SAN ANTONIO | After playing at Parkview HS outside Atlanta his first three years, Miles Kelly decided to transfer to Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia for his final season. There, he shined under coach Thomas Messinger, helping lead his team to a 31-1 record, averaging 17.3 points per game.
Kelly then decided to return close to home at Georgia Tech as a 4-star recruit with more than 10 scholarship offers from schools throughout the Southeast. Auburn wasn't one of them, but when the Stone Mountain, Ga., native entered the transfer portal following the 2023-24 season, it didn't take long for Bruce Pearl and the Tigers to get him in an Auburn jersey.
It was the closeness that he felt on the Plains that made up the guard's mind.
"One of the biggest things of me coming here was just how they treated everybody like family, and once you get in that circle, I mean, it's just a huge big family," Kelly said.
Now, Kelly is on the biggest stage in college basketball as No. 1 overall seed Auburn takes on fellow No. 1 seed Florida on Saturday in the Final Four. Known as a scorer when he arrived, Kelly has improved in every aspect of his game, including one that Pearl and his coaching staff prioritize: defense.
"I just think the main thing here for me defensively, they really put an emphasis on defense and teaching me a lot of defensive principles and stuff that they go by," he said. "I think defensively, I've really taken that step in terms of my game and as a player, and I think that's really something that BP, the coaching staff, has really helped me grow my game."
Alongside Denver Jones and Tahaad Pettiford, Kelly will face one of the best guards in the nation in Florida's Walter Clayton Jr. in the Alamodome. Clayton and the Gators got the best of the Tigers on February 8, taking down Auburn in Neville Arena 90-81.
That game and the matchup against Clayton on Saturday have made it personal.
"I think the best thing we've done since March, we've really taken our matchups personally and locking the other team down, and that's something that we have to do Saturday is make their guards uncomfortable, and it starts with the guards," Kelly said.
Watching film from the February matchup earlier this week also made Kelly realize what was on the line for him and the Tigers.
"It really sunk into me that we're one game away from the national championship," he said." I'm so grateful, grateful and blessed for this moment."
When Kelly decided to transfer from Georgia Tech to Auburn, games like this were on his mind and, if he can say so himself, in his expectations.
"This is exactly what I wanted and expected for this season, how this season to go," he said. "I knew we could do some special things and I knew a national championship was very achievable for us coming in."
