MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Miles McBride says his nickname "Deuce" was his father's doing.
 
Some explaining is in order.
 
"My first brother born is Walter III, so he's Trey. When I was born I was the second child so dad (Walt McBride) called me 'Deuce.' It was Trey and Deuce. He thought he was clever with that," Deuce laughs.
 
"I would say in sports almost everybody calls me Deuce and outside of sports people call me Miles," he says. "My family calls me Miles except for my dad. I don't remember the last time my dad called me Miles, honestly."
 
McBride comes from a competitive sports family. His father was a standout forward at Xavier in the mid-1980s, averaging almost 10 points per game during his four-year career.
 
His mother, Kim, lettered in tennis at Ohio State and his older brother, Trey, played college basketball at Northwood. This can lead to some pretty competitive situations, even from mom, who's in charge of the household.
 
"Honestly, my mom is pretty competitive," Deuce chuckles. "She doesn't show it unless we're all in it together. If we're all into it she wants to win, no matter what. 
 
"Growing up with two parents who played sports, it's a real competitive household. My mom is rooting for her Buckeyes and my dad played at Xavier and played overseas, so everything had to do with sports, but they taught us a lot of lessons through sports that apply to a lot of things in life," he says.
 
When it came time for Deuce to begin considering colleges, his dad thought Bob Huggins was the right guy to coach his son.
 
"My dad knew Huggs, and he knew he'd be the right coach for me and my style of play," the guard says.
 
The Cincinnati resident's first recollection of West Virginia basketball was the 2010 team that reached the Final Four. He remembers that team's great length and athleticism.
 
From there, his memory lapses until Huggins switched to the "Press Virginia" style a few years ago. That's when he became really interested in the Mountaineers again.
 
"As soon as I saw 'Press Virginia' I wanted to be a part of that," he says.
 
Last year was a learning experience for McBride, although he played in all 31 games and managed to start two against Oklahoma State and TCU as a freshman. His 21 points against his mom's alma mater in Cleveland included the game-winning shot, and he lit up Texas Tech for 22 in an impressive 12-point victory at the Coliseum.

Deuce also finished the season with a flurry, scoring 42 points in his last three games, including 17 in West Virginia's big 76-64 season-ending win over fourth-ranked Baylor.
 
McBride admits he learned a lot last year as a college basketball rookie.
 
"Coming in as a freshman, I didn't want to say too much and just listen as a first-year player," he explains. "I think (seniors Chase Harler, Jermaine Haley and Logan Routt) set me up with a lot of tools to be successful this year playing a lot more minutes and handling the ball a lot more. It's a great role for me, and it's amazing my other teammates, even if they're juniors and seniors, they still trust me to help show them what's going on and things like that."
 
McBride says he's mostly a laid-back guy, but he will speak up if he has to.
 
"I like to let people try on their own and if they need help they can always come to me, or if I see something I'm going to let them know," he says. "I also want to be able to take criticism as a leader. I know nobody's perfect and if somebody sees me doing something wrong I want them to be able to come to me and say, 'You could have done this' or something like that.
 
"I want to leave a legacy that people really remember who I am and not just what I did on the court but how I am off the court – how I treated people and things of that nature," he adds.
 
McBride is a budding star in a league full of star players. His 24 points in his personal shootout against Texas Tech guard Mac McClung on Monday night included the game-winner with six seconds left.
 
ESPN college basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla dished plenty of love to Deuce during Monday night's telecast.
 
"Bob Huggins has his own Mac Attack in Deuce McBride. He's tough. He's smart. He's a leader and he's not afraid of making big plays," Fraschilla said.
 
McBride is currently averaging 15.9 points per game, but more importantly, he's got the 11^th-ranked Mountaineers back over the .500 mark in the deepest basketball conference in the country.
 
Sixty percent of the teams in the Big 12 are ranked in this week's Associated Press Top 25, so getting near the top of the conference standings meanings getting near the top of the college basketball world.
 
"One of the things that's made us successful this year is we trust each other. We want to help each other, and we want to get to that ultimate goal of winning a championship, and I think you have to have trust to do that," McBride concludes.
 
This week's Life as a Mountaineer was produced by Sarah Ramundt and is presented by our great friends at Panhandle Cleaning & Restoration.