Arizona Basketball: Ranking Sean Miller’s first 6 teams
By Brad Malone
5. 2011-12 (23-12, NIT First Round)
With Derrick Williams taking his talents to the NBA, Arizona’s next conference championship was put on hold. The Wildcats rotation took another big hit when MoMo Jones decided to transfer to Iona to be closer to his grandmother.
Tucson thought freshman Josiah Turner would be the next great point guard for point guard U, but instead, he had trouble hitting a jump shot and his off the court troubles eventually got him dismissed from the team.
The Cats NCAA at-large bubble burst on the last day of the regular season at ASU, when Arizona lost by seven in an uninspired Wells Fargo Arena.
Arizona nearly had it’s NCAA ticket punched in the Pac-12 Tournament Championship game, but Colorado held on in a ‘grind it out’ game to get the automatic berth into the big dance.
The tournament loss forced fan favorites, Kyle Fogg, and Jesse Perry, to finish their careers at McKale Center when the Cats lost to Bucknell in the first round of the NIT.
Next: No. 4 : Mark Lyons To the Rescue