to a lifetime hobby: fishing. Never before had he any experience in bait and fishing poles until the day he stepped into College Station.

If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime, or, so, we’ve been told.

Good luck, Eman. You're one of us now. Go, Frogs.