40 ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 3
f
kle the game before and came
back and scored 30-some points
on a team. It's her drive. When
she does something like that, it
makes me feel 10 times better
and want to play 10 times hard-
er. She never gives up. Her work
ethic is amazing. It's so great.
For her to do all that stuff, it en-
courages me more to work even
harder."
They've been going strong
like that for years. They were 12,
about four years ago, when they
joined FCC Southeast Elite, an
AAU powerhouse in Atlanta, and
right away, Harmon said, the tal-
ent level was evident.
"With Miracle, it's pedigree,"
he said of Gray, whose sister An-
gel Gray played at Florida State, while Morgan played
at James Madison. "You knew the work ethic was
there, the basketball IQ was coming.
"And if you looked at Dominique, just her bounce
and athletic demeanor, you could tell that was going
to be a top kid as long
as she kept working.
We're pretty much a
training program, so
our goal after getting
them was to keep them
in the gym."
They've stayed there.
In a couple years, the
gym will move north to
Mackey Arena, but they
have plenty of time un-
til then, with the finish
of their junior seasons,
then another summer
AAU circuit togeth-
er, before their senior
years. They'll sign in
November.
It gives them plenty
of time to realize that
they journey together isn't even close to over.
"It's surreal," Gray said. "I didn't have any words. All
I could do was give her a hug (when she committed).
… But as each day goes by, we just want to work hard-
er and harder, so that we'll be prepared for the next
level."
j
Oden's a combo guard, playing off the ball, generally, during the AAU season but at
the point for her high school team.
