Sean Miller expresses Interesting sentiment Following loss to UCLA
In his post-game conference following the loss to UCLA, head coach Sean Miller had interesting comments regarding the defeat to the Bruins.
Well, it’s been more than 48 hours since the devastating loss at home to UCLA, and hopefully, we’ve all had a to chance to move on. Head Coach Sean Miller seems to have, and certainly had some interesting things to say regarding the loss.
My biggest takeaway, or at least what I found most interesting, starts at 9:15:
If you’re a die-hard UofA fan like me, you take the losses a little personally and find it difficult to talk to very many people following a loss. This past Saturday was seemingly no different.
I too have had a chance to digest what went down and took a good look at this Arizona Basketball team, season, and program. I figured this would be a great opportunity to share a little perspective.
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First, let’s start by saying Miller is just 48 years old. Through his young and wildly successful career, the thing that still seems to elude him (a Final Four), is also seemingly the thing that haunts him the most. Media, critics, fans, etc. hold the fiery and passionate coach to an extremely high standard, dangling the accreditation from the ‘upper echelons’ of the college basketball elite.
Now in his eighth season at Arizona, the ever-daunting task of leading a talented Wildcat squad deep into the NCAA tournament is nearly upon us again. As the pressure mounts, Miller hopes to finally make history and erase years of misfortune.
As some fans exited McKale Center on Saturday in dismay of yet another “big stage” loss, part of what Miller said (see earlier in the article) following the loss, here is what really stood out to me.
"“Every once in a while, people can distract players on your team. It’s you know, people need to play more minutes, coach doesn’t know what he’s doing, etc., etc… my worry, and any coach at this time as we enter March with a lot at stake is, is to keep our team on point. Make sure that we have our circle in our locker room, and we’re focused on, like we’ve been. Getting better, preparing for the next game, and in moments like this, you learn a lot about the character of your team…”"
This statement definitely seems to hit home a bit to me. We love our Wildcats, and as fans, we’ve been blessed for quite some time. Losing is generally not a part of the Arizona culture, especially on the hardwood and at home in McKale Center.
What particularly bugs me about the outrage and freak out sessions following any loss, is the sort of spoiled mentality that some of our fans seem to have.
The comments are seemingly the same;
“Sean & Arizona can’t win big games.”
“We’re not physical enough.”
“If I were coaching, I would have done this…or that…”
and so on…
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These fans are talking about the performances of 18 to 22-year old college kids. It’s extremely hard performing 100 percent, 100 percent of the time. How many of us have had a bad day on the job, or maybe even a bad week? Doesn’t feel particularly great when someone is constantly berating you after poor performances, right?
You can sit behind your smartphones, tablets, and computers emphatically punching away at keys, voicing your frustrations, but let’s be realistic. Job profile and importance aside, let’s be happy we are so blessed to be able to cheer for A Players Program.
Do I need to remind you? Just nine short years ago, our beloved program was in disarray, seemingly suffering from the tumultuous and untimely departure of Hall of Famer, Lute Olson. As it is always hard to replace a legend, keep in mind, Arizona was within a breath of naming Kevin O’Neill and even [gasp] Tim Floyd, the successor to Olson.
Alas, we ended up signing arguably one of the best, young coaches in college basketball. The Pennsylvania native who once dazzled TV viewers with his dribbling abilities, would later go on to make his college coaching debut at Xavier, before taking a job at Arizona, hopefully on the continued road to college coaching greatness.
While there are obviously things to learn and improve in his career, Miller is still a young coach. He seemingly continues to get better, and with a long career still ahead of him, he still has plenty of time to get there, so we need to give him space and support to continue to improve.
Just from a comparison standpoint, Miller’s record at Arizona is an impressive 214-65 (.767), in that same time frame, Olson was 190-69 (.734). However, Olson did have one Final Four.
Spew whatever tired rhetoric you feel necessary, but the game isn’t the same anymore. Kids are not staying in school as long.
Arizona has two scholarship seniors and three scholarship juniors on the roster. That 1987-88 Final Four team? Three seniors and three juniors.
Sure what’s the difference of one player? Well, let’s take a look, Arizona’s top contributors on this years’ team are underclassmen. Sophomore Allonzo Trier, and freshmen Lauri Markkanen and Rawle Alkins, are the Wildcats’ leading scorers.
Perhaps somewhat sobering, is that Trier and Markkanen have the potential to leave early after this season.
That remarkable 1987-88 season? Arizona was led by juniors Sean Elliott, and Anthony Cook, as well as seniors Tom Tolbert and Craig McMillan. Also, let’s not forget, the Wildcats were blessed with sharp-shooting Southern California senior, Steve Kerr.
Out of that group, Elliott and Cooks returned for their senior seasons. Nowadays, it’s pretty rare to see a player of Elliott’s caliber stay that long in school.
Miller constantly has to play musical chairs with his roster and keeping a high-impact, steady flow of talent coming in, is always paramount to his success year in and year out. Yet he seems to do a particularly great job of it.
While at Arizona, Olson didn’t really seem to have that problem. Late in his career, he even seemed to speak out against the growing culture of one-and-dones.
Lastly, I’d like to point out, that as we head into March, it isn’t necessarily the best team in college basketball who wins the championship, but rather the one playing the best at that moment. Sure, the winner every year is crowned as such, but let me give you a couple of examples that would say otherwise.
In 1996-97, no one thought Arizona (a No. 4 seed) was the best team in college basketball heading into the tournament, nor that they would do the unthinkable (beating three No. 1 seeds), in route to a championship.
Arizona just hasn’t quite had that fortune. In 2005, the Wildcats blew a 15-point lead to the undefeated Illini in the Elite Eight.
In 2011, senior Jamelle Horne’s desperation three-pointer came within inches of sending Arizona to the Final Four. 2014, the Wildcats lost sophomore Brandon Ashley with a foot injury and were a questionable call away from sending Wisconsin packing.
Lest we forget the 2015 rematch to the Badgers?
All I’m saying is let’s cool it with the expectations a bit. While we should strive for deep tournament runs every year, also understand that this is college basketball, and parity exists at this level.
You want a better coach that can “win the big game”? Go ahead. I dare you to find one. Rationally speaking, what coach out there could we realistically get, that would truly elevate the level of play even more from what it is now?
We should feel blessed we have Sean Miller and continue to cheer him as long as he’s here. Frustrated as we may be, we also have to be patient and cheer the team on thick and thin, that’s what Bearing Down is. Imagine Wisconsin giving up on Bo Ryan before he finally led them to a Final Four near the end of his career.
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Anyways, take all this for what it’s worth. Agree, disagree? Let us know! Otherwise, Bear Down, Arizona!