If Patrick Mills's new neighbours in the US hear strange stomping, jumping and singing through the walls, chances are it's just a proud indigenous Aussie reminding himself where he's from.

Australian basketball's brightest new talent Mills flies on Tuesday from Canberra to start a four-year scholarship at St Mary's College of California, which he hopes will ultimately lead him to the NBA.

Mills took up basketball as a four-year-old, playing with the Shadows club in Canberra his parents Benny and Yvonne helped establish.

But before he'd picked up a ball, Mills already developed a passion for Torres Strait Islander dancing.

After catching up this week with his uncle Danny Morseu, who before Mills was the last indigenous Australian player, Mills said he would take his love of cultural dance and music with him to the US.

"When I'm dancing I take the same attitude as I take in basketball; to go out and give it your best and not leave anything behind," he said.

"You could be a million miles away and still have the strongest connection to your culture.

"So whether I'm dancing by myself in the shower, singing songs with people on the phone or listening to CDs, wherever I am it'll be an important part of me."

As Morseu was in the 1980s, Mills is emerging as a role model to indigenous Australians.

He has proven a revelation on the court since he toured with the Boomers last month, providing a surge of energy when he took to the court during last week's Olympic qualifying series against New Zealand.

He has also displayed a maturity beyond his years off the court, earning the praise of Boomers coach Brian Goorjian, who compares him to the likeable former Aussie captain Andrew Gaze.

Morseu, an NBL Hall of Fame member and a two-time Olympian, said his nephew was "the complete package" as an indigenous sporting role model.

"Having a role model is very important to indigenous people. A lot of kids get incarcerated, there's health issues, there's disadvantage in terms of employment.

"Patrick comes as the complete package; culturally, he performs indigenous dance, he's respected in the community and gives respect back, and he performs on the court. He has both worlds at his feet."

Morseu was born and raised on Thursday Island and recently moved from there to Canberra to take up a position with Centrelink.

He said after a "long drought" without an indigenous basketball star, his nephew's sudden promotion to the Boomers squad had given a huge lift to the Torres Strait community 800km north of Cairns.

"He's huge for morale. The texts and phone calls I got last week were amazing and people are asking 'how can we progress this?'."

Basketball Australia hopes Mills will inspire a wave of indigenous involvement in the game, particularly if he can achieve his goal of becoming the first indigenous Australian NBA player.

While having a figurehead such as Mills was important, Morseu said more coaching resources and facilities were needed to draw Aborigines to the game, particularly those living in remote areas such as the Torres Strait.

He urged Basketball Australia and the Australian Institute of Sport to expand their development programs.

"We need the structures to engage the kid in Redfern who wants to be a boxer like Anthony Mundine, or the kid who wants to be a basketballer like Patrick Mills," he said.

"I think there needs to be a shift where instead of taking people out of the communities to the urban centres, we say why don't we take the services there?"

Mills is tipped to start his college career as a bench player while he learns the St Mary's team structure.

But as he showed when he joined the Boomers squad on their recent trip to Europe, he is an extremely fast learner.

And in a sign of how highly he is regarded by St Mary's, the team's head coach Randy Bennett personally travelled to Canberra to meet Mills's family before signing him.

Mills was confident he had picked a college that would provide him with the support he needed being so far away from his family.

And he said he would continue seeking tips from his uncle.

"Looking up to Uncle Danny and knowing he's been down that path to the Olympics, I really want to do well and follow in his footsteps."

Photo: The Canberra Times