ESPN's Seth Greenberg compares Alabama basketball's Brandon Miller to Kevin Durant

With ESPN's "College GameDay" live from Neville Arena for Alabama basketball's matchup with Auburn on Saturday, the four-man crew of Seth Greenberg, Jay Bilas, LaPhonso Ellis and Rece Davis discussed what makes freshman forward Brandon Miller so successful.

Bilas said the 6-foot-9 Miller "may be the best small forward in the country," citing his scoring prowess, particularly from beyond the 3-point arc. Miller is averaging an SEC-leading 19 points per game on 44.4% shooting from deep.

But the biggest praise for Miller came from Greenberg. The former Virginia Tech coach compared Alabama's star forward to one of the best NBA players of all time.

"Brandon Miller, he's just different," Greenberg said. "He reminds me of Kevin Durant when he was at Texas. Obviously, Kevin Durant (is) one of the greatest players in the NBA, but if you look at how these guys play: Both can really shoot the basketball, play without the basketball. Look at the release point, see how they get the ball above their head, create separation, really can knock down a three. Over 40% from the 3-point line. ...

"Their ability to put the ball on the floor at 6-8, 6-9, get to the rim, finish with the left hand, extend and finish. Kevin Durant, Brandon Miller both have that ability. And they're both terrific athletes in the open floor. ... I'm not saying Brandon Miller is Kevin Durant, but he's got a lot of similarities at the same stage of his career. This dude is different."

Miller and Alabama (21-3, 11-0 SEC) will look to stay perfect in the conference as they take the court against Auburn (17-7, 7-4) on Saturday (1 p.m. CT, ESPN).

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Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser/USA TODAY. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Brandon Miller gets Kevin Durant comparison by Seth Greenberg of ESPN