Miller Can Cut It Now, Any Way You Slice It : Cal State Fullerton: Not long ago, the senior had little confidence. Now, she’s third in the nation in scoring and first in blocked shots.

There was a time, not long ago, when Genia Miller had very few basketball skills and very little confidence. In fact, the day before Miller played her first game at Cal State Fullerton, she told Titan assistant June Kearney that she didn’t think she could cut it in Division I.

Three years later, Miller is tearing it up.

Miller, a 6-foot-3 senior center, ranks third in the nation in scoring (27.8 points a game), first in blocked shots (3.8), 13th in rebounds (11.0) and 14th in field-goal percentage (.605).

She leads the Big West Conference in each category and has been the driving force behind the Titans’ 10-4 record entering today’s 5 p.m. game against fifth-ranked Nevada Las Vegas in Titan Gym.

Miller has been named conference player of the week twice, won most valuable player awards in two tournaments and is a strong candidate for All-American honors.

She plans to try out for the U.S. national team this summer and has her sights set on a lucrative professional basketball career in Europe.

“I never dreamed I’d be where I am today,” Miller says.

Fortunately for Fullerton, Titan Coach Maryalyce Jeremiah did. A vision came to Jeremiah the day she first saw Miller in a Crenshaw High School game five years ago.

Jeremiah was there recruiting a forward named Yolanda Kelly when a player she hadn’t seen before appeared. Jeremiah didn’t know at the time that Miller had just transferred from New Jersey.

“I started to watch her run and said, ‘My God, look at this kid,’ ” Jeremiah said. “As I watched her move, I thought if anyone could teach her the game, and if she could gain some weight, she could be a pretty good player because she could run and jump.”

That’s about all Miller could do. An outstanding high jumper on the track team, Miller wasn’t much of a shooter and had trouble catching and holding the ball. Most of her points came on offensive rebounds, and Jeremiah said there were games in which Miller’s teammates rarely passed to her.

“I was weak,” Miller said. “But basketball was always second to me. I was better in track.”

That’s why Miller never went to a summer camp, where she could have received more individualized coaching. And that’s why, much to Jeremiah’s delight, Miller, who transferred to Crenshaw in the middle of her junior year, went unnoticed by other colleges.

“I went every Friday night to see her play during her senior year and never saw one college coach there the whole time,” Jeremiah said. “So many big schools want kids who can come in and play right away, but she couldn’t.”

Jeremiah didn’t care. She knew it would take time, but Miller was a project worth undertaking.

First, they taught Miller the basics--how to post up inside, how to catch the ball, how to shoot free throws. Miller, hungry for improvement, would throw a ball against the wall for hours and shoot hundreds of free throws a day.

“Anything we asked her to do, she’d do it until we told her to stop,” Jeremiah said.

For the first few weeks of her freshman season, Jeremiah played Miller sparingly, putting her in a game for a few minutes and taking her out after she’d get a rebound or block a shot so as to accentuate her positive experiences and limit negative ones.

Still, Miller wasn’t quite convinced she belonged.

“Several times in my freshman year, I told the coach I didn’t think I was a Division I player, that I wasn’t ready to play up to the standards this league requires,” Miller said. “I cried to her many times.”

But by the 10th game of Miller’s freshman year, she was a starter. Miller went on to average 20.1 points and 8.9 rebounds as a sophomore and 23.9 and 12.1 as a junior, earning all-conference honors both years.

She broke the school career scoring record this season and is on pace to finish with more than 2,000 points.

“We had to convince her as a freshman to stay with it, that she’d be good enough,” Jeremiah said. “We brought her along real slow and it worked.”

Other college coaches didn’t notice Miller when she was in high school, but they do now. She’s usually double-teamed, and when she gets the ball inside, she’s often triple-teamed. Opponents hammer her spindly, 140-pound frame, but being so thin works to Miller’s advantage.

“It helps me weave in and out of little spaces,” Miller said. “If I was any heavier, I wouldn’t be able to get up and down the court as well or jump as high.”

Miller’s long arms and leaping ability allow her to shoot over opponents and swat shots away on defense. And when opponents gang up on her, Miller will often pass to forward Claudette Jackson inside or to wing players Heidi James and Joey Ray outside for open shots.

Miller is a team player and a leader, and Jeremiah thinks her even temperament will benefit her in her pursuit of an Olympic team berth.

“She’s not a moody, prima donna athlete,” Jeremiah said. “Coaches get tired of those kids. She has the skill and the attitude, and you need kids like her. You can’t coach 12 women who get mad if they don’t play.”

Jeremiah can’t seem to say enough about Miller’s basketball ability, but she’s also impressed with her personal growth. Miller is confident, friendly and talkative, three adjectives the coach wouldn’t have connected with Miller four years ago.

“She was just a raw, shy, insecure, gangly kid who could hardly get two words out of her mouth,” Jeremiah said. “To watch her grow personally has been as enjoyable as watching her grow athletically. I could burst out in a full sob every time I think of her leaving.”