SAN JOSE, Calif. — Rawle Alkins and Allonzo Trier have their theories about who is to blame for Arizona’s surprising Sweet 16 exit, and neither mentioned Sean Miller.
Even if some outsiders did.
Within minutes of Arizona’s 73-71 upset loss to Xavier in the NCAA West Region semifinal Thursday night, someone updated the postseason record on his Wikipedia page with this description for 2017: “You guessed it, not the Final Four.”
By midday Friday, a simple Google news search for “Sean Miller” revealed the following headlines:
“Sean Miller rightly blames himself for Arizona’s loss to Xavier.” (Arizona Republic)
“Sean Miller and Arizona come up short yet again after late collapse fueled by ill-advised shots.” (Yahoo)
“Arizona coach Sean Miller can only blame himself for the Wildcats’ Sweet 16 exit.” (FoxSports.com)
“Has Sean Miller been a success or failure at Arizona?” (The Big Lead)
On talk radio and social media, the debate was even more polarizing. A national Fox Sports radio host even called for Miller’s firing, while there was also plenty of support across multiple platforms for the eighth-year UA coach, who has landed six straight top-five recruiting classes while reviving a program wracked with instability during a two-year transition from Lute Olson.
“Miller is really good,” USA Today college sports writer Dan Wolken tweeted. “He will break through. Arizona fans would be wise not to go nuts at this stage. Run him off, you won’t do better.”
Sporting News college basketball writer Mike DeCourcy posted a story Thursday night noting how UConn’s Jim Calhoun was assailed for not making the Final Four in the 1990s before he won three titles starting in 1999, while writing that Gary Williams was “ragged mercilessly” at Maryland before he made a Final Four after 23 years in 2001 and won a national championship in 2002. Then DeCourcy noted some coaches who had reached multiple Final Fours — Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams — who were criticized for not winning it all until they did.
Then there were the actual words from Miller, who said after the game that he was “equally disappointed in myself.” Miller said the UA lacked confidence against Xavier’s zone defense — the Musketeers shifted skillfully between the 2-3 zone, 1-3-1 zone and man-to-man, as expected — and said the UA’s offensive struggles bled over to the defense.
“The game never really felt good,” he said. “And that’s on me.”
Especially in the final four minutes, it went particularly wrong for the Wildcats. Arizona held a 69-61 lead with 3:44 left, but fell apart on both ends of the floor afterward. The Wildcats didn’t score for the final 2:52, when Trier made a layup for a seven-point Arizona lead.
Here’s what happened after that point:
- Xavier’s Malcolm Bernard hit a 3-pointer with 2:37 left (Arizona led 71-67)
- Trier missed a 3-pointer with 2:17 left.
- Trier fouled Bernard after an offensive rebound with 2:07 left and Bernard hit two free throws (71-69).
- Trier missed a jumper with 1:55 left, and a subsequent foul from Lauri Markkanen put Trevon Bluiett at the line for two free throws (he made both to tie it at 71).
- Bluiett stole the ball from Trier with 1:23 left, but missed an ensuing jumper.
- Dusan Ristic missed a 10-foot baseline jumper with 51 seconds left.
- Bluiett fired in a pass from the top of the key to Sean O’Mara just under the basket, and O’Mara converted for the winning score at the 40-second mark.
- Kadeem Allen missed a 15-footer with 22 seconds left.
- Trier missed a 3-pointer with eight seconds left, with the ball rattling around before falling off, and Bernard rebounded it to effectively end the game.
That’s five missed shots in the final 2:17, and none taken by the team’s most accurate all-around shooter, Markkanen.
Trier, who had pumped in 15 straight UA points earlier in the half, had three missed shots and a turnover during that stretch.
“It happens,” Trier said. “I mean, I’ve had a few go in and out. It was tough, especially the last one.”
Trier blamed himself in a big-picture sense, saying he almost pushes himself to the point of being “psychotic” about improving his game, and appeared puzzled when a Daily Wildcat reporter asked him what he thought about the questioning Miller was likely to receive.
“Um, questioning a guy who had a 32-5 basketball team?” Trier said. “They probably don’t know much if they’re questioning him from that standpoint. Coach did what he thought was best for us to put us in the best position to win the game, and we’re going to go out there and try to execute as well as we can as a basketball team. So I totally have faith in my coach that he knows what he’s doing, not somebody else who doesn’t.”
Alkins, meanwhile, didn’t blame Miller or Trier or anybody for those last few minutes. To him, it was about allowing 52.8 percent shooting to Xavier and hitting only 25.9 percent from 3-point territory themselves (Alkins was 0 for 3 from 3-point range while shooting with a broken finger).
“It was a tie game and we had three chances to win,” Alkins said. “But those three plays didn’t cause us to lose the game. It was the whole game.”
