Sean Miller is building a title contender in Arizona

It hasn't taken long for Sean Miller to rebuild the Arizona program.

And rest assured, the program needed rebuilding.

After stepping in as the Wildcat's fourth coach in the span of four seasons in 2009, Miller was at the helm when Arizona missed the 2010 NCAA Tournament, the first time that had happened since 1984. It wasn't exactly the way that Miller envisioned starting off his tenure in Tucson, but the struggles didn't last long. As Derrick Williams quickly morphed from a freshmen all-american into a first-team all-american, Arizona turned into a legitimate Final Four contender, blowing out top seeded Duke as the Wildcats came two missed threes from the Final Four.


Postseason success -- and Pac-10 title -- aside, I'm still of the mindset that Arizona's 2010-2011 season was more the result of Miller's lucky break landing Williams, a three-star recruit that slipped through the cracks to Arizona, than of Miller's prowess in repairing the program. He has, however, laid a terrific foundation for the future. The Wildcats will have an intriguing blend of talented youngsters and experienced veterans next years, mixing veteran leaders like Kyle Fogg, Solomon Hill and Kevin Parrom with a loaded recruiting class -- PG Josiah Turner (12th in our consensus recruiting rankings), SG Nick Johnson (23rd), F Angelo Chol (58th) and F Sidiki Johnson (85th).

If you think Miller's effort on the recruiting trail was impressive for the Class of 2011, the Class of 2012 is even better. With F Grant Jerrett (29th in our consensus recruiting rankings) and G Gabe York (32nd) already committed, Miller landed his best recruit to date on Monday afternoon, earning a commitment from Brandon Ashley, a talented power forward that currently is sitting at sixth in the consensus recruiting rankings.

And Miller is still heavily involved with Kaleb Tarczewski, another top ten player in the Class of 2012.

Arizona has a chance to win the inaugural Pac-12 title this season, but the real damage they will do is in 2012-2013. This may not mean much to those of you that don't follow recruiting heavily, but take a look at Arizona's (projected) depth chart for the start of the 2012 season

- G: Josiah Turner
- G: Nick Johnson
- F: Kevin Parrom
- F: Brandon Ashley
- C: Angelo Chol
- Bench: Jordin Mayes, Gabe York, Solomon Hill, Sidiki Johnson, Grant Jerrett

And, again, that doesn't include a top ten recruit Miller still has a shot of landing.

That's a program with size, athleticism, a high-powered back court attack and impressive depth. Barring any sudden changes -- players decommitting or transferring, someone getting injured, etc. -- Arizona will be one of the favorites to win the 2013 National Title.

That's an impressive jump for a team that missed the 2010 NCAA Tournament.


Since Brandon Ashley is the guy that committed today, here is a video of him:


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Sean Miller's return, and Maryland's coaching search

While everyone spent the weekend focused on who was staying and who was leaving in regards to the NBA Draft, the most interesting -- and possibly the most important -- decision on whether to stay or to go didn't involve a player.

It involved a head coach.

After the typical flip-flopping reports we are used to in the twitter-age, Miller opted on Saturday to return to Tucson, turning down the advances from the now coachless Maryland terrapins.

"I am very pleased with my situation here at Arizona and feel that President Shelton, Greg Byrne and the UA have made every effort to provide our program with the tools necessary to be successful," Miller said in a statement. "Over the last two days, the amount of inaccuracies that surrounded this entire process has been very disappointing. Hopefully, this will put an end to such speculation. Believe me when I tell you, our administration has done everything to keep me here and ensure that this will be among the elite programs in the nation."


That everything included an extension for Miller, as well as more money for the people on his coaching staff.

Its not hard to see why Miller turned down the job. He's bringing in his third straight talented recruiting class -- and this one is probably the best of the bunch -- that includes the likes of Nick Johnson, Angelo Chol, Sidiki Johnson, and Josiah Turner. He also had Shabazz Muhammed, a top five recruit in the class of 2012, on campus on Sunday and is in the lead for Chris Thomas, a top five recruit in the class of 2013.

Coming off of a trip to the Elite 8, Miller is well on his way towards building Arizona back into a national power. With everything established for next season, it simply didn't make sense for him to move his family across the country to take on another rebuilding effort at a program that is not that much of a better job than the one he currently has. In fact, Maryland is, more than anything, a lateral move from Arizona, especially considering the expected increase in exposure that comes with the Pac-12's new TV deal with ESPN.

Maryland has also been turned down by Mike Brey, Brad Stevens, Jamie Dixon, and Jay Wright, which begs the question -- is this job really as good as people have speculated?

Well, yes, it is. There is no denying the facts. The Terps have a dedicated and passionate fan base. The school is located in the middle of the fertile recruiting grounds of DC and Baltimore. They have tradition, winning the 2002 national title and sending numerous players to the NBA.

But it is also true that no established coach is going to want to leave their current job this late in the year. Recruiting is finished. Lineups and rotations are in the process of being established. Vacations need to be taken. It would be one thing if this was UCLA or Duke or Kentucky that opened up, but Maryland isn't quite on that level.

The Terps may be better off riding out interim head coach Rob Ehsan for a season before trying to land a big name candidate in next year's coaching carousel.

It worked for Arizona.

After Lute Olsen retired, the Wildcats went through both Kevin O'Neill and Russ Pennell before hitting a home run with Miller.

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On another note, I would urge everyone to read what Joe Ovies has to say about the differences between the coaching searches of NC State and Maryland. I would add one more point: NC State couldn't land a head coach because, most believe, no one wanted to compete with Duke and North Carolina in The Triangle and no one wanted to deal with Debbie Yow. With Maryland, the consensus seems to be that the Terps are struggling due to the timing of the job opening.

Whether or not that is what is actually happening is up for interpretation and only truly known by the people that turned down the respective jobs.

But it is a difference that must be pointed out.
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Sean Miller, LeBryan Nash, and over signing

Part of the job description of being a sports columnist is having the ability, and the cajones, to rip a sports figure -- no matter how famous and powerful they are -- when they mess up. Break the law, and Jay Mariotti will be calling for your job. (That is, if he still has one himself.) Make a mistake that costs your team wins, whether you are a coach, a front office member, or a player, and you should expect some relentless mocking at the hands of Gregg Doyel.

One of the things that really gets Doyel fired up is the practice of over signing in college sports. Twice, back in 2005 after USC hired Tim Floyd and just last month when he went after Les Miles, has Doyel spoken out against coaches that over sign recruits.

What do I mean when I say over signing?

What does an uncommitted kid like LeBryan Nash have to do with over signing?
(photo credit: Nation of Blue)

In both basketball and football, there are limits on scholarships. The rule for college basketball is that each team is only allowed to give out 13 scholarships. What many coaches do is to promise too many scholarships by signing too many incoming recruits. The assumption is that someone is going to fail to qualify, decide to go pro, or -- whether by choice or by force -- make the decision to head to another school to play basketball.

A perfect example of this is what happened to DJ Newbill at Marquette. Newbill had signed on with the school, but when former top 100 recruit and Wisconsin native Jamil Wilson decided he wanted to finish his collegiate career with Marquette, the Golden Eagles had one too many scholarship players. Newbill was the odd man out.

While we can argue all day about ethics and morals involved with over signing, I think we can all agree that this practice rests smack in the middle of the gray area between acceptable and unacceptable behavior by college coaches that are supposed to be role models for these athletes.

Do I have as big of a problem with it as Doyel does? No.

Do I recognize that it contributes to the image of college coaches as people that care more about winning and their bank account than they do about the young men and women they coach? Absolutely.

The thing to remember here is that this is big time college basketball, and the higher you climb up the athletics chain, the more cutthroat it gets. If you're not good enough, you are going to get cut. And if you are the odd man out when a coach over recruits, than odds are pretty good you aren't good enough to play at that school. I think this summer has made it pretty clear that coaches go well out of their way -- and well beyond the NCAA rule book -- in order to get talent on their roster.

Is it fair? Not really. Does it suck for that kid? Absolutely. I've been there before. It hurts. But I will say this -- if you are good enough to be offered a scholarship to a major conference program, than you are good enough to get a free education at a school that plays in a lesser conference. Take Newbill -- he's currently on scholarship at Southern Miss. Its not the Big East, but he's still playing in a good conference and getting a free education. Things could be worse.

I'm bringing this up because of news that came out of Arizona today.

LeBryan Nash is one of the top ten players in the class of 2011. At 6'7", 230 lb, Nash is arguably the most physically gifted player in the class. He's strong, he's athletic, and he's fearless attacking the rim, which makes him a load to handle inside. But Nash has also developed enough of a perimeter game that most recruiting services consider him a small forward.

That's just a long-winded way of saying that Nash is the kind of player that every coach in the country wants on their roster.

Except, apparently, Arizona.

Sean Miller asked a top ten recruit not to come on an official visit.
(photo credit: AZStarNet)

Why?

Because Sean Miller has already promised too many scholarships for the 2011-2012 season -- 11 scholarship players will return while Miller and his staff have already accepted commitments from Josiah Turner, Nick Johnson, and Sidiki Johnson. Keep in mind, the Wildcats only have 12 scholarships to give out as they lost one due to violations from when Lute Olson was the head coach.

Adam Zagoria reported today that Arizona coaches called Nash's AAU coach and asked Nash not to come on his official recruiting visit. What makes this all the more surprising is that Nash was actually interested in the Wildcats. Oklahoma State is his favorite, but Nash told Zagoria that if everything went well with his visit to Arizona, they "might be matched up with Oklahoma State."

Miller deserves some praise here. He declined the official visit from Nash because he has already over signed for the 2011-2012 season. The Wildcats are operating under the assumption that star sophomore Derrick Williams will be turning pro after the season, and its reasonable to expect at least one player to transfer out of the program after the season. Its the right thing to do, especially from a public relations perspective.

That said, most believe that Arizona is not currently in Nash's top three. Its not worth the hurt feelings and the potential for burned bridges by recruiting over players -- players that could be essentially forced out of the program -- for a kid that doesn't appear likely to come and could very well be a one-and-done guy if he does.

Its a smart move by Miller.

I don't know if I would necessarily do the same thing if I was in his shoes.

Miller's already over signed. One player currently on a scholarship at the school is either going to get the hint, or be shown the hint, that he won't be getting playing time at Arizona if he stays. The kids at the end of the bench already know that they could potentially be on the chopping block.

How much more damage would Miller really do by pursuing another top recruit, one that could potentially be the best in the class?

Does the risk of continuing to recruit Nash outweigh the gains of landing Nash?

(For what its worth, Arizona hasn't exactly said they are done recruiting Nash, either. They simply asked him to postpone his visit until the spring semester.)

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ARIZONA LANDS ANOTHER ELITE RECRUIT: Kevin Parrom, a 6'6" wing that attended St. Raymond's in the Bronx before heading to South Kent for his senior season, has committed to Arizona after visiting Tucson over the weekend. Parrom had committed to Xavier, but was granted his release when Sean Miller left.

Kevin Parrom is headed to Arizona.
(photo credit: Xavier Newsletter)

Parrom adds to what has turned into an excellent first recruiting class for Miller. Parrom, who is the 122nd best recruit according to Rivals and 88th according to Scout, is the third top 100 player headed to the Wildcats. Miller will also be getting another 6'6" wing in Solomon Hill (27th by Rivals, 58th by Scout) and 6'10" bruiser Kryrl Natyazhko (81st by Rivals, 48th by Scout, bonus points if you can pronounce his name correctly).

If Nic Wise withdraws his name from the draft, these three freshman plus returnees Kyle Fogg, Jamelle Horne, and Zane Johnson gives Miller a team that has a shot of making a run at the tournament.

Maybe the 'Cats can avoid an Indiana-like collapse after all.

With Parrom's commitment, there are now just five players ranked in either the Scout or Rivals top 100 that have yet to commit: PG John Wall (1, 2), SG Lance Stephenson (11, 8), PF Latavious Williams (17, N/A), PG Eric Bledsoe (23, 37), and PF/C DeShawn Painter (127, 68). Continue reading...

Sean Miller to Arizona - its official. But why was it so hard for Arizona to find a coach?

(UPDATE: Memphis has promoted former assistant Josh Pastner to head coach. If the name sounds familiar, it should. He was the guy that Arizona wanted to be the interim coach this season.)

Last night, the talk of the town was that another high-profile coach had turned down the Arizona coaching gig. Sean Miller of Xavier had told Jim Livengood that he did not what to take the job, but around noon today, he informed Xavier that he would, in fact, be leaving Xavier.

This raises a bigger question. Why was it so hard for Arizona (and still is hard for Memphis - they were just spurned by Baylor's Scott Drew) to find a new coach?

Let's face it. The Wildcats have been a top 10 program in the country the last 25 or so years. It is a basketball school with great fans and an administration dedicated to winning.

But the issue lies in who will be replaced. Lute Olson is a living legend. While I have knocked his coaching ability at times (I wrote something along the lines of "rolling the ball out and letting five Mickey D's play does not a Bobby Knight make"), there is no mistaking that the guy put Arizona on the map as a basketball institution. It is so tough to replace a legend (see Mike Davis at Indiana or Matt Doherty/Bill Gutheridge at UNC) at a school with a basketball tradition.

It makes it even more difficult when that team is going to have to be built from scratch. Memphis loses Tyreke Evans, Shawn Taggart, Robert Dozier, and basically their entire recruiting class. Arizona will more than likely lose all or part of their trio Chase Budinger, Nic Wise, and Jordan Hill. You combine what is left at these two schools, and I doubt that team makes the tournament.

With the expectations and the pressures that will come at both of these schools, would you want to be the guy expected to rebuild the program from the ground up?

I don't think I would.
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