This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

While the Runnin' Utes were going from 15-18 to No. 13 in the nation, 2013 signee Brandon Miller went from Utah to Idaho to Buenos Aires, back to Utah, to the Bronx and Manhattan, and back home.

Miller sat in the Huntsman Center on Thursday night, watching what he'd expected to see when he began racking up frequent flier miles two years ago.

"I knew I was signing into a program with a bright future," said Miller, a prized recruit who returned from his LDS mission last week and will enroll in May and join Larry Krystkowiak's program on scholarship as a 6-foot-2 combo guard.

Following his graduation from Brighton — which he led to the state championship game as a senior while leading the state in scoring — Miller rejected an offer to forgo his mission and play professionally in Switzerland.

His call was to Buenos Aires. But first, his visa was delayed. Miller spent four months in Idaho Falls before receiving permission to live in Argentina.

When he arrived there, he found himself in "a whole 'nother world," he said, realizing quickly that his Spanish wasn't as fluent as he thought and witnessing impoverishment around the Argentine capital.

He came to be especially grateful for the soft carpet, clean bathroom and big bed he had at home.

But he also came to love Argentina, he said — at least until about six months in, when he was bitten by bed bugs and made the mistake of scratching the itch.

The bites became boils, which then spread to cover almost his entire body. He estimates he spent four straight days in the bathroom, shedding pounds freely until his eventual return to the U.S.

It took him seven weeks to recover from the staph infection. Or, at least, to persuade his doctor to let him return to service in New York.

He then went to Newburgh, about 60 miles north of the city, and spent the summer in the South Bronx's Hunts Point area before finishing his mission work in north Manhattan.

Miller and his companions held gym memberships and woke at 5:30 a.m. four times per week to work out, and they used spare time on preparation days — set aside for laundry, grocery shopping and the like — to play in Bronx-area parks.

Asked if opposing teams thought they'd make mincemeat of the missionaries, Miller laughed: "That's exactly how it worked, and it was a lot of fun."

Later, in Manhattan, he and his companions hosted a basketball night at the church every Thursday for about 30 youths.

So he's not starting from scratch back at Utah, he said.

Monday, he began training with former Utah and Oakland Raiders tight end John Madsen, who also trains older brother Corbin, of Harvard, and younger brother Brock, who has committed to play for Utah State when he returns from an LDS mission to — what do you know — Buenos Aires.

Miller said he didn't have too much advice for his younger sibling, other than to work hard and be himself.

And, if the bed bugs bite, not to scratch.

Twitter: @matthew_piper