SAN JOSE, Calif. β After the Arizona Wildcats ended their season short of the Final Four again, Allonzo Trier was asked what he thought about the questioning Sean Miller might receive ahead.
He seemed puzzled, even as somebody appeared to beΒ updating Sean Millerβs postseason record on WikipediaΒ at about the same time.
βUm. Questioning a guy who had a 32-5 basketball team?β Trier said. βThey probably donβt know much if theyβre 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 weβre going to go out there and try to execute as well as we can as a basketball team. I totally have faith in my coach that heβs knows what heβs doing, not somebody else who doesnβt.β
The Sporting Newsβ Mike DeCourcy also offered some perspective about Millerβs track record.
FWIW, my Twitter notifications in the immediate few hours after the game included a "Fire Miller," "his teams are predictable," "team's intelligence level unacceptable," "what's up with his poor timeout management" and "Miller will never reach a Final Four."
Miller actually put a lot of the blame on himself during his podium interviews after Thursdayβs game. Miller spoke of the Wildcatsβ inability to defend well, especially down the stretch, and their lack of confidence against the zone, and talked about his role in it all.
βEqually disappointed in myself,β Miller said. βYou know, our team never really ever established great confidence against the zone. And I think in some ways that was the reason, defensively, that we werenβt as good as we usually are, because the game never really felt good, and thatβs on me.
βYour job when you get to this area, when you get to this level of college basketball, your best players have to be confident. We have to get them shots. I donβt care what defense theyβre playing β 1-3-1, 2-3, man-to-man β I donβt feel we did that tonight. And thatβs the worst feeling you can have as a coach.β
Here's the full podium comments from Miller, Kadeem Allen and Parker Jackson-Cartwright. Xavier's are here.
Sounded like Miller had a pretty uplifting postgame locker room talk, with virtually all of the players repeating his reminder that they did, after all, win the Pac-12 Tournament and (tie for) the Pac-12 regular season title, while winning 32 games.
βWe had a great year,β Rawle Alkins said. βWe had an historical year.β
Lauri Markkanen sat looking downbeat but tried to keep that in mind, too.
βWe went through a lot this year, so of course we have to think about all the good things we did,β Markkanen said. βItβs just sad the season ended so we canβt go to Phoenix.β
Allonzo Trier discussed that point at more length.
βWe had a great year, a tremendous year,β Trier said. βA year that will have a lot of memorabilia and history that will be in McKale, on the walls and in the locker rom. Itβs just tough because we all had our sights on the Final Four.
βThat was what we talked about and we believed it. We knew it was something we could do and then our journey kind of got cut short. We knew it wasnβt going to be easy. We werenβt going to walk there. Nobody was going to let us go to a Final Four just because itβs in Phoenix. It doesnβt work like that.β
Markkanen and UA's other players who are considered potential early departures this spring all declined to comment on their plans or decision processes ahead. UA players are normally off-limits for the most part in the offseason so face immediate questioning after their last game.
Our full coverage is attached to this post as are the box score and final stats.
Thanks again for reading this season. The news isn't going to slow down for a while this spring, so please stick around ...
