University of Kentucky men’s basketball senior guard Darius Miller addressed the local media today about his trip to China with the USA team at the World University Games. The USA team finished in fifth place in the tournament. Here are some quick notes from the presser. Video from the presser can be found here.

Miller feels he’s ahead of schedule going into seasonMiller stressed throughout the presser that he feels as though he’s gotten a jump start to the season thanks to his participation in the World University Games. By going up against some of the best collegiate players in the country in practice every day and playing against elite international competition, Miller said he feels like he’s ahead of schedule.As opposed to pick-up games where defense is really optional and players are more or less going through the motions, Miller faced the real deal at the World University Games.”We did a lot of stuff conditioning-wise, I feel like my body is pretty good right now,” Miller said. “… Playing at that high level, I feel like the season’s already started for me.”To have Miller, the veteran with the most game minutes under his belt on the team, feeling like he’s already in this form is a great thing for the Cats because the younger guys will be able to better see what college ball is like.Miller looking to improve leadership by example in 2011-12Staying with the younger guys, one thing I thought was very interesting about the presser today was when Miller talked about last year’s team. As we all know, the 2010-11 squad really stepped up at the end of the season en route to making it to Kentucky’s first Final Four since 1998. Well, Miller said last year’s upperclassmen, himself included, did not do a great job at being leaders by example.”This is my fourth year,” Miller said. “I know what to expect. I know how intense it’s going to be. I know what it takes for us to be a really successful team. I have to instill that in the team in the early going, which I don’t think I did very well last year.”I don’t think we worked as hard as we should have at the beginning of the season,” Miller continued. “Not saying we didn’t work hard, but it takes a lot to get where we got last year. We didn’t do a good job of leading by example — the older guys, anyway. We need to do more of that.”Miller and Eloy Vargas will be Kentucky’s lone two seniors this year. After having been to the Elite Eight and Final Four in each of the past two seasons, Miller’s words should carry a lot of weight to the younger guys.By all accounts, UK head coach John Calipari’s third slew of elite freshmen are complete gym rats and love to work out and fine tune their games. That is a good start, but as Miller was saying, to have a veteran who can show the younger guys the ropes throughout the year would prove to be invaluable.SEC shines at World University GamesAt the World University Games, the US team was led in scoring by a pair of Southeastern Conference players, Vanderbilt sharp shooter John Jenkins (13.5 ppg), and Alabama big man JaMychal Green (12.6). The production from the two first team All-SEC performers points to the development of the conference in basketball.”We’re definitely a real competitive league,” Miller said. “John’s a great scorer, he can shoot the ball really well. As far as JaMychal, he just dominated, really. He’s such a strong guy in the post, he really dominated in the post.”In Dick Vitale’s preseason top 40 (yes, it’s way too early to have a preseason list), four SEC teams are listed in the top 12, with Kentucky checking in at No. 2, Vanderbilt at No. 5, Florida at No. 10 and Alabama at No. 12.