Dec 24, 2011
By Jim Muir
Following Cobden’s loss in the regional basketball tournament in February 2010 RJ Millis immediately started looking forward to his senior season where he would be the lone returning starter for the Appleknockers.
While many area basketball players will marvel at how quickly their final season of basketball went by Millis can literally say that his flew by almost in the blink of an eye.
Well, to be exact … Millis’ season lasted 32 seconds.
Cobden was pitted against the top-ranked Egyptian Pharaohs in the opening game of the 37th Annual Christopher Turkey Tournament. Egyptian got the opening tip and scored quickly and the ball was quickly inbounded to Millis who was immediately met with pressure from the vaunted Egyptian press.
Millis can describe his entire season second-by-second.
“I caught the ball and dribbled to the left side of the floor and they (Egyptian) were pressuring us so I crossed over and went to the right side because I saw an opening,” Millis recalls. “When I got right in front of the scorer’s table I stopped and planted my foot and I knew I was going to have to ball-fake if I had any chance of getting a pass through. When I planted my foot my shoe stuck and then when I turned my body back it twisted and I felt my knee ‘pop’ and there was a lot of pain. I knew it was hurt badly.”
Millis left the game and was taken to the emergency room where he was examined but no diagnosis was given. He was told he needed an MRI which later showed that he had torn cartilage in his knee that would require surgery to repair.
Millis, who only plays basketball, said his preparation for his senior season started back in the summer.
“We would come in a couple nights a week and work out and scrimmage,” he said. “Of course all that was to get better and stronger for the upcoming season. I went to a couple of basketball camps in the summer and then we did more conditioning in October than we have ever done. I think we were in the best shape coming into the season that we had ever been in.”
Cobden coach Rhett Barke said the injury took away his floor general and team leader.
“This summer we used our contact days to the max, we went to a shootout and even held a three-day camp where we brought some outside coaches in and worked on different drills,” said Barke. “Conditioning-wise RJ is probably one of the most fit basketball kids I’ve had in a long time. He is the kid that pushed everybody else and when people thought they couldn’t go any more he was right there to tell them that they could.”
Barke said despite losing Millis’ basketball skills his senior point guard is still pushing his teammates.
“Even though he has no shot of playing this year he makes sure he is at every practice, he is in every huddle, at every halftime and he has certainly not given up on his team,” said Barke. “That speaks volumes about what kind of teammate he is and it shows he is still definitely our leader. And it’s tough when your leader goes out and you have to scramble to find out what the rest of the team is made of and we’re still searching for that a little.”
Barke said Millis’ injury at the 7:28 mark of the first quarter of the first game also has shaped the season for the Appleknockers.
“He was definitely our leader on the floor and I can’t force it on somebody else to take over that role even though I’ve tried every day since the injury,” said Barke. “It takes more than me saying ‘I want you to be the leader’ … it takes a mental desire to step up and assume that role.”
When asked to explain his feelings about the hard work, preparation and anticipation of his senior season only to have it last 32 seconds, Millis’ answer was tinged in disappointment but also showed resilience and maturity.
“It’s a bummer, any way you look at it, and I was extremely disappointed when it first happened,” said Millis. “But, there is nothing I can do to change what happened and I have really tried to be positive. I’ve gone to all the games and I still go to all the practices. I still want the team to have a good season so I just try and help Coach Barke any way I can. I try to be there and do all that I can to help my team.”
Millis said he will attend Shawnee Community College after graduation and is considering walking on at the junior college to try and resume his basketball career.
“It really depends on how my recovery goes,” said Millis. “I’d love to try and walk on and play basketball again but right now I just have to see how things go.”
