Arizona Basketball: Why Sean Miller is the best recruiter on the west coast

Arizona Basketball head coach Sean Miller is known as one of the best recruiters in the country and recently has become one of the best on the west coast.

He’s won Pac-12 regular-season titles, Pac-12 tournament titles, developed players to become NBA All-Stars, but the one thing Arizona Basketball head coach Sean Miller has done that makes him stand out is his recruiting. Over the last 10 years, there hasn’t been anyone better in recruiting elite talent on the west coast then Miller.

To stay at the top in the Pac-12 and in the country requires constantly replenishing the roster with the best. Since Miller took over the reins in 2009-10, he consistently has one of the top-ranked recruiting classes in the Pac-12 and in the nation. The only down season was the 2018-19 class due to the FBI and NCAA investigation. Miller was only able to recruit and sign three incoming freshmen (with one of those leaving before the season began Omar Theilmans).

Miller has taken full advantage of being located on the west coast by recruiting four and five-star players in-state and nearby states. The 2019 class has two players who played high school basketball from this part of the country, Nico Mannion (Arizona) and Christian Koloko (California). The two other members of this class, Josh Green (Florida, originally from Australia) and Zeke Nnaji (Minnesota), are from the other side of United States, but that hasn’t stopped Miller from recruiting them.

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California and Arizona are two big states in which Miller has sought after players. Deandre Ayton (Arizona), Ira Lee, (California), Stanley Johnson (California) and Park Jackson-Cartwright (California) are some examples of players from these two states.

Not only has Miller focused on the west coast to recruit, but has extended his recruiting efforts to all over the country and even overseas.

Lauri Markkannen, who was from Finland, was one of those players, many didn’t really know about, expect Miller and his staff. He went on to have a memorable freshman year at Arizona before getting selected No. 7th in the 2017 NBA Draft.

Facts don’t lie. Of the 13 players currently playing in the NBA, 10 of those were recruited by Miller. That doesn’t take into account other players such as Derrick Williams and Dusan Ristic who are currently playing overseas.

If you’ve been following us, you will know that Miller and his staff have been recruiting for the future. There has yet to be any verbal commits to the classes of 2020, 2021 or even 2022 yet, but it’s just a matter of time before that starts to happen.

At Zona Zealots, we have always been a supporter of head coach Sean Miller since day one. We believe in his recruiting abilities and know for a fact he is one the best recruiters on the west coast and ranks among the top in the nation. As always Wildcat fans, Bear Down, Arizona!