By JACOB POLACHECK
With the live period kicking off Friday, one prospect that has remained largely under-the-radar is 2022 guard Paul McMillan IV.
The 6-foot-1, 170-pound point guard from Woodward (OH) Career Technical High School, has a unique combination of scoring and playmaking ability, drawing comparisons to Chris Paul and Trae Young.
“I’m that second coach on the floor, directing my guys, telling my guys what to do, being that leader, communicating with the guys and knowing the offensive and defensive schemes like the back of my hand,” McMillan told ZAGSBLOG Friday evening. “Then, I’d say Trae Young because I shoot a lot of deep threes and I play with that ultimate confidence. Just going out there and playing my game and playing the right way.”
Ranked by 247Sports.com as the No. 10 point guard and No. 57 overall prospect in the class of 2022, McMillan had a stellar junior season, being named first team All-Ohio pick in Division II.
During the 2020-21 season, McMillan averaged 28.0 points, 5.1 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game. He shot 54 percent from the floor, including 52 percent from three-point range.
McMillan kicked off the NCAA quiet period with trip to his hometown University of Cincinnati for his first unofficial visit on June 7, sitting in for a team practice.
“A lot of things that were going on at the guard workout, me and my dad actually do ourselves on a day-to-day basis,” McMilllan said. “A lot of screen movement, a lot of reads off the pick-and-roll, learning how to snake a screen, different ball handling drills, shooting drills and things like that.”
McMillan also had the chance to speak with head coach Wes Miller, who said he wanted to see him play more before offering.
“He just wanted to build a relationship with me and my family before he takes the next steps,” McMillan said.
McMillan then made a trip to Arizona State for an unofficial visit to Arizona State on June 15.
“It was fun, big campus,” McMillan said. “That’s probably the biggest campus I’ve ever seen. It’s bigger than any other campus I’ve ever seen. Talking to coach [Joel Justus], he said the school holds like 70,000-80,000 students or something like that.”
After sitting through Arizona State’s guard workouts, McMillan had the chance to sit down with ASU head coach Bobby Hurley.
“Coach Hurley is really a down to earth person,” McMillan said. “For him to have done the things that he’s done in his coaching career as well as his playing career, for him to be that down to earth is crazy.
“It was only supposed to be a 15-20 minute talk, but we were in his office for an hour and a half just talking about basketball and different stories, how they run their offense and things like that.”
Next up for McMillan is a trip to Cleveland State for an unofficial visit on June 28.
“Coach [Dennis] Gates, with the amount of accomplishments and success he has had in a short amount of time with a school that people wouldn’t necessarily call a high-major, but for him to go in and do what he has done, that’s real big,” McMillan said. “I’m really big on relationships and playing style. Cleveland State, that’s a school where it fits my playing style and I have a real strong relationship with the head coach. It’s a really good school. I’m happy to go visit in the next few days.”
With two unofficials in the books and one upcoming, McMillan says he’s looking to plan official visits for the month of August.
“I know at the end of the month, probably around the 30th or the first week of July, me and my family will sit down and talk,” McMillan said. “I’ll probably do three or four, probably not five officials. We’ll just talk it out and see what’s the plan.”
While McMillan isn’t completely certain on which schools will be receiving official visits, he says that in addition to Cincinnati, Arizona State and Cleveland State, he’s been hearing the most from Xavier, Penn State and Louisville.
He broke down each school:
Xavier: “Just the history of the program and knowing that’s a school right in my background. I can go to a high-major school, a high-major program right in my own city. Like I said, building a relationship with the head coach, me and coach [Travis] Steele, we talk a lot, we FaceTime each other, talk about basketball and life in general.”
Louisville: “Same thing with Louisville. Coach [Chris] Mack has known my family for 10+ years. His wife actually coached my sister in high school, so those conversations are more about life than anything about basketball. Our relationship goes way deeper, like I said, 10+ years ago.”
Penn State: “I’m really not too familiar with Penn State itself. I’m real familiar with coach [Micah] Shrewsberry because of his time at Purdue. He was one of the main guys that was recruiting me when he was at Purdue, so I’m real familiar with him. Just like with a coach Steele or a coach Mack, when we talk, FaceTime or text each other, we’re just talking about life, talking about basketball, things I need to work on to get better.”
As McMillan evaluates his options, he says he’s taking two factors into consideration.
“I’ve got to have a strong, strong relationship with the head coach because the head coach is running everything,” he said. “Number two is the school has to fit my style of play. There are a lot of great schools out there, a lot of big schools out there, where it’s a great school that might be able to win and do great things, but they might not fit my style of play.
“For me to go there and mess up my game, I’m not able to perform and show my best abilities. Me going to a school where I’m very familiar with the head coach, the team, the coaching staff, everybody.”
Photo: @ShotbyAbdoul
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