Unexpected finish: Wayer has worthwhile journey at UIndy

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Former Mt. Vernon standout Miles Wayer had his collegiate basketball career come to an abrupt end when the NCAA cancelled the remainder of the 2019-20 season. UIndy Athletics

HANCOCK COUNTY — It wasn’t the ending he had planned, but the trip was quite fulfilling.

Like so many athletes across the nation, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Miles Wayer had his collegiate basketball career come to an abrupt end.

Wayer, a former standout guard for Mt. Vernon High School, was a senior at the University of Indianapolis.

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The Greyhounds were having one of the better seasons among NCAA Division-II men’s basketball programs. They were making their first trip to the national tournament since going on a six-year tourney run from 2011-16. They were 24-6 and selected as a top-seed and host of one of eight regional tournaments.

They were going to be a legit contender to win the school’s first-ever national title.

Wayer said it was a rollercoaster week at UIndy, from learning on Sunday, March 8 they were going to be host and top-seed in the Midwest Regional to hearing their season was over on March 12.

“I completely understand. These are unprecedented times, but I hate the way it happened,” Wayer said.

Wayer was one of six seniors on the Greyhounds roster and one of three that had used their entire four years of eligibility wearing the school’s crimson and grey.

Though the finality couldn’t have been planned, it was having a plan that helped Wayer land at the University of Indianapolis.

Wrapping up his senior season at Mt. Vernon, Wayer was determined to play college basketball at the highest level possible. His offers were from NCAA Division-III programs, which do not offer athletic scholarships, and NAIA schools, but he had aspirations of playing at a higher level.

His brother, Taylor Wayer, had the experience of being a walk-on at Indiana University, so Miles was knowledgeable on what it takes to play as a non-scholarship player at a scholarship school.

He knew the walk-on route was tough and there were no guarantees he’d ever see the floor.

“When I was a senior in high school, I wanted to play for a successful, winning program,” Miles said. “Coach (Stan) Gouard had made University of Indianapolis a national power, and I wanted to be part of a winning culture and winning tradition.”

That was his plan, he had visited UIndy, loved the campus and thought it was a great fit, but two weeks before graduating he still didn’t have any offers from UIndy or any other Division-I or Division-II program. With the help of then-Mt. Vernon coach Travis Daugherty, Wayer got an invite to an open gym at UIndy.

There was a Div.-I recruit at the open gym, too, plus Wayer had the task of a head-to-head matchup with UIndy’s former point guard who had graduated the season before.

Wayer recalled the veteran tried to post him up, bully him in the paint, but he was having nothing of that. “I shoved him out of the post. I didn’t score a lot, but I was busting my butt, talking on the floor, high-fiving guys,” he recalled.

“When open gym ended they wanted to meet with me instead of the D-I guy,” he said.

An assistant coach told Wayer that Gouard was impressed and that they had told the D-I kid they weren’t interested. They wanted Wayer to be a Greyhound, though they couldn’t guarantee a scholarship.

“The D-I kid was physically more gifted, but Miles made his open shots and showed his leadership,” Gouard said of the open gym that opened his eyes to the former Marauder. “He came in here looking for an opportunity and said he wanted to play basketball at the highest level he could.

“I asked him what he wanted to do and he had a plan. He had goals mapped out for his career after college and I wanted to be a part of his life.”

Wayer was a walk-on, just like his older brother. He knew the ropes.

“Coach G said he wasn’t going to play guys just because they were on scholarship and I said, ‘Honestly, coach, that’s all I need to hear. I’ll give my best.”

He did just that.

That first year he was part of what Gouard called, “The Bench Mob.” They waved towels and encouraged teammates. Playing time was few and far between.

During that rookie season, Wayer got in just 11 games, but due to a late-season injury to the team’s shooting guard, he got significant minutes in the team’s opening-round Great Lakes Valley Conference game against Missouri-St. Louis. He hit a pair of 3-pointers, showing when he was called he could perform.

He played a little bit more as a sophomore, but as a junior he found himself in the Greyhounds’ regular rotation, averaging 4.2 points per game and getting 16.5 minutes a contest.

It impressed enough to earn the Mt. Vernon grad a scholarship.

A different style of play and a nagging knee injury kept Wayer from playing much as a senior, but his contribution to the program was well-noted by Gouard and staff as they named the McCordsville native a team captain for the final season.

His on-court time was limited, but Wayer was a big part of this year’s success.

Gouard said he got a good look at his senior’s leadership skills this season and believes his captain has a great future in coaching.

On timeouts, Gouard would give Wayer the first part of the break to talk to the five on the floor.

“During timeouts, Miles would be the first one to get to the players,” Gouard said. “I saw that and I pulled him aside and said, ‘You get the first 15-20 seconds, and I’ll go from there.

“He’d give constructive criticism. He’d tell them when they were playing (poorly).”

Gouard recalled a late season pivotal game where Wayer met the guys coming off the floor and told them, “‘You guys need to listen to Coach.’ When they came to me, they were all locked in.”

The Greyhounds won that game, part of their regular season-ending eight-game winning streak.

Gouard said he hasn’t seen too many players over the years that accepted the role from being a regular rotation player to not playing quite like Wayer.

“He not only accepted it. He embraced it,” the coach said.

The senior captain had told his coach he was more about the team success. “I had my moments and if I have my moments again, I’ll be ready. I didn’t want him to think I’d be on the bench pouting,” he said.

That next call to the floor didn’t come.

Instead, the season ended before anyone could have imagined.

“I look back to see where I started, from a walk-on and just a practice player to be a team captain my senior year,” Wayer said.

“The four years have been awesome. I played for a great program and a phenomenal head coach. He believed in me when no one else did, and I can’t thank him enough.”

Wayer believed in the program and believed his club that won the final eight regular-season games and finished 24-6 on the year were on their way to a historic tournament run.

“I know in my mind, our team’s mind and the coaches’ minds, we were the best team in the country. I believed we were going to win the national championship.”