For 12 years, Sean Miller paced the McKale Center sidelines. His Arizona Wildcats teams went 302-109, advanced to three Elite Eights and produced 13 players that were drafted by NBA teams.
Miller was fired last spring, ending a four-year saga that began when former UA assistant coach Emanuel βBookβ Richardson was arrested following a federal investigation into college basketball. Richardson took a plea deal, then spent three months in a federal prison.
The NCAA has hit the UA with five Level I infractions, one of which says Miller failed to monitor two assistant coaches accused of academic misconduct and improper recruiting inducements. The case was turned over to the Independent Accountability Review Process at the UAβs request, and is still pending.
Since his dismissal, Miller β who remains in Tucson β has been a frequent presence on βField of 68β podcasts and YouTube shows.
βItβs been very therapeutic for me, because itβs something I havenβt done a lot of,β Miller said on Fox Sportsβ Aaron Torres Podcast earlier this week. βI would say Iβve watched more college basketball β more aware of teams β this year than maybe I ever have been, because I donβt have my own team. β¦ Itβs been a lot of fun and it at least gives me something to do.β
Miller talked to Torres about his time in Tucson. Hereβs some of what he said:
On Tim Floyd
Miller credited the Wildcatsβ early success to the June 2009 resignation of USC coach Tim Floyd. With Floyd gone, Miller was able to βflipβ forward (and future No. 2 overall draft pick) Derrick Williams, wing Solomon Hill and New York point guard Lamont βMoMoβ Jones to the UA. The trio helped lead Arizona to an Elite Eight appearance in 2011.
βIf that change (at USC) didnβt happen, Iβm not so sure Iβd have made it to Year 4 at Arizona,β Miller said. βI really mean that, and Iβm humble in my reasons for saying that. It was a tough climb, but getting Derrick Williams, getting Solomon Hill, getting MoMo Jones and continuing to recruit really bolstered us and gave us the opportunity to get both feet on the ground. Once that happened, a lot of great things followed for sure. Thinking back, Derrick Williams coming to Arizona, in the time that he did, was a big way of getting Arizona out of maybe the spin cycle that it was heading down and almost reviving it to get new life again β¦ In the 17 years that I was a head coach, I never had a player have a better run offensively than Derrick Williams did in that (2011) season.β
Arizona's Derrick Williams put the Sean Miller-era Wildcats on the map with a game-saving stuff against Duke in the 2011 Sweet 16.
Miller added that Williams βis a key component to Arizonaβs history.β
On Tommy Lloyd
Miller also praised his former team β and his successor β for their hot start. The Wildcats are ranked No. 3 nationally, and have a path to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
βTommy Lloyd has done a sensational job. You have to tip your hat, and being able to take over in a transition was hard β to establish credibility, even harder,β Miller said of Lloyd. βTo have immediate success, quite frankly, doesnβt happen a lot of times. But I do think he inherited a really good situation.β
Sean Miller led the Wildcats to numerous big wins during his 12 seasons in Tucson.
On the NCAA investigation and Arizonaβs tourney chances
Miller was also asked what he could share about the aftermath of the nearly five-year NCAA investigation and when he β and the UA β could expect a resolution. Miller predicted that βthings this offseason will 100% come to a conclusion.β
βAnd once that conclusion is there, everyone in fact will finally take one final deep breath and move on, look back and learn from it,β he said. βItβs something that I regret almost every day. β¦ You try to β¦ you learn from every circumstance, be better at moving forward and see good in everything. Iβm most excited for Arizona to close that entire book, and I think thatβs whatβs great about Tommy Lloyd and his staffβs initial success: It really catapults them towards a great future.β
Miller touched more on the investigation, saying: βLook, a lot has happened and there are certain things I couldβve done a lot better. There are certain things that all of us that were a part of this September 2017 moment in time wish that they couldβve gotten right or better. But what you try to do is just be patient in your own world, learn from it, move forward and know that at the end of the day, the facts already have come out β but they will. And I think when everybody judges it β maybe itβll take as much as a decade to go by and look back on it β I think theyβll see for truly what it was and not β¦ I donβt even know the word β¦ the hysteria that you want to just pile on certain people.β
Miller implied that the NCAA saga led him to recruit internationally. He signed this yearβs core of players β Kerr Kriisa, Bennedict Mathurin and Azoulas Tubelis β before his final season as the Wildcatsβ coach.
βThe way of recruiting and doing things differently started as far back as three years ago, and just watching some of the young people thrive and grow β and again, they can thrive and grow all they want, but they need the direction of a great head coach and his staff,β Miller said. βAnd they really have both. They have a talented roster and then they have a really unique and talented coaching staff, and I think theyβre one of six to eight teams that can win it all β¦ and I do think theyβll be right there for a (No.) 1 seed and have a good chance at getting to a fifth Final Four in Arizonaβs history.β
