Timing was strange for a Sean Miller press conference today. The Justin Simon/Allonzo Trier/Pitt coaching job rumor things have already happened, and the UA coach still canβt talk about commits Kobi Simmons and Rawle Alkins until they sign letters-of-intent next week nor directly speculate what Josh Jackson and Terrance Ferguson are going to do.
So the news was basically this:
β’ Elliott Pitts is still taking classes at UA but his future remains unclear.
β’ Ryan Anderson and Gabe York have committed to the Portsmouth InvitationalΒ postseason camp, giving themselves a good opportunity to play before overseas and NBA scouts.
β’ UA may add another big game to the 2016-17 schedule if its recruiting class is strong enough.
β’ Miller said grad transfers should have to redshirt a year.
β’ And, in maybe the biggest news of all, Miller has new shirts.
Free new shirts.
βI will tell you, I have received boxes,β Miller said smiling, referring to undershirts and potential replacements for his sweat-soaked dress shirt worn against Wichita State. βI received a box from the CEO of Tommy John. I have received five different types of shirts. I mean, this has worked out well for me.
Miller said he has βgreat regretsβ about wearing the shirt he did in the NCAA Tournament, saying it was a new shirt that he didnβt test out or wear an undershirt with.
βIt seemed like something happened to me, like I was sick or I was a raving lunatic on the sideline, that I sweated at a level thatβs never been seen before,β Miller said. βBut the truth be told, I tried a new shirt that was positioned to me as being more breathable and they were right, which means less material.
βI never wore a T-shirt under it. Just how I did it. β¦ It was really unbeknowst to me how I looked. I just thought I was going through a normal game, obviously, but after the game I figured it out quite a bit.
βI want to clarify one thing: I didnβt sweat on that day any more (than usual). Itβs that I didnβt try out the shirt that I wore. Clearly made an error not having an undershirt and no question I had a bad night, coupled with the fact that we lost. If anything, people may have talked more about me and less about our team, and that may be a good thing as well.β
Miller also joked that wearing the new shirts β presumably if they donβt get soaked β could make him an ideal spokesman.
βThe embarrassment of it has been offset by the product endorsement that Iβm capable of,β Miller said. βI really believe that whatever shirt I decide to put on a year from now I am in the market for some major league endorsement opportunities.β
UA also brought out Allonzo Trier and Kadeem Allen, giving Trier a chance to expound on his reasons for returning as a sophomore.
Trier said he wanted to start preparing with his teammates for next season right away at UA, and that coming back will help him have the best pro career he can have. He said he wasn't interested in at least testing the NBA Draft, even though college players can now do so through May 25.
βIβm an all-in type of person,β Trier said. βIf I decide to do something, Iβm gonna have to go all in. I didnβt want to be one foot out the door, one foot in with this university and this basketball team.
"I understood that the process of being great for this program starts now and I didnβt want to be halfway with this team. I wanted to show I was going to be dedicated and give my all to this team and start locking arms with these guys and really start working toward being a great year.β
Miller said he encouraged Trier to think about testing the waters βso he could learn more about where he stood and have the opportunity to utilize that system to return back if he so chooses and if he really played well and got quality feedback, then he would have the opportunity to leave and follow his dream.β
Miller said that Trier and his mom understood that it would be tricky, since even if an NBA staffer indicates you are first-round material, late decisions by foreign players can push that βfirst-rounderβ down into the second round.
βIt only takes one (foreign player draft entry) to change what they just said,β Miller said.
Allen, meanwhile, said Trierβs decision meant a lot to the team.
βAllonzoβs a great player, a good guy to play with, so with him coming back, that will add a lot of depth to our team, and give us a better feeling from last yearβs team,β Allen said. βWe have a lot of guys coming back and lost five. With Allonzo coming back and myself and the leaders on the team, I feel we can push the guys and get better every day.β
And the latest on Pitts is...
βThings have not changed,β Miller said. βHeβs taking classes and heβs here.β
Pitts has been out since Dec. 9 because of an unspecified off-court issue and left the team in February.
The prospect of permanently losing Pitts might be another reason why Miller is aiming to bring in a total 2016 recruiting class of βsix or sevenβ players. That means three or four more this spring still to come.
βHow that shakes out in terms of freshmen or a transfer remains to be seen,β Miller said. βBut that's what our team needs, because of what we've lost. The good news if you love recruiting, the following year weβre gonna probably bring seven more in. So if you love to recruit, this is definitely a place to show up at right now.β
Seriously, though, Miller doesnβt love it that much.
βI understand itβs the name of the game but nobody loves bringing seven in,β he said.
βIt can get away from you if youβre not careful. But itβs a cycle weβre trying to balance as best we can with transfers and with retention, players like Kadeem coming back, Allonzo not leaving after one year and hopefully coming back in year two if it's in his best interest to do so.β
Of course, the elephants in the room that Miller couldnβt speak of directly were Ferguson and Jackson. Miller was asked in general if he knew what would happen with his spring recruiting.
βI donβt,β Miller said. βI have an informed opinion, but nothing more than that.β
Jackson said last week he has made a decision but has not informed any coaches recruiting him.
If Mark Tollefsen hadnβt transferred to Arizona from San Francisco last spring, thereβs a chance the Dons would have won more than 15 games this season and coach Rex Walters would not have been fired.
Miller said that bothers him but indicated heβs being hit on the other end of the spectrum, and trying to survive. That is, he lost six players early to pro basketball in the previous six years.
βItβs hardβ to think about USFβs situation, Miller said. βThe other part for programs like ours is nobody really puts your arm around you when you lose as many players to the NBA draft like we have. So how do you keep it up? We were on the brink, if we were healthy, of maybe winning a Pac-12 championship or winning a few games in the tournament. We were able to do it in large part because of the transfers.β
Miller said he feels badly that coaches losing those transfers are being hurt, saying he believed even grad transfers should have to sit out a year β even if that meant theyβd have to be granted a six-year eligibility window, since grad transfers usually have taken a redshirt year already that allowed them to graduate after only three playing seasons.
βItβs really a major problem in college basketball right now, now that coaches are losing their jobs because their best players that theyβve invested in three or four years leave them," Miller said. "Itβs not healthy for anybody. Itβs not healthy for the NBA, not healthy for college basketball, a coach's tenure or a programβs ability to sustain. So we have to slow that down.β
Miller said the rules changes disallowing extenuating circumstances for being immediately eligible to play β which is how MoMo Jones was able to play immediately at Iona after leaving UA in 2011 β were βfair and healthy.β
So now heβd also like to see grads have to do the same.
βI would love for everybody, if you would like to transfer, you sit out," Miller said. "If you had that, that would curtail some of this.β
