Arizona Basketball: Early season coaching suggestions for Sean Miller

Arizona Basketball Head Coach Sean Miller is a fantastic coach, even so, there are some changes he needs to make to get him further than he’s gotten so far.

I am seeing a lot I like so far from this seasons under the radar team. Arizona Basketball Head Coach Sean Miller gets an A+ for recruiting this year. He also has done a lot on the court with a team that has not one returning starter. I’ll give him that. I have a lot of hope that this team can surprise a lot of people. That said, what I want to see from this coach is growth as the game evolves in the NCAA and the addition of an element of surprise on his list of game-winning strategies.

What got Miller here (one of the most winning-est coaches in the NCAA along with top five in NCAA appearances) will not get him there (Final Four). Miller ranked No.12 out of 353 college basketball coaches currently battling in the NCAA. Miller would be the first to recognize there is always room for improvement.

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The Pac-Line defense is great, but his opposing coaches are on to him. The team has shown flashes of zone defense, but not enough for my taste. The team pressed early in a few games, but again I am hungry for more and was happily surprised when I saw some. Not using his entire bench also makes me slap my forehead.

Just this week, at Arizona Basketball’s press conference, Miller stressed he needs more rebounds, more boxing out. TOTALLY AGREE! But he also complained about a lack of transition speed on defense against Alabama. So if I am a player, am I more worried about getting back on defense or am I more worried about rebounds? I say rebounds, but I have no idea what coach tells his team since the two go hand in hand. Either you box out and try to get the rebound or you are so worried about getting back in transition that you abandon the rebound to get to your spot on the other side of the court.

Maybe I am making this too simple, but think about it a minute. I am as frustrated as the next fan when I see absolutely no boxing out, but now I am thinking that’s because the players are afraid they cannot get back on defense fast enough.

As I have said before, and will say it again, in the NCAA you cannot be predictable. There is a ton of tape available on Miller’s teams that opposing coaches can almost guarantee what play he will call.

If the players on the court are stagnant, throw in a bench player the opposing team did not plan for. Douvonaire Doutrive, for example, could have been the spark the Wildcats needed against Alabama. Why didn’t he play DD? How about Jake Dejardines? Jake has a sweet three, stick him in for a few minutes. Put in players who need to prove themselves. When Dusan Ristic decided on his own to shoot and make three’s, Miller hated it, but it won games.

Sean, I love you truly, but maybe throw away a couple of your tenants and adopt new strategies. I know you feel comfortable with tried and true, but frankly, sometimes, you never know which player will win a game for you.

Case in point. I was at a South Bay Lakers G-League game the other night. There was a player who had averaged like 1-2 minutes a game, Derrick Griffin. South Bay fell behind in the third quarter, and Colby Karl put in Griffin. The kid made four out of four shots coming in cold off the bench and then hit a reverse slam dunk to put his team up by two. He helped charge up the team to the point they wanted to win the game for Derrick.

Although Miller is looking for more consistency, and rightfully so, I really like what I am seeing this season. The Brandon’s, B-squared, B2, B-rand and B-Will, or whatever we are going to call them, are rising to the occasion, and Miller has done an excellent job developing their college game.

Emmanuel Akot is beginning to be more consistent. Chase Jeter is performing better than everyone expected. All eight players are contributing at different times in the game. Justin Coleman has already proven his worth in the first 10 games, and hopefully his scoring performance against Alabama was just a blip.

Lastly, I would like to address time management. I would like to know how many games have been lost when Miller runs out of time-outs prior to 10 seconds left in a game. When Miller called his last time out against Alabama with almost 30 seconds left, I felt the game was lost from my experience watching every single game for seance Miller landed in Tucson.

Maybe it’s because he feels he doesn’t have a TJ McConnell? I think Coleman and Williams could be that guy that takes instruction or gets to know what Miller wants in each situation and can coach on the court avoiding a time out.

Miller seems to blame only the players for the loss to Alabama. I disagree. Yes, the players may have committed this issues he points out and he expects more, which I have no problem with. But I think he needs to take some responsibility for the reasons I have already stated.

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Don’t get me wrong. I want this team to be the Cinderella team and win the NCAA Championship. I hope that Coach Miller is open to being flexible with his tactics and adjustment in the future so they don’t look so much like the past. In the NCAA to beat opponents, you have to be unpredictable, especially at the end of games and with your defense. This team has what it takes and so does this coach, just think there is some room for improvement.

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