Miller, Williams sign with Gold Rush May 8, 2009   NEW ORLEANS -- Kevin Miller of Baton Rouge, La., and Jimmy Williams of Milwaukee, Wis., have signed men's basketball scholarships with Xavier University of Louisiana. Head coach Dannton Jackson announced the signings Friday. Six have signed this spring with the Gold Rush. Miller, a 6-foot-3 guard, averaged a team-leading 15 points and seven rebounds per game and shot 66.3 percent from the floor for Baton Rouge's Catholic High School this past season. Miller was voted most valuable player in District 5-5A and in the Louisiana High School Coaches Association All-Star Game, when he scored 17 points to lead the East to a 98-74 victory against the West on March 21. Miller was All-Metro as a senior, the 5-5A defensive MVP as a junior and played split end and defense on the Bears' football team. He helped Catholic's basketball team go 80-24 and win three district championships the past three seasons. "Kevin is very versatile, very athletic and a hard-nosed player," Jackson said. "He played forward in high school, but I don't think he'll have trouble playing guard because he's a quick learner and has a great work ethic." Miller will be the first Gold Rush basketball player from Baton Rouge since guard Sam Butler (Southern Lab) in 1998-99. Miller is the second from the Baton Rouge metro area to sign this year; he joins guard Brandon Morris of Sorrento and St. Amant High. Williams, a 6-8 forward, will be a sophomore at Xavier this fall after transferring from Hill College in Hillsboro, Texas. He averaged 5.8 points and 3.7 rebounds as a freshman at Hill in 2007-08 and led the team with 12 blocked shots. He shot 53 percent from the floor that season. "Jimmy is athletic and will be a great presence inside," Jackson said. "He can rebound well and block shots, and he can step out and hit a mid-range jumper too. He'll give us some size we haven't had in a while." Williams is a Custer High School alum and the first Gold Rush basketball player from Milwaukee since forward Karega McCollum (Marshall) in 1999-2000. Xavier is an NAIA Division I member which finished 19-12 in 2008-09 and tied for fourth place in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference. The Gold Rush's 25 seasons of 20 or more victories are the most in the history of Louisiana men's collegiate basketball. Jackson's Xavier teams reached 20 victories in five of his first six seasons.