Exclusive: Duke Miles Reflects on Vanderbilt Basketball Career – Sports Illustrated

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It wasn’t as if Duke Miles was overly upbeat or entirely unbothered as he sat at his locker following Vanderbilt basketball’s greatest heartbreak, but he appeared to be at peace. Miles wasn’t tearing up or lost for words. 
He knew this was coming. 
Perhaps it ended more brutally than he hoped it would and had more of an emotional toll than he believed it would, but Miles had this day in mind for a long time. He wasn’t looking forward to it, but he knew it was coming. 
Miles knew he gave everything to this, too. When his season could’ve ended due to a meniscus surgery, he gutted it out and returned to the floor. Before that, he’d already been playing through significant pain. He was rewarded for his efforts with a season that was this program’s most successful in over a decade. 
“I didn’t want it to end because this is one of the best team best programs I've been a part of,” Miles told Vandy on SI. 
”Obviously, you can't stay in college forever, so I'm ready for my ultimate goal to play professionally.”
Miles would’ve been able to fulfill that goal in some form or fashion based off of his previous body of work as a largely-successful 3-and-D role player at Oklahoma. Now, though, he’s a significantly more attractive player as a result of his season at Vanderbilt.
The now-former Vanderbilt guard had proven himself as an SEC player and a go-to option at a midmajor. He’d yet to become a go-to guy at a power-five program, though. 
After his year at Vanderbilt, that mission has been accomplished. 
Miles averaged 16.1 points, 4.5 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 2.6 steals per game while shooting it 43.5% from the field. Had Miles not missed a number of games during league play, he likely would’ve landed on an All-SEC team of some sort. 
The signature performance of Miles’ tenure as Vanderbilt’s score-first two guard is decidedly his 30-point outing in Vanderbilt’s SEC Tournament win over SEC. Miles dedicated that performance to his late grandmother Terry Martin. Everything about the performance embodied what made Miles noteworthy in this place’s history. 
“I just want [the fanbase] to remember me as energetic,” Miles said, “Always had a smile on my face, a good loving and supportive kid.” 
However Miles is remembered around Vanderbilt, he won’t soon forget what the program did for him. The veteran guard had committed and decommitted from a few different schools in the transfer portal and was set to enroll at his fourth school. Others put a label on him, but Vanderbilt did extensive background research on Miles and came to the conclusion that he was a fit for it. 
As a result, it gave him a chance to form a legacy in his final college season while playing within driving distance of his family. Miles didn’t have his best as Vanderbilt lost to Nebraska in the Round of 32. But, in the moments following that disappointing outing, Miles remembered something else. 
Miles remembered all the good that came with his time in Nashville.  All the people. The coming out party he was a part of in Vanderbilt’s win over Alabama. The winning streaks. The way he was embraced. 
Vanderbilt was the place in which Miles was finally platformed to perform at the level he always knew he could. It was the place in which he was platformed to share more about the depth he has as a person and the people that are still on his heart. It was the place where Duke Miles truly felt like Duke Miles. 
“Vanderbilt was home for me,” Miles said. “I made a few stops–even Troy, which was 30, 40 minutes up the street, it wasn't home. Nashville, and Vanderbilt has become a home. I say that because of the community and the great fanbase here. We obviously got a Duke chant–Dukeeee. I couldn’t have asked for a better place.” 
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Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Basket Under Review and Mainstreet Nashville.
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