Hansen's Sunday Notebook: Sean Miller can start Wildcats' healing with the right hires at assistant

Arizona Wildcats' loss to double-digit seed isn't anything new for program

The newly-crunched numbers are in: Arizona is the only school in college basketball history to lose to NCAA Tournament seeds 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15.

Here’s the roll call:

(11) Xavier, 2017;

(12) Miami of Ohio, 1995;

(13) Buffalo, 2018;

(14) East Tenn. State, 1992;

(15) Santa Clara, 1993.

There’s more: Arizona is one of only three ever to lose five games to double-digit seeds when seeded in the top four itself.

The others: Kansas, which lost to a 10 (Stanford), two 11 seeds (VCU and Auburn), a 13 (Bradley) and a 14 (Bucknell).

And Syracuse, which lost to three 11 seeds (Dayton, Marquette and Rhode Island); a 13 (Vermont) and a 15 (Richmond).

But spotlighting Arizona’s upset history is kicking a team when it is down.

Any school that has been seeded in the top four so often — 20 times for UA since the NCAA expanded the field to 64 teams in 1985 — is going to get shocked periodically. As we see every March, that’s the wonderful nature of the Madness.

Arizona has some impressive company in this business of Shocking.

As a top 4 seed, Duke has lost four times to double-digit seeds: 10, Providence; 11, Boston College; 14, Mercer; and 15, Lehigh.

Since the bracket expansion in ’85, no team has lost to more double-digit seeds than UCLA — eight. But the Bruins were a top-4 seed in just three of those upsets, none more shocking than losses to No. 13 seeds Princeton and Penn State.

And there’s another variable that goes unmentioned when a frequent upset victim such as Arizona absorbs another round of ridicule: Most teams would trade places with the Wildcats for the opportunity to take a chance at getting beat in the NCAA Tournament.

Since these upsets began in 1992, Arizona has played in 69 NCAA Tournament games. Arizona State has played in nine. Colorado? Eight. Cal? Just 21. Even mighty UCLA, which has gone to four Final Fours in that period, has played fewer NCAA games (59).

The issue now isn’t losing to obscure opponents, it’s how long will it take Arizona to get back to the NCAA Tournament.

Sean Miller must first hire two assistant coaches and acquire six or eight more players, depending on possible exits by six roster holdovers.

Pay particular attention to those Miller hires. Are they retreads and yes-men, just looking to get a paycheck? Or are they coaches commensurate to a program of Arizona’s accomplishments?

Is Miller willing to pursue someone like UCLA’s David Grace, who, in my opinion, is the league’s most feared recruiter and top assistant coach? Grace is an Arizona native and, I believe, would listen to any offer by Arizona, even given the ongoing FBI investigation.

Would Miller try to get Adam Cohen off the Stanford staff? Cohen, who has worked at Harvard, Vanderbilt, USC and Rice, was hired by Lute Olson a decade ago, a student manager who has worked his way up and is, in my opinion, a Josh Pastner-type worker.

If men like Grace and Cohen are willing to work for you, the healing process can begin.

Given its silence, Arizona appears to be taking the path of least resistance. Sort of a “let’s see if Miller can dig out of this mess while the FBI completes its investigation.”

If the 2018-19 season is a fiasco, Arizona can then consider another option.

Tomey and Pima join forces for youth football

During his 14 years as Arizona’s football coach, Dick Tomey produced a coaching clinic each spring, but none like he will bring to Pima College on Saturday.

In partnership with PCC and the Positive Coaching Alliance, Tomey has arranged for the inaugural Southern Arizona Coaches Institute, football edition at Pima’s College of Fine Arts.

It won’t be the typical on-the-field clinic. All will be done indoors from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Tomey and Pima College athletic director Edgar Soto will join New York Jet special teams coach Jeff Hammerschmidt, former Army head coach and Arizona defensive coordinator Rich Ellerson, ex-UA quarterback and president of the AIGA Foundation for Polynesian football players George Malauulu, All-Pac-10 safety and NFL player Brandon Sanders, Ironwood Ridge football coach Matt Johnson, Desert View coach Robert Bonillas and Cienega football coach Pat Nugent at the one-day clinic.

It is open to any coach from youth leagues through high school. Cost: $30, which includes breakfast and lunch. Registration: soazcoachesinstitute.com.

“I’ve never been part of anything quite like this,” said Tomey. “Most coaching clinics have a lot of lectures and X’s and O’s. We won’t have any of those. We won’t go outside on the field. We’ll have Q&A sessions, we’ll have panel discussions, we’ll have position-related groups.”

This isn’t a get-rich scheme. None of the proceeds will go to Tomey.

“We think that the future of football in Tucson are the youth football programs,” he said. “We are bringing in Cameron Campbell from Houston; he has conducted more than 150 workshops in Texas . He is just outstanding in a setting like this.”

Soto said that this will be the first of three SACI days at PCC. 

Account to pay for Lute Olson statue has raised more than $200,000

The UA athletic department essentially established a “gofundme.com” type of account to pay for the Lute Olson statue. Through Friday it had raised $210,000 of the expected cost of $300,000. There have been individual donations of $53,000 and $50,000 and those for as little as $10. There were donations by ex-Wildcats such as the school’s single-game scoring leader, Ernie McCray, who pre-dated Olson by 23 years, and by a fan who donated $84.79 — the final score of the 1997 national championship victory over Kentucky. Olson’s statue will be dedicated April 12, and will become the third of statue of a basketball coach at Pac-12 schools, joining Cal’s Pete Newell and UCLA’s John Wooden.

Former Loyola standout grinning in Tucson

The happiest basketball fan in Tucson this month is probably businessman Allan Norville, who was a three-year starter at Loyola-Chicago. From 1957-59, Norville, who grew up in Chicago before relocating to Tucson in the mid-1960s, averaged 10, 18 and 11 points for the Ramblers, a No. 11 seed this month who became the story of the NCAA Tournament by reaching the Final Four. Norville is a man of such influence at Loyola-Chicago that the Ramblers basketball team practices in the Alfie Norville Facility, named for Allan’s late wife. It was built for $6 million. What’s more, the central athletic department building at Loyola-Chicago is named the Norville Center, for a donation from Allan and Alfie seven years ago.

After LaVar Ball pulls son from high school, ex-Cat leads team to state title anyway

Congratulations to Chino Hills 🏆 the @CIFState BOYS D-I CHAMPIONS!#CIFState pic.twitter.com/KXtmysmyhv

— CIF State (@CIFState) March 24, 2018

Dennis Latimore, who played 57 games for Arizona in 2002 and 2003 before transferring to Notre Dame, coached Chino Hills to a Southern California CIF state championship Friday. Ring a bell? Latimore, a first-year coach at Chino Hills, was criticized last summer by loudmouth LaVar Ball, who withdrew his youngest son, LaMelo Ball, from the school. Latimore, who is also a math teacher at Chino Hills, led his club to 26 victories. If that’s not basketball justice, what is?

Former CDO lineman Stephen Berg loses battle with cancer at age 34

Sadly, after a four-year battle with colon cancer, former Canyon del Oro High School and Arizona State football lineman Stephen Berg died on Tuesday. He was 34. He is survived by his wife, Leslie, and four children. A gofundme.com account in Berg’s name has raised $25,065 toward a goal of $50,000. A celebration of Berg’s life will be held Saturday at 10 a.m., at the St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, 7650 N. Paseo del Norte. Chase Delperdang will preside at the service.

Sean Elliott will finally make his return to Final Four

Sean Elliott, who hasn’t been to the Final Four since 1988, had hoped to stage a reunion with his alma mater this week at the Final Four in San Antonio. Arizona’s 1989 College Player of the Year, now a radio/TV analyst for the San Antonio Spurs, has been invited by the NCAA to be part of its official VIP Experience pregame party on Saturday before the first of two Final Four games.

Sunnyside basketball standout headed to D-II Metro State

When he played at Sunnyside High School from 2012-16, Jacob Inclan became one of the leading players in Tucson prep history. He scored 1,758 points and helped Rob Harrison’s Blue Devils to a 90-32 record. Last week, Inclan, a second-team All-ACCAC pick at South Mountain College, accepted a scholarship to Division II Metro State of Denver. He was recruited by Metro assistant coach Lucas Gabriel, a former basketball standout at Amphitheater High. Inclan, a 6-3 shooting guard, averaged 13.8 at South Mountain this season.

Former Cienega, Pima star Deion James has strong season during Colorado State's turmoil

Cienega High grad Deion James, the NJCAA Division II Player of the Year at Pima College last season, completed his first year at Colorado State with a 10.4 scoring average in 21 starts. He averaged 26 minutes per game and had to endure a fractured season after the Rams fired head coach Larry Eustachy late in the season. James has one more year of eligibility at CSU.

Incarnate Word fires Arizona's former lead hoops recruiter Ken Burmeister

Sad to learn that Ken Burmeister, who was Arizona’s leading recruiter under Lute Olson as the Wildcats recruited Sean Elliott, Steve Kerr and Craig McMillan and built the foundation for 25 years of excellence, was fired last week by Incarnate Word in San Antonio. Burmeister, who earlier had been the head coach at Loyola-Chicago and UT-San Antonio, coached Incarnate Word to a 183-156 record and two conference championships. At 70, this is probably the end of Burmeister’s coaching career. He was a key coaching part to the Final Four team at Iowa in 1980. Good man. 

Canyon del Oro's Tyler Porter taking his talents to Long Beach

One of Tucson’s leading high school baseball players, Canyon del Oro senior pitcher/infielder Tyler Porter, accepted a scholarship to Long Beach State last week. Porter initially planned to play at Central Arizona College but played so well that the 49ers, one of the West’s top baseball schools, pursued him. Porter’s father, Colin Porter, an All-Pac-10 outfielder at Arizona who helped CDO win the 1994 state championship, played with the Houston Astros and St. Louis Cardinals in his baseball career.

My two cents: Derrick Williams' season slightly better than Deandre Ayton's

Who had the better season at Arizona: sophomore big man Derrick Williams in 2010-11, or freshman big man Deandre Ayton this season?

It’s almost too close to call, but I vote for Williams. He got more out of less with the ’11 Wildcats.

Both teams won the league with 14-4 records. Williams’ team went 30-8 overall and reached the Elite Eight. Ayton’s team was 27-8 and lost in the first round.

Williams, the Pac-10 Player of the Year, averaged 19.5 points. Ayton, the Pac-12 Player of the Year, averaged 20.1. Williams shot 60 percent; Ayton shot 61 percent. Their rebound totals are close: Williams 8.3; Ayton 11.6.

Ayton’s career games were against USC and UCLA in the Pac-12 tournament.

He scored 64 points in those two games with 32 rebounds. He was The Big Unit and then some.

He scored 14 in his single NCAA Tournament game, a loss to Buffalo.

Williams’ career games were in the NCAA Tournament. He made a game-winning three-point play to beat Texas. He scored 32 with 13 rebounds in a Sweet 16 stunner over Duke. Williams averaged 22.7 in his four NCAA games, rising to the occasion in big moments.

Williams also played with less talent, supported most in the starting lineup by underclassmen Solomon Hill and MoMo Jones. No other Wildcat averaged in double figures that season.

Williams then became the No. 2 overall pick in the NBA Draft. He was probably 2 or 3 inches too short to play center, and didn’t quite have the perimeter game to be an NBA power forward or three-man.

There are none of those questions about Ayton. His measurables are so inviting it’s difficult to imagine he won’t be the No. 1 overall draftee.

Let’s hope Ayton’s NBA career turns out more productive than that of Williams. After being paid $104,000 by the Lakers on a 10-day contract last week, Williams was released. He played just nine minutes during that contract.

The Lakers essentially replaced him with former UCLA forward Travis Wear, a head-shaking move given Wear’s college career, in which he was never on the all-conference team and averaged 8.2 points in his career.

But once the Lakers waived Williams, Wear played 41 total minutes in the next three games.

Crazy game. If you get it figured out, let me know.