Who is he?:
Milos, a native of Wheeling, West Virginia, just completed his final season playing with the International Sports Academy at Andrews Osborne Academy (Willoughby, OH). ISA has 7-8 Division I prospects and has 5 high major Division I players. They finished the year at 22-12 overall playing a national schedule, in which they played 3 top 25 teams in the nation and over 10 that were ranked in the top 100. Merrick averaged 6.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.0 steals per game this year.
This past summer, Merrick only played 1 weekend of AAU with Indiana Blackout on the Adidas Gauntlet (now known as 3SSB), the remainder of the summer he worked on his game rather than playing AAU. There he played alongside multiple Division I and II prospects.
Milos is a 6'3" combo guard that can do a everything. He is capable of playing the 1 and the 2, although he is best used as a primary ball handler/distributor. Milos' shoots the mid range pull up extremely well and is a streaky 3 point shooter. He is capable of making shots off the catch or off the dribble. Milos' is a good finisher and uses the floater to his advantage to finish over bigger, more athletic defenders. He handles the ball well and deals with pressure well. Merrick has elite passing vision and delivers his passes on target. He is always looking to push the ball with the pass and he does a great job at setting teammates up for easy. looks. Merrick is an average rebounder, but he does a great job at finding his man and boxing out when the shot goes up allowing his teammates to get the rebound. Defensively he has improved so much, even just from the lone weekend of AAU that he played. He is a solid defender, but shows versatility on that end due to his length and strength, allowing him to guard 1-3 at the collegiate level.
When asked about his role on the team this year, the ISA staff responded,"Milo brought a competitive edge for us this year. He did a great job getting us into our offense as he knew all of our sets. Milo also thrived at finding others in transition."
"He truly loves the game and is a very unselfish player, sometimes too much so! He has good feel for where help is coming from and is able to make quick decisions," said his coaches.
Merrick says that the best part of playing high school basketball on the national level is,"meeting people from all over the world and having the opportunity to play with and against the best high school basketball players. I have played with about 10 players who either are or eventually will be in the NBA."
Watching him play this year, he reminded me of Lonzo Ball. Both see the floor extremely well, will always make the extra pass and can score when it is necessary. Merrick is a true PG.
Recruitment?:
Milos is still uncommitted and has been exploring the option of reclassifying to the 2021 class. He currently holds Division I interest from Ball State University, Belmont University, High Point University, Niagara University, Stetson University and Temple University.
