Miller quietly helps Utah to WAC title

      Andre Miller had a mouthful of Quarter Pounder -- with cheese -- and shook his head, no, when teammate Keith Van Horn offered him the microphone at the postgame news conference.
      Miller, Utah's brilliant junior point guard, wanted no part of the spotlight after the Utes won the Western Athletic Conference championship Saturday with an 89-68 triumph over Texas Christian at the Thomas & Mack Center.
      Van Horn, the tournament's Most Valuable Player and the Utes' clear leader, knows better than anyone Miller's importance to the team.
      "Andre makes smart decisions every night and he gets the ball in the places it has to be," Van Horn said.
      Miller made the all-tournament team, a rich reward after a sterling three games. Van Horn grabbed headlines with his two buzzer-beating baskets that lifted Utah to victories over Southern Methodist and New Mexico, but the Utes wouldn't have gotten past SMU if Miller hadn't put the ball in the only spot it could have been for Van Horn to flip it in.
      The soft-spoken Miller was largely ignored as a high school senior at Verbum Dei High School in talent-rich Southern California. He was a Proposition 48 casualty, but he refused to get lost in the shuffle.
      He has been one of the finest point guards in the nation this season, a staunch defender who made the all-WAC defensive team, and a smart playmaker who put the Utes in the right spots at the right time.
      "I don't need to be in the spotlight," Miller said. "I just try to help this team be as good as it can be. I have to be a leader out there and make sure everybody is involved and aware of what we're doing."
      Miller missed few assignments Saturday as the Utes cruised to their easiest victory of the tournament. TCU had a superb backcourt of its own -- Malcolm Johnson and Mike Jones made the all-tournament team and Western High grad Prince Fowler tied a tournament record with 22 assists -- but the three-guard attack that devastated previous opponents fizzled.
      Jones was 6 of 16, Johnson 3 of 8 and Fowler 4 of 10. They never got into the wide-open game coach Billy Tubbs loves, much of it due to Miller's defense.
      "Excellent player," Tubbs said, shaking his head. "Very good, smart, solid little player."
      Miller cracked a thin smile when apprised of Tubbs' comments. It was sweet revenge for a player bypassed by all but a handful of Division I schools.
      Better revenge, though, for Miller was the WAC title. It all but guaranteed the Utes a No. 1 seed. Miller, however, isn't hoping for that.
      "I want to go East, man," said Miller, who had 13 points and 10 assists Saturday. "I've never been back there. I want to get back there and check it out. That would be it for me."