Although he was certainly a veteran during the 2010-11 season, Darius Miller wasn’t comfortable in a leadership role for much of his junior year. Miller knew the things a leader should be saying and when they needed to be said from his first two years at UK, but he wasn’t quite ready to step up and say them.Miller learned leadership from players like Jodie Meeks, Patrick Patterson and John Wall. He saw how they approached their teammates when something needed to be said, but he also noticed something else and it happened to be what was holding him back from being the leader so many wanted him to be.”You have to do a good job of leading by example before you can say anything,” Miller said. “You can’t be talking to your teammates and telling them what to do if you’re not doing it. They’ll just look at you like you’re crazy.”Midway through last season, Miller had certainly shown flashes of being able to lead by example. He teased fans, teammates and coaches with stellar games like his 17-point outing against Tennessee as a freshman and 20-point explosion in the NCAA Tournament against Wake Forest. Before January 2011 though, Miller had yet to string together consecutive double figure scoring performances in his entire career.During SEC play and the Wildcats’ run in the SEC and NCAA tournaments, that all changed. Miller had two separate double figuring scoring streaks of five and 10 games. Over the final 23 games of the year, he averaged 12 points per game and earned Most Valuable Player honors at the SEC Tournament. As his production became more consistent, he emerged as a leader as well.”Me upping my game, that allowed me to be more of a leader because instead of just saying things, I was actually doing what I was telling everyone else to do,” Miller said.Full of the confidence earned over the second half of last season, Miller won’t have any qualms about speaking up and leading in 2011-12.”I’m very comfortable with it,” Miller said. “I know I have to do that for us to be a successful team. We have a lot of young guys and I have to do a better job than I have in the past of being a leader and being more vocal.”Miller has the added advantage of having watched two different freshman classes arrive on campus to play for John Calipari. The group featuring Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe raced out to a 19-0 start, but there’s a lesson from last year that he will be looking to help apply above all others.”Everybody has to be on the same page,” Miller said. “I think it took a little while for that to happen last year and that’s why we struggled a little bit early. I think once we all got on the same page and focused on, we could play with the best of them.”While last year’s group received attention for its offensive efficiency and shooting ability, Miller remembers clearly what carried the Wildcats in their postseason run.”A lot of people talk about the dribble drive and all that, but we were successful last year when we were a defensive team,” Miller said.Holding the team back at times on defense was a lack of depth. With only six or seven players playing major minutes a year ago, there were games when the Cats’ shallow bench came back to bite them. With four talented freshmen being added to a group headlined by Miller and returning sophomores Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb, Miller sees a weakness turning into a strength in 2011-12.”Last year, there were times when we were just fatigued,” Miller said. “This year, with the depth we have we’re going to do a great job of evening it out and everybody’s going to be a big part of the team.”All that talent likely means the Wildcats will go from the underdog role they thrived in during last year’s tournament to heavy favorites much like the 2009-10 team. Miller remembers how opponents came after them when they were ranked in the top five all that season and he sees things being much the same this year.”We have to come out every single game ready to play,” Miller said. “We’re going to have a target on our backs, especially with the hype they put behind us. We’re going to get everybody’s best shot.”The way Patterson, Wall, Cousins and company responded to the target that was perpetually on their backs was to embrace it with a sense of confidence and a swagger that came to identify them. If Miller has anything to say about it, and he assuredly will, expect a reprisal of that response.”We are looking forward to it,” Miller said. “We know it’s a challenge, but we have a lot of competitive people in here so I think we’ll be just fine.”