To the vast majority of college basketball viewers, the lasting image of the Arizona Wildcats’ brief 2016 NCAA Tournament appearance is probably this: Their coach yelling and gesturing frantically, jacket off and white dress shirt fully soaked in sweat.
Three weeks after Wichita State upended the Wildcats in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, UA coach Sean Miller said it was probably a good thing if that’s what stuck in everyone’s mind.
The game itself was not the sort of thing the Wildcats want to be remembered for.
In their first-ever first-round NCAA Tournament loss under Miller, the Wildcats were chewed up by the Shockers’ tenacious man-to-man defense, which extended out and occasionally pressed.
Miller called a timeout 53 seconds into the game to avoid one potential turnover, but the UA missed 11 straight shots early in the game and things never improved. The Wildcats had 19 turnovers, seven of them by point guard Kadeem Allen.
The loss put a quick end to the college careers of four seniors: Kaleb Tarczewski, Gabe York, Ryan Anderson and Mark Tollefsen. Tarczewski and York were four-year Wildcats, while Anderson and Tollefsen both transferred to Arizona for a chance in part to play in the tournament.
“I love all these guys,” Anderson said, tearing up in the locker room afterward. “I love all the coaches. I love everyone involved in this program. It’s just tough when it’s over.”
Miller said he would miss the seniors’ leadership, resolve and character, and a few weeks later he expressed “great regret” over one other thing: That dress shirt.
“It seemed like something happened to me, like I was sick or I was a raving lunatic on the sideline, that I sweated at a level that’s never been seen before,” Miller said. “But the truth be told, I tried a new shirt that was positioned to me as being more breathable ... which means less material.
“Clearly I made an error not having an undershirt, and no question I had a bad night, coupled with the fact that we lost.”
