CINCINNATI — Hometown hero Miles McBride won back-to-back state championships at Moeller High School and is now two wins away from being an NBA champion.
“A lot of emotions, mostly when I watch him play. I’m nervous like a dad. I want him to do so well,” Head Coach Carl Kremer said.
Longtime Moeller head basketball coach Carl Kremer has coached a lot of talent in his day. But he says no one is quite like McBride.
“You knew there was something special with Miles. It’s hard to describe the way he carried himself, the confidence he had, the humility with the confidence, was unusual to me to see in high school ball,” Kremer explained.
“Nobody impacted winning, and to me, winning is doing it right. Nobody did that better than Miles McBride,” Kremer said.
The Crusaders only lost one game he played in throughout his high school career. Winning state titles in his junior and senior seasons, the last of which Moeller went undefeated.
Kremer says that through it all, McBride stayed humble, something that hasn’t changed even since he turned pro.
“I remember all-star weekend two years ago, were playing over at La Salle, and you know NBA guys at all-star weekend there going to Jamaica, going to Vegas, I get that, and I look up and there is Miles walking in to our game Friday night on the only weekend he is free, comes in the locker room and talks to the kids,” Kremer continued.
Senior Riley McQueen says watching McBride’s success is motivating him to follow in his footsteps.
“Knowing he came from this school and all the things he did, I worked out with him before, he is a good person, greeted everybody, doesn’t have ego or anything, just a great person,” Senior, Moeller High School Riley McQueen said.
Maxwell Land played on both those championship teams with McBride. He says he’s in awe watching his friend’s dream become reality.
“One of the coolest things I ever experienced, you know me and Miles go way back, to see one of my really good friends that I spent a lot of hours in here with, is truly cool,” McBride’s high school teammate Maxwell Land said.
The Knicks are two wins away from a championship, and Kremer is hoping McBride can bring a title back to New York.
“It’s really the intangibles that have allowed him to have this career and put him on the doorstep of maybe being an NBA champion. We’re praying,” Kremer concluded.