Arizona coach Sean Miller was named one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith national coach of the year award today.
The other finalists were Baylor's Scott Drew, Northwestern's Chris Collins, Gonzaga's Mark Few, West Virginia's Bob Huggins, SMU's Tim Jankovich, Louisville's Rick Pitino, Kansas' Bill Self, Florida's Mike White and Villanova's Jay Wright.
That list will be trimmed to finalists on March 16.
Meanwhile, the Pac-12 coach of the year award will be announced Monday, an award that may come down to who wins the league. Coaches will vote on it this weekend.
During the Pac-12 Networks telecast of the Colorado-Stanford game on Wednesday, announcers Bill Walton and Dave Pasch both said they'd pick Oregon's Dana Altman. The Ducks will earn the Pac-12's No. 1 Tournament seed if they beat Oregon State on Saturday or UA loses at ASU.
If the Wildcats beat ASU on Saturday and Oregon beats OSU, there's a decent chance Arizona will face the Sun Devils again in a rematch Thursday in the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinals.
As of now, UA would be the Pac-12 Tournament's No. 2 seed while ASU is No. 7 and Washington State is No. 10 (ASU is tied with Colorado but beat the Buffaloes in their one matchup while Stanford is tied with WSU for the ninth spot but beat the Cougars in their only matchup).
The 7-vs.-10 game is Wednesday at 7 p.m. and the winner of that game will face No. 2 on Thursday at 7 p.m. Both of those games will be on Pac-12 Networks.
Cal's loss to Utah is making it a close call for the fourth and final first-round bye in the Pac-12 Tournament. That race may come down to tiebreakers that are well down the list since they are now tied head-to-head and neither has a win over the conference's "big three."
UCLA's T.J. Leaf will miss Saturday's regular-season finale because of his sprained ankle but his father told the L.A. Times that he's hoping to be back for the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinals.
Care for any more LaVar Ball? Dad says Lonzo deserves the No. 1 pick. His recent radio interview with Tucson's 1290 AM has been archived on its podcast page, too.
