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FEBRUARY 2020 19 BY ANDREW MENTOCK B EFORE HER FIRST SEMESTER on Grounds, Virginia women's basketball player Carole Miller decided to pursue a path that no one currently on the team had done before — to major in engineering. Now over halfway through her first year of college, Miller sees her decision as a challenging one, but given certain circum - stances that was expected. "It's definitely hard, especially start- ing out as a first-year in the engineering school and it's something that nobody on the basketball team has done," she said. "So I don't really have anybody to look up to for help." That means this is also a new experience for her coach and the team's academic support staff, who are also navigating the waters of how to best assist a player in the engineering school for the first time. "Everybody's still learning with me about the school and everything," Miller said. "It's hard to balance, but I know I can do it. I've just got to put my mind to it." Miller doesn't have to officially declare her major until March, but she's leaning toward the engineering of science pro - gram, which will include minors in biol- ogy and biomedical engineering or mate- rial science. Believe it or not, this actually meshes well with Miller's time on the court, be- cause the Cavaliers get to work with ad- vanced pieces of technology that assist them in their training and recovery. For instance, the team uses Catapult's wearable technology, which looks like an extra sports bra, but it's actually tracking a player's heart rate and more. "I like the innovative side of society, and I've always wanted to deal with the body and making equipment," Miller said. "I know I want to stay in the sports realm, so making injury-prevention equipment or rehab equipment or anything like that I think would be really cool." While accepting the rigorous academic challenges in the classroom, she has also been able to carve out a role on the bas - ketball court as a rookie playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Midway through the season, Miller had appeared in all 18 games with 14 starts, and was averaging 4.4 points and 4.2 rebounds in 23.7 minutes per contest. A 6-foot guard in high school, she's a bit undersized to be playing the power forward position, but she's been working hard to develop her low-post game. Still, even with her smaller stature, Miller is an above-average rebounder on the boards. On multiple occasions, she has had games with eight rebounds or more, including nine at USC Nov. 9 in the first start of her young career. She also added nine points in what resulted in a 59-49 loss, but her effort helped to solidify her position as a contributor and eventual ev - eryday starter. "Obviously, I felt like at that point I should be starting, so when I got the op- portunity I was like, 'I need to make sure that this is where I should be on a con- sistent basis and this isn't just a one-time thing,'" Miller said. In addition to rebounding, she does a little bit of everything on the court, which is what the Virginia coaching staff values the most in her game. "She's a rebounding guard," associate head coach Karleen Thompson said. "She can drive. If they leave her open, she can hit that open shot. She's just a hard worker and she's what I would call a utility player: she does all the things that some people don't want to do." This type of mentality isn't always found in first-years, especially those that were highly recruited. Coming out of high school, Miller was ranked the No. 82 player in the country by ESPN in the class of 2019 and named a first-team all-state selection. A Virginia native, she led Edison High in Alexandria to back-to-back state championship games and averaged 20 points and nine rebounds during her senior season. Initially, Miller wanted to venture out of state for college, but the high level of academics at Virginia caused her to reconsider. "A big part of it for me and my mom was the academics, of course," Miller said. "I remember when I first got the offer and I told my mom, 'I just got off the phone with [former assistant coach] Tim Taylor.' She was like, 'The University of Virginia! The University of Virginia!' "I didn't know what was behind the name at the time." Given Miller's basketball abilities and academic fit, it was very important for the Virginia coaching staff to keep her home. "She's a very intelligent young woman," Thompson said. "She does well in school. When we do a class check, Carole is al - ways there. It says a lot about her parents and her upbringing. When a kid wants to stay at home it says something about the whole picture and we appreciate that. When you can keep good talent in the state, you have to do that." While Miller is serious on the court and in the classroom, Thompson also notes that Miller has a goofy side to her. She likes to joke around and play innocent pranks on people, including her teammates and coaches. This sense of humor should serve Miller well as she navigates the pressure of high- level basketball and pursues an engineer - ing degree from Virginia. She hit her first road bump midway through the season when her overall production began to slip, scoring less than five points in each of her last eight games. But she plans to keep working as hard as possible in order to get over the first- year wall. "I know I still have a lot to get better at in that position," Miller said. "Now I've just been trying to do more post work so that when I'm in that position, I can still do what I want and score. "In the middle of the season, I know my scoring has dropped off and my confi - dence dropped a little. So I'm just trying to get that back. And once I get it back, I think I'll be rolling." Miller, an Alexandria native who was ranked as the No. 82 high school senior last year by ESPN, was an important in-state recruiting target for the Cavaliers. She started 14 of the team's first 18 games this season. PHOTO BY MATT RILEY/COURTESY UVA PAVING HER OWN PATH Virginia's Promising First-Year Utility Player Carole Miller Is Wise Beyond Her Years