Shonn Miller is headed to the Huskies.
Since the Ivy League prohibits the participation of graduate students and Miller, missed the 2013-14 season following shoulder surgery, the 2014-15 first-team All-Ivy senior forward still has a year of eligibility to spend at a non-Ivy school. Now he’ll spend it at four-time national champion UConn, where he is instantly eligible.
“It just felt like home,” Miller told ESPN.com. “I got along with all the players and everybody in general just welcomed me like I was a part of their family.”
Miller was a boss at both ends of the floor last season, notching 16.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 1.3 steals in 31.3 minutes per contest. He finished second in the Ivy League in scoring, rebounding and free throw percentage, as well as fourth in both blocks and three-pointers made, and eighth in steals. There’s really not a lot that Miller can’t do, and his absence in 2013-14 hit Cornell like a ton of bricks, with the Big Red going 2-26 without him.
For what it’s worth, we honored Miller as our Defensive Player of the Year due to his 28 percent defensive rebound rate (good for seventh in the nation) and shot-blocking prowess. Miller posted 11 double-doubles in his final season at Cornell, scoring at least 23 points in four of his final games with the Big Red. He was instrumental in leading Cornell to an upset over eventual Ivy champion Harvard late in the season and notched a combined 47 points and 28 rebounds in nonconference wins at George Mason and Siena.
From the beginning, UConn was the favorite to land Miller, one of the most sought after transfers on the market, though Marquette and Michigan also pursued him and earned consideration.
Miller, who will graduate from Cornell in May, joins a Huskies frontcourt that already features Amida Brimah and Kentan Facey, who Ivy fans saw when UConn lost to Yale in December.