In the first 10 years of his Arizona career, before the NCAA placed charter jets on standby to whisk the losers home 90 minutes after an exit loss, Lute Olson would invite the newspaper guys to his hotel suite a day after the game.
Olson would put the season in context, good or bad, and invariably let off some steam.
Once, after losing a first-round game to East Tennessee State in Atlanta, he bellowed that those questioning his coaching ability should first “show me their résumé.”
A year later, after another first-round loss, to Santa Clara, Olson was skewered on a Tucson sports-talk radio program so roundly that assistant coach Jim Rosborough encouraged Olson to phone in and defend himself.
He defiantly remained silent. Did not UA fans appreciate six Pac-10 championships in eight years, two seasons ranked No. 1, a Final Four appearance and a collection of victories over Duke, Syracuse, North Carolina and Michigan?
His record would speak. Olson would not apologize.
A year later, Arizona went to another Final Four. Olson ceased the post-NCAA Tournament meetings in his suite. Thereafter, the critics seemed to get it: Getting through the minefield of March would not always lead to a happy ending.
Now, 20 years later, the process is repeating. Arizona lost in the Sweet 16 and the chorus of unhappy fans swelled.
Sean Miller is a micromanager, said one. Miller doesn’t know how to beat a zone defense, said another. March has become Arizona’s personal Groundhog Day, with one deflating exit after another.
Some suggest Miller should hire better assistant coaches. Change his offense. Learn how to manage time-outs.
Fans are so unhappy that there won’t be an empty seat when the Wildcats stage their Red and Blue Scrimmage in October.
Miller took the blame late Thursday night in San Jose. “It’s on me,” he said. That’s enough. Move on. Miller is 48. When Olson was 48, Arizona fired head coach Fred Snowden and had difficulty filling 5,000 seats at McKale Center.
Miller’s best basketball is surely ahead, in 2018 and 2021 and down the line.
I thought the best perspective of Arizona’s basketball season came not from Miller’s post-game concession, but by watching his father, John Miller, during the loss to Xavier.
John Miller is 73. He coached four state championship teams in Pennsylvania high school basketball, won more than 600 games, and has since watched his sons, Sean and Archie — the younger Miller was named Indiana’s new head coach on Saturday — win a combined 479 college games and reach a cumulative 14 NCAA tournaments.
He knows how it goes.
John Miller sat with Archie three rows behind Arizona’s bench at the SAP Center. I couldn’t help but watch their reaction as the game seemed to be won, then lost.
Neither changed expression. John Miller didn’t pump a fist, yell at the refs or grimace in horror. He folded his arms across his chest, remained in his seat and took it in.
There will be another season. Arizona has never recruited at a higher level than now, even in the Olson years. There is not a crack in the foundation of UA basketball.
Losing to Xavier was neither a calamity nor a cue to wonder if Sean Miller has lost it. It was one bad night in the gym after months of good ones.
