Arizona's season came to an end Monday night as the Wildcats fell to Oregon for the seventh consecutive time. On the other sideline the Wildcats were able to see the level they need to be at to compete for the Pac-12 crown and make a push into the postseason. Oregon has become the most consistent program in the league, but Arizona as that level before.
UA head coach Sean Miller believes his team can get there again and he's as optimistic as ever about reaching that point based on how his program has shifted its mentality. It is plausible that Arizona could end up having all of its key players return for a second season. It has been a long time since that has happened in Tucson.
The Wildcats have become a one-and-done factory over the course of Miller's tenure as head coach with three NBA Draft picks in the 2020 draft. As last season played out Miller and his staff started to take a different route in building the roster.
This year's team featured several international prospects who came to Arizona with a good base to work from but not necessarily the same pure talent level as past UA freshmen.
The next incoming group features no five-star prospects and the highest-rated signee in the class, Shane Dezonie, is ranked at No. 81 overall by Rivals.com.
It's a different approach for Miller and his staff, but so far the plan has been well executed leaving UA with the potential to have an experienced group once the fall rolls around.
“I believe that the last three teams we’ve not returned a single starter from the previous,” Miller said after the 80-69 loss to Oregon this week. “There’s reasons for that. I’m the head coach and I understand all of them, but that’s not to your advantage to be successful. I think for the first time in that four-year stretch we’re poised to return a lion’s share of this year’s team.
"To bring in a new group in addition to that and instead of replacing five starters, that experience, my hope is that it is more toward our advantage.”
It's probably a bit of a stretch to say that Miller is in the middle of a rebuilding project, but he is certainly in a reimagining stage of his time as head coach. Having won the league a number of times and been within striking distance of reaching a Final Four the longtime Arizona coach understands what it takes to be a top program.
So, his word holds some weight when he says he believes Arizona can reach that level again.
“I believe that we can return back to the top of the mountain,” Miller said. “It doesn’t happen overnight, but when I came here 12 years and I know that’s a long, long time ago the two previous seasons before I even showed up here as the new Arizona coach and I think I was the fourth coach in four years Arizona’s record in the Pac-10 was 17-19. In the first two years with us in the Pac-10 we went 24-12. We kind of rebuilt and we sustained excellence, and right now 11-9 isn’t what what anyone wants to sign up for moving forward but I do think it’s a great bridge from a lot of things that have happened to a promising future. We have some very good young players.
“We have some guys that are able to return that had outstanding seasons and now we just have to meet with them. The other part of it is that we have to recruit at a level and with an effort level and intensity that we’ve been at for a long, long time around here. I think that’s the second part of this.”
Miller said Monday that he will have meetings with each player this week to gauge where the potential holes on the roster will be. Ira Lee has already confirmed that his career at Arizona is finished despite being able to return because of special COVID-19 rules the NCAA put in place allowing for an extra season of eligibility.
Terrell Brown Jr. is another senior who will have the option to return. Bennedict Mathurin is the only freshman receiving NBA Draft buzz at the moment but he is not considered a consensus first-round pick meaning he could improve his stock by returning.
James Akinjo could decide to pursue professional options but he has yet to make any decision about his future yet either.
Miller said the program could add another player this offseason with transfer players such as Robert Morris forward AJ Bramah and Pittsburgh wing Au'Diese Toney both on the Wildcats' radar right now.
Still, there is not expected to be widespread turnover like Miller has had to deal with in many of his seasons in Tucson. Instead, the Wildcats should have some continuity and that is exactly what the UA staff had hoped for going into the season.
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