Editor's note: The 2016-17 High Point University men's basketball primer will take a look at storylines surrounding the Purple & White heading into a season filled with potential and fresh faces. Check back each week of the preseason for a new feature on HighPointPanthers.com.

The Trials of Miles

It was January of 2014, and Miles Bowman Jr. was averaging 20 points per game at Louisburg College.
 
He had just committed to High Point University to play his final two seasons of college basketball.
 
Life was good.
 
And then he heard a pop.
 
In the blink of an eye, Bowman's future as a Div. I basketball player was suddenly in question.
 
The 6-6 forward crumpled to the ground in agony. He had torn his ACL, MCL and meniscus all at once.
 
Rehab, experts said, would take at least a year.
 
But HPU's coaches believed in Bowman and knew his potential was sky high.
 
He enrolled at High Point University in June 2014 and rehab was progressing well. But just when he was getting comfortable, it all happened again.
 
One day during summer practice, Bowman again tore his meniscus, starting the whole process over.
 
So for six more months, Bowman tried to get the game back he loved so much.
 
January of 2015 arrived, and he finally was able to practice with the teammates he had developed close relationships with over the past year.
 
Life, again, was good.
 
But then, in the middle of running an in-practice scrimmage, Bowman rose for a lay-up and immediately went down in severe pain.
 
His knee had failed him for a third time. A third surgery had to be scheduled.
 
The renewed adversity was nothing new for a resilient 21-year old that had lost his mother to breast cancer at age 6 and his father to natural causes at age 7.
 
There were dark, difficult moments ahead.
 
But still, there was hope.
 
Bowman knew that.
 
And he also knew and took comfort in the fact he had a strong support system in place at High Point University.
 
"I have so much love for our athletic training staff that helped me any way they could," Bowman says. "Our coaching staff, our fans, our donors, students - they all believed in me. This is such a loving program and a loving University. High Point University is a special place."
 
Fast forward to January 2016. Nearly two years of treatments, strength training, rehabilitation exercises and the torment of little to no basketball activity had finally paid off.
 
With knee brace in tow, Bowman suited up and played his first collegiate game for the Panthers against Presbyterian College.
 
"Tonight was one of the better moments of my coaching career because of everything Miles has been through," head coach Scott Cherry said at the time. "To see him get out there and finally do the thing he loves to do again is pretty special. He's a great person. His teammates love him and he loves being a part of this program."
 
The season continued. His minutes were sporadic, but his attitude was positive.
 
Two minutes. 0 points.
 
Two minutes. 0 points.
 
The itch to play was eating him alive inside. But through it all, Bowman remained HPU's biggest cheerleader.
 
The first one up to stand and fist pump after a made basket.
 
The first one to encourage a teammate leaving the floor.
 
And as the game came back to him, Bowman began to blossom.
 
12 minutes. Six points.
 
21 minutes. Six points.
 
27 minutes. 17 points.
 
And then, after High Point lost its top two players in John Brown and Adam Weary due to injury in a four-game stretch late in the season, Bowman took the team and put it on his back.
 
He had 19 points and seven rebounds in HPU's Big South quarterfinal win.
 
And in the semis, he dropped an astounding 23 points and 16 rebounds, becoming the first HPU Big South All-Tournament Team selection since 2007 in the process.
 
"I take nothing for granted after being apart from the game for so long," Bowman Jr. says. "Even when I was playing two minutes I was just happy on the floor playing the game I love. Just checking into a game felt wonderful. I never thought it would get to the point where I would be starting and having such an impact. I just thank our coaches for believing in me and trusting in me throughout this whole process."
 
Bowman's emergence was a key factor in HPU winning its final six regular season games, earning the program's fourth-straight Big South title, and qualifying for the NIT for the second time in three years.
 
High Point has now won 20 games in back-to-back years for the first time since 1994-95 and is one of just four programs nationally (Kansas, Gonzaga, Stephen F. Austin) to win four-straight league championships.
 
With the graduation of the school's all-time winningest Div. I class this spring, the charge of continuing the program's championship culture and unprecedented success rests with the rising senior and HPU's strong returning nucleus of players.
 
Bowman knows the Panthers can do it.
 
He's ready to go.
 
Life is good once more.

#GoHPU

2016-17 Men's Basketball Primer Archive
Oct. 3: HPU holds first official practice of 2016-17