EUGENE, Ore. โ
The tremor was Allonzo Trier under suspension. The earthquake was Sean Miller under suspicion.
Hello darkness, my old friend.
In three seismic days, an Arizona program that for 30 years has been the standard by which West Coast basketball is measured had its legacy shredded.
And that has nothing to do with Saturdayโs 98-93 overtime loss to the Oregon Ducks.
Early in the day, ESPN referred to Sean Miller as a โcrook.โ Late at night, a pitiless crowd at Matthew Knight Arena serenaded the Wildcats with boos and chants of โcheaters.โ
People in Tucson are dumbfounded, almost grief-stricken, caught in a no manโs land between basketballโs Road to Hell and Road to Redemption.
Some believe Miller betrayed the school. Others say theyโll wait for the process to play out. Hurry up and wait.
This isnโt the beginning of the end for the UAโs basketball empire. Itโs more like the beginning of a legal gridlock that could keep Arizona at a standstill for several years.
On Saturday, the UAโs top recruit, Shareef OโNeal, politely chose to rethink his decision and probably play elsewhere. There has been no arrest since last fall, but itโs as if the Wildcats are now in handcuffs.
Ultimately, nothing was lost Saturday at the arena built by Nike money. Psst. Thatโs a shoe company. Arizona can still win the Pac-12 championship by sweeping Stanford and Cal at McKale Center this weekend.
The odds of that? Get the ladder and scissors ready.
Before they play basketball, UA president Robert C. Robbins must make one of three choices with Sean Miller.
Fire?
Suspend?
Defend?
No hurry, guys. Itโs not like itโs almost March.
Last February, Ram Krishna of the Arizona Board of Regents signed off on a contract extension that would tie Miller to the school through 2022 and somewhat innocently asked โCan he take us to the Final Four?โ
Innocence? Thatโs now as lost as Arizonaโs chances to get back to the Final Four.
In Saturdayโs loss, the UA had a different body language than itโs typical grit-your-teeth-and-play defense posture. The Wildcats were more animated and played with more freedom. They also forgot to play much defense.
โThey beat us up,โ said UA guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright. โWe didnโt play hard tonight.โ
As good as Deandre Ayton was for the gameโs first 30 minutes, with 28 points, the Ducksโ Elijah Brown outscored him. Brown finished with 30.
Arizona somehow shot 57 percent and lost. That happened only because the UAโs defense lack such commitment that Oregon committed four fouls in more than 70 possessions.
Thereโs little doubt that Millerโs missing presence changed things. The UA played with freedom but also without its typical discipline. Rawle Alkins got a needless technical foul as the momentum switched to the Ducks. Assistant coach Mark Phelps got a technical for shouting at referee Gregory Nixon.
No way Phelps would put himself in harmโs way if Millerโs shadow was anywhere near.
The attention will now spin to Robbins and athletic director Dave Heeke, who lacked transparency during the Rich Rodriguez firing and appear to be following a similar strategy. They made no statement Friday and Saturday when Arizona basketball was the No. 1 story on ESPN and on the ships at sea.
Routinely, the postgame scene at Arizonaโs locker room at Matthew Knight Arena has been me, my colleague Bruce Pascoe and maybe one Oregon writer. On Saturday night, as Lorenzo Romar spoke, there were 22 people crushed into a small area, including a man from ESPN and a woman from Sports Illustrated.
Thatโs how big this story has grown.
Romar predictably offered little or no insight into the process that put him in charge. What should he have said: โIโll wait for the attorneys to brief me?โ
Instead, he said โwe didnโt finish the game.โ Thatโs coach-speak in a game that, over the whole season, doesnโt mean much.
Romar did not bite when asked if he thinks heโll continue to run the show.
โSean Miller is our basketball coach and heโs one of the best in the country,โ Romar said. โI donโt have a whole lot to say; I donโt think itโs appropriate for me to say anything.โ
You can only imagine what the previous 24 hours were for the Wildcat players, at the downtown Hilton Hotel, in a cocoon, wondering how they got into this mess. For his part, Jackson-Cartwright had some good answers.
โTonight had nothing to do with the outside,โ he said. โWe have games to play, practices to go to. Iโm here to play basketball.โ
Last summer, Robbins, in his first weeks as school president, reacted to the possibility that Ohio State might attempt to hire Miller to replace the Buckeyesโ departing Thad Matta.
Those were viewed as fightinโ words, by the president and by UA fans everywhere.
โOver my dead body,โ Robbins responded.
Now who knows?
Maybe a reported $100,000 phone call will prompt Robbins to declare Miller dead, at least in a professional sense.
