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Sean Miller, Arizona manage high expectations

Paola Boivin
USA TODAY Sports
  • Returning players and incoming recruits has Arizona eyeing improvement on last season%27s Sweet 16 run
  • Coach Sean Miller%27s strength lies in recruiting%2C and his 2013 class has been nationally lauded
  • Miller%27s authenticity stands out. Kaleb Tarczewski says%2C %22There was no car salesman-type feel to his recruiting%22
Sean Miller's 2013 recruiting class has been nationally lauded.

TUCSON, Ariz. — The start of Arizona's basketball season is closing in, and Sean Miller is doing his best to suppress a yawn.

Can you blame him?

Assembling an elite college basketball team takes work, and Miller clearly has put in long hours. The Wildcats that will take the floor for 2013-14 have the talent to complete their journey in Arlington, Texas, the site of this season's Final Four.

It hasn't come without a price.

"I think reality hit me this year with one of the young people we were recruiting," said Miller, just moments after another recruit, Kadeem Allen of Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College, left his office. "I think I saw him play more than 70 times: High school, his travel teams in the spring and summer, all the things we're allowed to go to.

"My wife was around me when that topic came up. I think if you add up the times I've seen my three sons play, I don't know if you can get to a third of it."

The grind has paid off, and Miller, 44, is hitting his stride as he begins his fifth season. His 2013 recruiting class, led by 6-foot-9 forward Aaron Gordon — one of the more-coveted players in the country — was nationally lauded. Coupled with a handful of players who had a hand in Arizona's Sweet 16 run last season means expectations are high in the land of Lute Olson.

When you enter the crazy stratosphere of success that Miller has, the wants shift. In just nine seasons of coaching at Xavier and Arizona, he has reached the Sweet 16 twice and the Elite Eight twice. He clearly has cemented his status as a great coach. But Miller is the classic overachiever who longs for more.

"Around here, being good isn't good enough," center Kaleb Tarczewski said. "We strive to be great. Anything less than a national championship? It's not what we want."

The heart of Miller's success is recruiting. It is not only the long hours he puts in but the persona he projects: Everyman western Pennsylvania sensibilities, paired with an authenticity that stands out among those coaches who push just a little too hard.

"There was no car salesman-type feel to his recruiting," Tarczewski said. "That really stood out to me."

Said guard Nick Johnson: "He can be intense, but also the easygoing guy that recruited you, the guy you can talk to and just relate with. It's a big reason I came here."

That approach stood out to Gordon's family, too. The player's talents brought out the worst in some coaches, from bold promises to too-eager-to-please approaches. This was a family that couldn't be had. Father Ed played at San Diego State and a year of pro ball in Mexico. Older brother Drew played at UCLA and New Mexico and has taken his game to Italy. Sister Elise plays at Harvard.

Miller, by respecting the family's parameter and by being himself, maneuvered the situation perfectly.

The pieces are in place. Now all eyes are on Miller to see what he can build with this young but talented group.

"In November and December, there are going to be moments when we don't look like a great team," he said. "I hope we can become one with continued work throughout the year."

With so many new faces, including two in the probable starting lineup, Miller's greatest challenge will be to meld these players into a unit that will peak at the right time. It is hard to find fault with the coach's reign, but if you're going to get nitpicky, the team has suffered tough losses down the stretch under Miller that probably cost the Wildcats NCAA bids in 2010 and 2012.

Miller has a lot of talented parts, but success will hinge on the returning players embracing and excelling in expanded roles, and the new players understanding what it takes to succeed at this high level.

One of those new players is point guard T.J. McConnell, who could impact the success of this team as much as anyone. The junior transfer from Duquesne gives the Wildcats something they haven't seen in a while: A pass-first point guard.

"There are times you don't really think he sees you, but he does and he finds you in that corner in that really right spot," Johnson said. "And T.J. will pass up a layup for himself to get you a dunk time and time again."

Arizona needs junior guard Nick Johnson to handle more leadership duties. Coach Sean Miller says, "We'll need more across the board from Nick. He's not returning to the same seat on the bus."

The Wildcats will miss former point guard Mark Lyons' go-to talents, but not his 1-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. McConnell, whose transfer allowed him to practice with the team for a year while sitting out, also brings a gritty defensive mind frame that made him one of the national leaders in steals in each of his two seasons at Duquesne.

He will share the backcourt with Johnson, who came across in interviews last week as a more mature player ready to handle leadership duties. Arizona will need that. Only key reserve Jordin Mayes has more experience than Johnson, and with a freshman and two sophomores likely in the starting lineup, Johnson needs to set a tone.

"We'll need more across the board from Nick," Miller said. "He's not returning to the same seat on the bus."

Make no mistake. It is one talented bus. The gifted Gordon will be joined by the 7-foot Tarczewski and 6-8 Brandon Ashley, who only gave a hint last season of the player he is capable of being, and the trio will make up one of the top frontcourts in the country.

"What I've learned about our team is we have a lot of parts, and at one point this seasons I hope it all clicks," Miller said.

Miller has done an amazing job attracting those parts to Tucson.

Now the real work begins.

Paola Boivin is a columnist for The Arizona Republic in Phoenix, a Gannett affiliate.

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