BOULDER, Colo. β After road games, UA coach Sean Miller usually holds his postgame media conference almost immediately following his postgame radio interview. Heβs still in his suit and tie, maybe with a bead of sweat still on his forehead.
But on Saturday, he finished the radio show, then retreated to the locker room for about 10 minutes and later emerged calm and composed while wearing a red UA jacket.
Then he composed a nine-minute media address in which he repeatedly pivoted back to the same topic: That his players just arenβt playing together and hard.
It was similar to the postgame rant Miller offered after the Wildcats beat Long Beach State on Nov. 29 but different this time in that Miller threw in himself with just about every concern.
Clearly, there were some between-the-lines possibilities here. Among other things, Miller repeatedly praised Colorado point guard McKinley Wright, and also commended Colorado veteran George King and freshman Dallas Walton, without being asked about any of them.
Miller also said the Wildcats βhave to be able to play both offense and defenseβ and, when shots donβt fall, need to βrely on effort and togetherness.β
As is often the case, Millerβs comments are best presented with some context. So hereβs how the entire question-and-answer session went:
1. The first question asked about what was going on when UA made its second-round rally.
Millerβs response:
βI thought Colorado did a great job. They played with amazing amount of energy, having an overtime game the other night, so for them to respond as quickly as they did and get ready for todayβs game at noon, and come ready to play with confidence and energy, says a lot about them as a team and as a program.
"McKinley Wright is one of the most impressive guards weβve faced. My brother recruited him (Wright signed with Dayton but flipped to CU after Archie Miller left for Dayton) and he has to be one of the dumbest coaches in college basketball for not having him a part of his program. Heβs made such a big difference in their team. Heβs physically gifted, strong and he looks like heβs an upperclassman. He does it on defense, (had) 10 assists.
"I was really impressed with him and George King, Iβve watched him develop. Heβs one of those guys who represents college basketball in such a good way, a senior, paid his dues, plays hard and always has. Those guys and (Dom) Collier had a good game today. I credit their and their freshman big guy (Dallas Walton) -- they donβt depend on him a lot for scoring -- but he was just really ready for the game. Seven for seven from the floor, thatβs a big reason why they won. He played hard, played with a lot of energy. I credit Colorado, they had a good crowd. They played hard and had a lot of energy.β
2. The next question largely repeated the first: What was working for UA in the second half?
Millerβs response: βYou know, we tried a little bit harder in the second half but we didnβt give effort. You know, sometimes when you lose, all of a sudden the coach starts blaming the players. Thatβs the furthest thing from what Iβm gonna do. Iβm gonna take all the responsibility. When you have a team like ours and you win a game like we did in Salt Lake City, itβs such a quick turnaround on a road trip like this itβs your job to have your team ready.
βI did a terrible job of having them ready. We werenβt ready. We didnβt play with any -- any βemotion, any togetherness. And I didnβt know really what button to push other than maybe just donβt play the guys who werenβt playing hard.
βBut we played harder in the second half and Iβm at least happy for the fans our fans who traveled here. At least they saw 20 minutes of us playing for Arizona because in the first half we were disconnected. We didnβt play with a lot of energy, thatβs on me and we were playing against a team that did a great job.β
3. The third question asked Miller if the early start might have had anything to do with it.
Millerβs response:
βYou canβt control the time of the game. You only can only control the how ready, how prepared you are and thatβs my job to have our group ready to go and I didnβt have them ready today, thatβs for sure.β
4. Miller was then asked what specifically was lacking in the first half defensively against Colorado:
βColorado took a different approach offensively-- they played really fast, a shoot-quick, thrive-in-transition, and do a great job on the offensive glass (approach). They generally put the ball in the middle of the floor, give it to McKinley Wright and allow him to make others better. I think once they saw our guys were struggling, they stayed with it β¦ But we had a lot to do with that. You always want your team to play for you as the coach β¦ and our guys, man, they really struggle playing for me, they really do.β
5. Miller was asked what he meant by that statement
Miller: βI canβt get them to play hard. I really canβt. We do it for a while. I know weβve had a win streak but weβve also had a good team -- we have a lot of talent. A lot of times our offense can get us to the finish line but you have to be able to play both offense and defenseβ¦ with our team, man, itβs really hard to get our guys to run as fast as they can and thatβs not them, thatβs me. I have a hard time reaching our guys.β
6. Miller was asked if thereβs a difference in his team's personality, compared with the other eight teams heβs coached at UA, that keeps it from clicking.
Miller: βI donβt know. I can only go on what I know of effort. You know when your teamβs really trying, giving everything they have. They make mistakes, they miss shots. Sometimes your execution isnβt well. It happened today. We played against a team thatβs doing a great job so you have to give credit. But with our credit that we give Colorado, this team, man, I canβt reach them. I really canβt.β
7. A reporter said that was unusual for him to say that.
Miller: Yeah. And obviously when thatβs the case, that falls on you. We have to see if we can fix it. Because we have a long road ahead of us, a lot of tough games on the road and it doesnβt get any easier. Our last game was really difficult, tough. This game was tough and and the next game is gonna be tough. Oregon Stateβs coming off a big win. We just donβt overwhelm you, one through 10 (on the roster). Believe it or not, we have to play hard, play with confidence, play with togetherness like a lot of great teams, or a lot of teams, do in this country. And thatβs really missing with our team.β
8. Miller was asked if Colorado shifting from its usual man-to-man defense to a zone was a factor:
Miller: βIβll have to look at it. I donβt think that was the problem for us. We probably took some ill-advised shots but if youβre playing with great energy and togetherness, a really high level of effort on defense, itβs tough for that group of five to go on on the offensive end and just take any shot. Those two things donβt go together. If you have that team that really struggles to give effort and energy on defense, itβs very easy and almost makes perfect sense that that same group would take ill-advised shots and really thatβs what Coloradoβs zone did. It baited us into not playing together, not moving it. In the second half, if you really evaluate us against the zone, really anything. We got a lot of good looks, some of which we missed. But that really wasnβt the problem today.β
9. Miller was asked if the loss compared with any of those in the Bahamas.
Miller: βIt was very similar. Every coach starts with `youβve gotta get your guys believing and you gotta get your guys playing really hardβ and our guys really struggle to do both right now.β
10, Miller was asked about playing Emmanuel Akot for the first time in three games and if he can be a factor.
Miller: "He did a good job. He did a good job."
11. Miller was asked what he can do in practice to get his team to play hard.
Miller: βI donβt know. Weβre gonna take a look at it. Obviously, we have a couple of practices here and then we have to get ready for Oregon State and Oregon and, look, Iβm not really talking about wins and losses. Iβm talking about you know when a group of guys are really playing for you. And I canβt get those guys to play for me.β
12. Miller was asked what he thought about CU's court storm management, after he complained two years earlier that a UA player would someday hit a fan out of self-defense.
Miller: "No problem. They deserved it. I would have stormed the court, too. They should be proud of their team. They had a great weekend and it wasnβt easy for them. They came off the Oregon trip and the Oregon trip didnβt go well for their team but the way they responded says a lot about that group. Obviously theyβre connected. And McKinley Wright, for such a young kid, itβs amazing, you can just see in his face how he plays. Heβs just that special player who can make his teammates better. Usually you say that about an older guy but for such a young player thatβs a great characteristic. You can really feel that when you play Colorado.β
13. Miller was asked if he kids Archie Miller about not having Wright on board anymore.
Miller: βNo. He has his own problems."
14. Finally, Miller was asked if heβs ever had this kind of problem before, where teams didnβt paly hard for him.
Miller: βNot like this. Weβll see. Weβll either fix it or keep getting our ass kicked.β
However you read into those remarks, it was clearly Miller's way of setting a tone with the Wildcats.
Former UA forward Kevin Parrom, for one, said Miller's approach has worked before.Β
Coach Miller always had us prepared for the 2nd half of the season.. The best is yet to come.. #beardown
β Kevin Parrom (@KevinParrom3) January 6, 2018
Our game story, seen-and-heard notebook, and PDFs of the box score and UA stats are attached to this post.
