In terms of actual coaching, it was a short week for Sean Miller. After holding a film review session last Friday night in Eugene, he pretty much disappeared from the Wildcats until Thursday.
Miller said he had no role in game-planning for Stanford, while associate head coach Lorenzo Romar ran practices in his place this week.
“It was really different,” Miller said, then offered a smile and said: “It’s actually a pretty good job if you only have to show up for the game, you know. But we run the same system. Those guys (assistants) kept me abreast. We met for about an hour and half, two hours and it’s almost like preparing for a quick turnaround (between games).”
Of his staff, Miller also said: “I thought they did a great job. We have a coaching staff with Mark Phelps having been a head coach (at Drake) and Lorenzo was the head coach at Washington. They’re in really good hands and those are people I really trust. They were locked in and ready to go.”
Dusan Ristic will not only leave Arizona this spring with the most wins played in of any Wildcat ever, but also with three Pac-12 conference titles.
Ristic was a freshman reserve center when the Wildcats won the conference outright in 2014-15, going 16-2, and was a junior starter last season when UA tied UCLA for the title at 16-2. This year, UA will be 14-4 if it can beat last-place Cal on Saturday.
“It’s a great accomplishment,” Ristic said. “Winning the three Pac-12 regular-season championships out of four years, that’s a pretty nice accomplishment and it only shows that the culture of this program and what we do that works.
"I think tonight was the ultimate example of our team game. It wasn’t really one player tonight. ... Everybody did a great job. It’s not easy to come back after everything that was going down these last few days."
About those last few days…
Ristic said “a lot of things were going through my mind. … I wasn’t sure because obviously that was beyond my control. There were some other people who were in charge of that but I was just hoping for the best. I was hoping he would return and that what happened. I’m really happy about it.”
When Miller did return Thursday and told the team, Ristic said: “It was great. Everybody was smiling. Everybody was happy and we were just excited to have our coach back. That’s somebody who spent the whole season with the team and obviously tonight it was really special for us to have him back.”
Miller said it’s “been a hard week for these guys,” but said everything they went through could ultimately help make them better prepared for what happens ahead – on and off the court.
“Our team has certainly dealt with a lot of adversity,” Miller said. "With young people, college sports, sometime you don’t give it enough credit for preparing you for what’s to come for the rest of life.
"We have a lot of players who have seen a lot, been through a lot, and understand what criticism feels like and understands maybe when things just aren’t going well and you learn how to fight through those times. I think everybody that’s on this year’s team will really benefit a lot from that and my hope is that we’ll benefit on the court as well as we come down the home stretch in March.”
Ristic, the only player UA made available for interviews after Thursday's game, said the Wildcats have no choice but to use the adversity for motivation the rest of the season.
“I think we can flip the story," Ristic said. "We can make a run in the tournament. We can change the whole situation. Two days ago, everybody was against us, the whole nation. Even some of you guys (media) were against us. And I think we’re gonna use that as motivation. From this point on, the whole thing made us stronger, much tougher as a team and I think we’re going to try to do something special now.”
When asked if he was confident Trier would win his appeal, after testing negative for Ostarine last Friday in Utah, Miller said:
“I’m not really in that realm. We had our fingers crossed and were hoping it would go that way. And I think we’re all really elated for him and us that it did.”
Miller said forward Ira Lee might be able to return Saturday against Cal because his concussion symptoms have improved. UA protocol is to have players sit out a week before they can re-test to see if they can be cleared to play; Lee was hurt on Feb. 20.
“Ira we anticipate could get cleared tomorrow and if he does he would be available for Saturday,” Miller said. “With the concussion tests, you have a number of symptoms. His symptoms have maybe dissolved into a single symptom so that’s a good sign.”
Miller not only thanked Arizona fans but also UA president Robert Robbins and AD Dave Heeke following a week in which the administrators issued a joint statement saying they asked him “direct and pointed questions” following ESPN’s report that Miller allegedly discussed paying Deandre Ayton $100,000.
“We have an amazing president and athletic director, and a group of people who are smart and trust in what we have here,” Miller said. “We rely on those people and that’s how you have to do that when things happens. I’m very fortunate to be here.”
Miller also said he was grateful for the former Wildcat players who have offered him support, such as Aaron Gordon, Kevin Parrom and T.J. McConnell.
“A lot of them did. It meant a lot,” Miller said. “When you go through something like that, it’s really all you have.”
