Miller Shines on Court, Heads for Med School

In a world of identity politics and absolutes, Suzie Miller '99 is pretty sure what she likes. Athletes who get the job done on and off the court, progressive Republicans (that includes potential presidential candidate Elizabeth Dole) and a broad perspective on life are all up Miller's alley, although she hates to pigeonhole herself.

"I don't really vote along party lines," she insists. "I'm the Suzie Miller party."

Not a bad party to belong to, considering it had a hand in delivering three Ivy League championships and a historic moment last March, when Miller sank a three-pointer with 46 seconds on the clock to clinch the women's basketball team's unprecedented upset of top-seeded Stanford in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. But the Crimson guard/forward and off-court pre-med says the moment, which immortalized her in Harvard sports history, was just that. A moment.

"My other co-captain, Sarah Russell, always talks about the process," she says. "It's the process, not the outcome. Taking that one shot was just so small a part of the season compared to taping your ankles up in the locker room, the hell of pre-season, that track, skinny-dipping during the team trip to Maine..."

And then there was the whooping cough. And the disappointment of the past year when Miller and rest of the team that she co-captained, could not manage to rise and re-capture their former glory. Still, the Miller party is content to revel in memories of the process, no matter how trying, in "winning three championships and then not winning the fourth and what that taught me."

"I learned that leadership's not that easy.You're not just concerned about your own personalperformance, you are worried about 14 otherpeople, and not just basketball but personallives. When you're losing it's hard to keep peopleexcited. But you have to remember you're notplaying for the championship: You're playingbecause you love it."

The Potomac, Md., native fell in the love withthe game playing CYO basketball at age six.Sisters Kristen, 28, and Andrea, 25, paved theway, but it was her father, a Bronx native and CYOcoach himself, who schooled Miller in the basics.And she needed the help. In the "hotbed ofbasketball" that is Washington, D.C,. high schoolathletics, games sold out and a host ofplayers--including five of the starters onMiller's team at Our Lady of Good Council--wentdivision one.

All of this fails to explain why Miller, whowas on the select state team every year of herhigh school career, and was recruited by NotreDame (her father and oldest sister's alma mater)and Georgetown (for volleyball), would chooseHarvard.

"I came here, I hadn't even filled out theadmissions questionnaire; I had no idea. I met[women's basketball coach] Kathy [Delaney-Smith]and I liked her...then we were sitting inPinochios and my Dad said, `Don't even think aboutit,'" she said, explaining that the expense,compared to scholarship offers from other schools,had both parents ready to pass up admission evenif Miller got in--a slim chance given that onlytwo other graduates from her high school had evermade it. "But I fell in love."

The feeling was mutual.

"It's very unusual for me to put someone at thetop of our list when as late as November they'reunsure (as she was) about whether she's playingvolleyball or basketball," Delaney Smith says ofMiller.

Due to competitiveness and overall level ofplay when Miller entered the program, she spenther first year at Harvard playing from the bench.However, Delaney Smith says the experience was aright of passage that Miller skipped through withease, playing her role to the team's overalladvantage and leaving the bench behind as asophomore.

"She always has a plan. She changes that plan alot, but she always has a plan," Delaney Smithsays.

As passionate about her first days at theCollege--she recalls listening to streetperformers from her Matthews Hall window seat--asshe is about her future career in medicine, Millersays she is eager to begin a life that will nolonger include daily court time.

"Your body hurts so bad after four years ofbasketball, it's nice to take a break and not haveyour shin splints hurt so bad you have to takefour ibuprofen," she says.

Miller will spend the next year working for ahealth care policy research institute, and thenplans on applying to medical school, (Stanford,Harvard and Duke, in that order). Perhaps one dayshe will do battle with advocates of Olympic sextesting, a now common practice that Miller devotedher thesis to critiquing. She is also consideringsports medicine or orthopedic surgery. Maybe shewill vote for George W. Bush after all. For awoman who got used to assuming different roleswhile watching her mother, an English teacher,direct school plays, no play seems impossible.

"If you ask me about my identity," she says,"basketball is huge, but the best thing about thisplace is that I can have many niches.

"I learned that leadership's not that easy.You're not just concerned about your own personalperformance, you are worried about 14 otherpeople, and not just basketball but personallives. When you're losing it's hard to keep peopleexcited. But you have to remember you're notplaying for the championship: You're playingbecause you love it."

The Potomac, Md., native fell in the love withthe game playing CYO basketball at age six.Sisters Kristen, 28, and Andrea, 25, paved theway, but it was her father, a Bronx native and CYOcoach himself, who schooled Miller in the basics.And she needed the help. In the "hotbed ofbasketball" that is Washington, D.C,. high schoolathletics, games sold out and a host ofplayers--including five of the starters onMiller's team at Our Lady of Good Council--wentdivision one.

All of this fails to explain why Miller, whowas on the select state team every year of herhigh school career, and was recruited by NotreDame (her father and oldest sister's alma mater)and Georgetown (for volleyball), would chooseHarvard.

"I came here, I hadn't even filled out theadmissions questionnaire; I had no idea. I met[women's basketball coach] Kathy [Delaney-Smith]and I liked her...then we were sitting inPinochios and my Dad said, `Don't even think aboutit,'" she said, explaining that the expense,compared to scholarship offers from other schools,had both parents ready to pass up admission evenif Miller got in--a slim chance given that onlytwo other graduates from her high school had evermade it. "But I fell in love."

The feeling was mutual.

"It's very unusual for me to put someone at thetop of our list when as late as November they'reunsure (as she was) about whether she's playingvolleyball or basketball," Delaney Smith says ofMiller.

Due to competitiveness and overall level ofplay when Miller entered the program, she spenther first year at Harvard playing from the bench.However, Delaney Smith says the experience was aright of passage that Miller skipped through withease, playing her role to the team's overalladvantage and leaving the bench behind as asophomore.

"She always has a plan. She changes that plan alot, but she always has a plan," Delaney Smithsays.

As passionate about her first days at theCollege--she recalls listening to streetperformers from her Matthews Hall window seat--asshe is about her future career in medicine, Millersays she is eager to begin a life that will nolonger include daily court time.

"Your body hurts so bad after four years ofbasketball, it's nice to take a break and not haveyour shin splints hurt so bad you have to takefour ibuprofen," she says.

Miller will spend the next year working for ahealth care policy research institute, and thenplans on applying to medical school, (Stanford,Harvard and Duke, in that order). Perhaps one dayshe will do battle with advocates of Olympic sextesting, a now common practice that Miller devotedher thesis to critiquing. She is also consideringsports medicine or orthopedic surgery. Maybe shewill vote for George W. Bush after all. For awoman who got used to assuming different roleswhile watching her mother, an English teacher,direct school plays, no play seems impossible.

"If you ask me about my identity," she says,"basketball is huge, but the best thing about thisplace is that I can have many niches.