Friday Feedback
June 12, 2015 by Mike CasazzaWelcome to the Friday Feedback, which is going to win. True, it’s one me/us to make that stick, but predictions are OK. Confidence is encouraged. Personality is a plus. This is why we like Daxter Miles.
Surely you know his story and that which he said on the eve of the Sweet Sixteen loss to Kentucky. I’ll not rehash my opinion here, but the way he was treated left a bad taste in my mouth, and my reaction was wrought with worry. If you poll the people who cover WVU hoops, Miles wins the vote for Most Quotable. He’s funny and willing, but he’s also good for good answers. He avoids cliches and thinks about his responses before giving you a reply that makes you think.
Would that experience change him? Tranquilize him? Silence him? Well, Miles is talking, thank goodness. He just spent a month home in Baltimore, the first time he’d been back since the loss to Kentucky, and he’s moved past what happened, but he’s not so far gone that he’ll never be the same.
Miles hadn’t been to Baltimore since the season ended in Cleveland. His friends and his family from Charm City could put him at ease in person after the game or over the phone in the time that followed, but being in their presence was different. It was better.
“Nobody brought any negativity to me,” he said. “They know what I’m capable of as a basketball player, and they know how I am, so it was basically love all around. It was great to surround myself with a lot of positive people.
“I’d never had a break that long in college, so it was fun to be around my people outside the team and outside Morgantown and to be around my family and to enjoy my friends and play basketball freely instead of having to obsess about every little thing.”
Life there was as he remembered it. His friends were fun. His family was welcoming. Those were the people he loved to be around, and it was refreshing to know they hadn’t changed. It was a reminder he needed to remain the same, too.
Miles wants to have fun playing basketball and to get the most out of his opportunity with the Mountaineers. He won’t shrink into a shell. He isn’t hiding from interviews. He worries only about being better the next time he’s in a WVU uniform.
“I’m going to be the same person I always have been,” he said. “Of course I’m going to make changes to my game to better myself and help my teammates, but as far as everything else, I’m still Dax. The only people I have to answer to are God and my coaches and teammates. If it’s not those guys, I really don’t care. I’m here to play for them.”
I know it’s not even Flag Day yet, and football will secure our attention before and for longer than basketball, but the basketball season just got better.
Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, have some pride.
Clarence Oveur said:
Re: Tyrek Cole, he supposedly tweeted on June 1 “Leave This Weekend 4 College”.
Interested to see how this plays out…
Well, another session starts at the end of the month, so he could be in town and hanging around because he wants to. Cole and Xavier Pegues were both in the student directory, but neither enrolled this week. That isn’t a prerequisite for any sort of ugly outcome, though. Let’s circle their names and see where this goes.
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