Sophomore reserve guard Corbin Miller led the Crimson with eight points on 3-of-7 shooting while the starters were 1-of-32 from the field.

­“My legs are coming.”

Donning the familiar Harvard Hoops pinny, sophomore Corbin Miller said these four words to men’s basketball coach Tommy Amaker. Miller had stopped Amaker after the final whistle of practice blew, and repeated the sentiment for emphasis.

My legs. They’re coming along.

Miller was in the final stages of a rehabilitation process of sorts, a seven-month conditioning drill in which, in Amaker’s words, the guard “broke down and built up” his body strength.

It was the third week of official practices, and, for Miller, the first time in three years that he was training for a full season of collegiate basketball. Miller, known on the team and around the Ivy League as a lethal shooter from deep, had spent the previous two years on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He had taken a leave of absence from Harvard following his freshman year and spent close to 24 months training for and serving on his mission in various states in East-Central Mexico.

So while his team forged its way onto the national basketball scene, Miller was immersed in a culture that prized fútbol over free throws. And when, in an ironic twist of fate, Harvard drew Salt Lake City as its second-round destination for the 2013 NCAA Tournament—a location just 25 minutes from Miller’s hometown of Sandy, Utah—Miller was 2,056 miles away, leading a training session for other missionaries in San Lorenzo, Almecatla.

One year later, in March 2014, Miller’s flight home must have nearly crossed paths with the Crimson’s plane to Spokane, Wash. As his team prepared to play in its third consecutive NCAA Tournament on March 20, Miller ended his mission and flew back to Utah on March 19, timing that enabled him to watch his team upset the No. 5-seeded Cincinnati Bearcats in the second round of the Big Dance.

Now, as Harvard looks to win its fifth straight Ancient Eight crown, Miller is back on the hardwood alongside his teammates. The faces on the court beside him have changed as two years have come and gone, but, for Miller, the most important thing has stayed the same.

He was recruited to shoot. And that’s what he plans to do.

“A VITAL ROLE”

The average basketball jump shot is released at about a 45-degree angle, with just enough air under the ball to cushion it as it falls through the net. For Miller, however, 45 degrees just isn’t enough.

His shot is unconventional in the amount of arc he puts on every jumper. On a given play, Miller will swing the rock up to face level, hesitating for a split moment before cocking the ball back and releasing it in quick, successive motions. While the ball often starts off at knee level, with Miller’s arms extended—creating space in front of him—it nearly touches the bridge of his nose before he lets it go, a high-flying shot whose arc must be closer to 60 degrees than 45.

“His [form] is beautiful,” sophomore forward Zena Edosomwan said. “Watching him shoot—even when he misses, it’s pretty.”

“He just has a special ability to shoot the ball,” said Jeff Gardner, the current head basketball coach at Brighton High School, which Miller attended from 2007 through 2011.

During his freshman year with the Crimson, Miller shot a cool 45.6 percent from deep, knocking down 26 of the 57 three-pointers he attempted—a season-long conversion rate higher than any of those of Laurent Rivard ’14, Harvard’s all-time leader in three-pointers made in a year and in a career. Miller’s biggest moment as a rookie came in a conference win over Penn in which he carried the team with 17 points, stepping up when Rivard had a cold shooting night.