Duke Miles' Late Best Friend Is Always With Him. So is His Ultimate Confidence.
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OKLAHOMA CITY—Masked by the Vanderbilt jersey he dawns is a tattoo that’s hiding in plain sight; it’s red and has four numbers engraved in a line to spell out the No. 1000. On the surface, it looks like an effort from Miles to demonstrate self expression. Miles, though, wants you to know about the tattoo and every piece of its meaning for a different reason.
Miles and all of his senior year teammates at Robert E. Lee High School have the same tattoo–which symbolizes a basketball club they were a part of alongside Smith–around their left arms to honor their former teammate Jamari “Chop” Smith, who passed away on May 27, 2020 in a drowning incident.
The Vanderbilt guard says Smith was his best friend.
Smith had just graduated from Lee High and was set to play football at UAB, but it was all stripped from him. Miles’ late friend also could do it on the basketball court, Miles said. Smith–who Miles affectionately called Pork Chop–always told him that they were the best duo in the state of Alabama and that they were going to win a championship by the time their paths overlapped.
The thing that gives Miles peace as he thinks back on his friendship with Smith; they did it.
Miles can still smile thinking about how he and Smith went out state champions in their final high school season together. He can’t call him anymore, though. He’ll never be able to see him again on this earth, either. The reality is sobering, even all these years later.
“He’s very important, very special to me,” Miles told Vandy on SI. “It took a toll on me, especially since he was going to do something special. It was a very deep thing trying to go into college, too. It’s a little bit of a sentimental topic, but it’s okay.”
Miles first met Smith when they were kindergarteners. Ever since, he’s always been special to Miles. The Vanderbilt guard remembers Smith’s constant support and the way he inspired him. Smith isn’t here anymore, but he was too much of a presence in Miles’ life for him to let his old friend slip his mind.
The tattoo rests between a few Kobe Bryant quotes, Bible verses and script with his mom’s name on it. Miles’ passion radiates as he describes what this particular one means to him, though. It’s still difficult for him to talk about the searing loss of his old friend, but he’s proud that he’s able to share his memory.
Miles chooses to remember the good and honor it.
The card that Miles has been dealt has been unfair, cruel and has been enough to make a young person question what they’ve done to deserve everything that’s been thrown at them over the years.
Vanderbilt's veteran guard was nearly forced to medically retire at Troy before reviving his career at High Point. The cruel feeling of being so close to achieving his dreams and finding his way as a go-to guy at a power-five program was cast upon him at Oklahoma. College basketball has provided Miles more adversity than he ever would have asked for, but it can’t be cruel enough to crack the top two of the most difficult circumstances he’s faced.
Miles’ loss of his grandmother Terry Martin–who he says was his “whole heart”--threatened to break him ahead of his final college basketball season. Martin taught Miles the foundation of what he’d learn about this cruel, but lifegiving game he loves. Smith and Martin have different roles in Miles’ life, but his life–and career–wouldn’t be the same without either.
The loss of Smith was the first of the two, though, and forced him to learn what grieving would require of him.
“I got through it by trying to be there for his mom, sister and just having my support system, having my mom,” Miles said. “My teammates [helped me] because we won a championship, my senior year, and that's the last thing we have. That's the last memorable thing that I have for him.”
It’s not as if it makes this all easier, but Miles has had more practice than just about anyone in college basketball with commemorating loss and honoring memories. The title is one that Miles hoped to avoid, but it’s one that he’s taken in stride.
That doesn’t make loss any less gut wrenching, but it allows Miles to use the circumstance to wrap his arms around others. That’s who Miles is. That’s how he wants to be remembered by the time his career at Vanderbilt is over.
“As much stuff as Dude just had to deal with, he never changes how he treats other people and how he is, which is something I respect the hell out of him for,” Vanderbilt wing Tyler Nickel told Vandy on SI. “He’s still a top notch individual.”
Nickel says that he and Miles have bonded over their shared experiences that involve losing a close high school friend as well as what Nickel refers to as similar family situations. He says that it’s easy to talk to someone who gets “it.”
And if anyone does, Miles does.
A less sentimental, deep conversation with Miles is somewhat predictable. It starts with some sort of warm welcome. Miles will seemingly always thoughtfully answer and show respect to any question he’s asked. At the end, he’ll shake hands.
Miles doesn’t wear the idea that he’s been beaten down by loss on his sleeve, but he knows that to be true. The losses stick with him to this day, but he knows that Smith and Martin wouldn’t want him to be defined by them.
And Miles isn’t.
“He's definitely the light that lights up the room,” Vanderbilt forward AK Okereke told Vandy on SI. “Super vibrant, very loud personality, but in the best way. He's the type of guy that if you're having a bad day and he walks in, it'll probably take about five minutes to just kind of snap out a bit.”
That person that Okereke describes is the type of person that Smith knew before his tragic passing. It’s a person that Smith would be proud to know if he were still on earth these days. Miles has exceeded the status he held as a lightly-recruited midmajor guard at the time of Smith’s death, but he hasn’t forgotten about his old friend.
Doing that would be off brand for the Vanderbilt standout.
“He’s a very loyal person,” Miles' father Marcus told Vandy on SI during the regular season. “I know the work he puts in, I know what he fights through on a day-to-day basis, injuries or sicknesses and stuff like that. So it's extremely fulfilling to me to actually see him play a big game.”
Saturday, Miles will play in what is perhaps the biggest game of his college basketball career to date as Vanderbilt looks for a trip to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament against Nebraska. The Vanderbilt guard will have as much gravity as just about anyone on Saturday.
As his jersey flaps on and off of his chest, the national TV cameras may pick up the red numbering between his chest and left shoulder. Miles would like that, particularly if it comes while he’s running the show on the way to a Vanderbilt win.
Smith would likely believe that Miles was going to do it. Miles does, too. How could he not after his best friend showed all that belief in him years ago? How could he have survived the searing pain of loss that came with Smith’s devastating death?
“There’s a lot of things that you might have fear about,” Miles said. “You never know when your last game is gonna be, so I put my faith in God and put all my trust in him, man.”
_(1)-b3e453dfe426b2dd4b83a12540ebdb37.jpeg "Joey Dwyer")
Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Basket Under Review and Mainstreet Nashville.
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