FORT MYERS, Fla. – Redshirt sophomore guard Franco Miller, Jr. (Freeport, Bahamas/Crestwood Prep/Ole Miss), has been granted a NCAA waiver for immediate eligibility as announced by FGCU men's basketball head coach Michael Fly today.
 
Miller transferred to FGCU in June after attending Ole Miss during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons.
 
"Having Franco be immediately eligible is a big boost to our line-up this season and adds another veteran player who has experience in high-level competition," said Fly. "As a mature player, this announcement helps Franco stay in his basketball timeline without being away from game competition for a year and strengthens our backcourt for the foreseeable future when you look at our roster make-up."
 
In his two seasons at Ole Miss, Miller redshirted as a true freshman during the 2018-19 campaign and played in 19 games last year. He averaged 7.3 minutes per game with season-highs of four points against Arkansas State and six rebounds against Texas A&M. He played 24 minutes against Arkansas and drew his lone start of the year against Florida.
 
The Rebels boasted a veteran backcourt in 2019-20 including Breein Tyree who was second in the SEC in scoring during the conference slate (22.2 points per game) and earned NABC All-District First Team honors.
 
Miller was highly recruited out of Crestwood Prep in Toronto, Ontario. There he averaged 25.8 points, six rebounds, 5.2 assists and 3.3 steals per game. He twice scored more than 40 points in a game en route to being named to the All-Canada NPA First Team and the All-CISAA First Team. Prior to his senior campaign at Crestwood, Miller led Tabernacle Baptist Academy to a runner-up finish in the Bahamas National High Schools Basketball Championship and a Grand Bahama Secondary Schools Sports Association title.
 
Miller is one of six newcomers for the Eagles' roster heading into the 2020-21 season and is the second player coming in who has Division I experience alongside graduate transfer Eli Abaev (Deerfield Beach/Zion Luthern HS/Eastern Florida State) from Austin Peay. The class is also built around the quartet of forward Zach Anderson (Orlando, FL/Apopka HS), guard Dom London (Christiana, PA/Octorara HS/Harcum College), guard Luis Rolon (Ponce, Puerto Rico/Central Pointe Christian Academy), and guard Victor Rosa (Naranjito, Puerto Rico/Central Pointe Christian Academy) who all signed during last November's early period.
 
FGCU will enter the 2020-21 campaign with 70-percent of its scoring back in the line-up along with seven players who saw significant action in 25-or-more games during the 2019-20 season. That total alone puts FGCU ahead of this past year where the Eagles had just 22-percent of its scoring coming back and three players who saw key minutes.
 
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COACH FLY
Michael Fly was introduced as the fourth FGCU men's basketball head coach on April 5, 2018. He had spent the previous seven years as an assistant coach on the Eagles' staff. In his time with the Eagles, he helped FGCU to a 164-108 record (.618 winning percentage), including six ASUN Tournament Final appearances, three NCAA Tournament victories, three ASUN Tournament titles and three ASUN Regular Season Championships, two berths in the NIT, a CIT appearance and a run to the Sweet 16. He has coached 13 all-conference selections while with the Green and Blue, including two ASUN Player of the Year honors in Sherwood Brown and Brandon Goodwin, two ASUN Defensive Player of the Year selections in Bernard Thompson and Demetris Morant and one ASUN Newcomer of the Year in Schadrac Casimir. Of the top-10 players in career points at FGCU, Fly has helped develop eight of them, including all-time leading scorer Thompson (1,835). Additionally, the Kentucky alumnus has coached both the ASUN all-time assists leader Brett Comer (845; 24th in NCAA history) and FGCU all-time leading rebounder Chase Fieler (714).
 
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
 
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 82 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 13 seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 38 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Seven FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport – including women's basketball (No. 24, 2019-20) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as three of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate (APR) in their sport and have had the highest percentage of teams so honored from these two groups over each of the past three years. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.46 GPA in the classroom in the spring 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 22 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall and 2020 Spring semesters each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 – being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
 
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