Miller claims Ivy honor in first year as Columbia starter

For three years, Jason Miller waited for his opportunity.

For three straight seasons, Miller, a high school all-star from Ohio, sat on the end of the bench, playing sparingly while Columbia’s established frontcourt duo of John Baumann and Ben Nwachukwu never missed a beat. In his fourth and final year, the six-foot eight-inch forward finally got his chance after Baumann and Nwachukwu graduated.

In his first and only year as a starter, it would be hard to argue that Miller didn’t make the most of his opportunity.

After a season in which he led the Lions in points, rebounds, blocks, and field goal percentage, Miller was named to the All-Ivy League second team. It was the senior’s first All-Ivy selection, capping a career year in which he averaged 11 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in Ivy play.

Miller was the only Columbia player to receive a spot on an All-Ivy team. Cornell led the way on the first team with forward Ryan Wittman and point guard Louis Dale both earning the honor for a second consecutive year. Rounding out the top five were Harvard guard Jeremy Lin, Brown forward Matt Mullery, and Dartmouth forward and Ivy League Player of the Year Alex Barnett. Barnett and Wittman were the only unanimous selections.

For Barnett, his 2008-09 season was arguably the best in the history of the program, with the senior leading the Big Green in just about every statistical category. Barnett is only the second Dartmouth player in the history of the league to win the MVP award, joining Larry Lawrence in 1981. In addition to his first-team spot and Player of the Year accolades, Barnett led the league in scoring, the first Big Green player to do so since Shaun Gee in 1998.

Rounding out the second team alongside Miller were Cornell center Jeff Foote, Harvard point guard Drew Housman, and a pair of Yale players, forward Ross Morin and guard Travis Pinick. Foote also won the inaugural Defensive Player of the Year award after leading the conference in rebounds and blocks.

Columbia’s best chance of picking up an additional award was in Rookie of the Year balloting in which freshman guard Noruwa Agho was locked in competition with Cornell’s Chris Wroblewski and Princeton’s Doug Davis. Ultimately, Wroblewski took home the award after averaging eight points and three rebounds per game in league play. Wroblewski is the third Cornell player in the last four years to win Rookie of the Year, joining Adam Gore and Wittman. Penn’s Tyler Bernardini won the award last season.

Miller’s All-Ivy selection marks the fifth straight season in which a Columbia forward has earned the honor. Baumann was named to the All-Ivy first team in 2008 and 2007 and to the second team in 2006 while Matt Preston earned second-team honors in 2005.