Arizona Basketball: Sean Miller gets powerful support from TJ McConnell and others

In the last several days, former Arizona Wildcats have shown their support for Coach Sean Miller as the reports of a wire tap (allegedly) discussing Deandre Ayton have made national headlines.

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Since late Friday, the Arizona Wildcat basketball program has been in the national spotlight, but not for a good reason. Reports of a wiretap conversation between Coach Sean Miller former ASM employee Christian Dawkins went viral all throughout social media and major news outlets, including ESPN. That didn’t stop former Wildcat players from showing their support for their former coach.

T.J. McConnell was one of those. Everyone who followed McConnell during his two years as a Wildcat under Coach Miller knew the strong bond the two had. Both have that passion and desire for the game of basketball and give 100% on the floor and on the sidelines every game.

Now in his third year with the Philadelphia 76ers, McConnell has more than proven himself and strongly feels Coach Miller is one of the main reasons why. On Instagram, he posted a powerful message for his former coach:

What a powerful message! It goes to show how special the bond between a player and coach can be. The purpose of a coach is to “coach” his players on the game of basketball, but it’s also about teaching them life skills outside the game of basketball. That’s what Miller has done for McConnell.

Many people forget about that aspect of coaching, especially in the state college basketball is in now. These are young men, who need someone to look up to, someone to motivate them, Miller is that guy. He comes across very intense on the sideline, but it’s extremely clear that Miller’s personality has more depth than that. He is someone who cares.

The reaction McConnell got for his post was even more incredible. Former Wildcats standouts and current NBA stars, such as Lauri Markkanen, Aaron Gordon, Kevin Parrom and even Kyle Fogg, liked his post and even showed their own support. In addition, former baseball player JJ Matijevic, and former football players Scooby Wright III and Will Parks also liked the Instagram post.

Fogg, Mark Lyons, and Kevin Parrom put out their own posts.

Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon came out in support of Miller as well according to Josh Robbin’s of the Orlando Sentinel:

"“Sean Miller was nothing but great for me and especially the guys that were on that team: T.J., myself, Rondae,” Gordon said Saturday when asked about the report about Miller.“He was nothing but great — just upstanding, just a role model and a great coach, a great person,” Gordon added. “This doesn’t take away from who he is as a person and who he is as a coach. He’s very successful. Yeah, the NCAA has a stranglehold on the money revenue coming through, and they need to start paying players. They really do. They need to start paying players more. It’s too bad that the FBI is so concerned with that and not concerned with other things. It’s just a domino effect at this point. You want to tip one over and the rest are going to go down. So the NCAA should pay players.”"

The positive impact Coach Miller has had on these athletes is INCREDIBLE. But even after seeing the support and love players have shown, there are those who feel Coach Miller shouldn’t be the coach anymore and they have the right to their opinion. That’s fine. What’s not fine is when certain individuals in the sports world say certain without checking their facts, Dick Vitale and Seth Davis!

In times like these, you learn a lot about people. We have learned that those who have played under Coach Miller ABSOLUTELY respect him and see him not only as a coach but as a role model. We have also learned that Wildcat fans feel the same way!

Must Read: ESPN reporting on Arizona Basketball is irresponsible

At Zona Zealots, we couldn’t be prouder of the support Wildcat players have shown for Coach Sean Miller no matter what happens, he has had a big positive impact on at least these players. These are are challenging times for everyone and we all need to continue to stay positive as everything will work out in the end as it’s meant to.