Miller surprised by Wildcats' quick rise

Miller surprised by Wildcats' quick rise

Published Mar. 6, 2011 6:26 p.m. ET

His players wading through the 'Zona Zoo in an impromptu celebration at the McKale Center, Arizona coach Sean Miller smiled near midcourt, taking in the moment he had worked so hard to get.

Tasked with turning around a tradition-rich program that had fallen into disarray, Miller had done it quicker than even he expected, leading the Wildcats to a conference title in just his second season.

''It's hard to do. We could have a lot better teams in the future and not win a Pac-10 regular season,'' Miller said. ''Everybody knows it's just hard. You don't just snap your fingers and it keeps happening. We want to cherish every one.''

Arizona earned its first Pac-10 title in six years this past week, clinching at least a share with a win over Oregon State on Thursday, then taking it outright by beating Oregon on Saturday.

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Given the state of the program before Miller arrived, it was quite a turnaround.

Once one of the most stable programs in college basketball, Arizona had been knocked down a few notches on and off the court over the past few years, starting with coach Lute Olson's leave of absence and subsequent retirement.

After two years of instability and interim coaches, Miller arrived in the desert in 2009 after building a successful mid-major program at Xavier.

The first season was used to set the foundation, to instill the kind of work ethic needed to get the Wildcats back on course. It ended with Arizona missing the NCAA tournament for the first time in 26 years, but the groundwork had been laid to get the program headed back in the right direction.

This season went better than anyone expected.

Starting with offseason workouts in late spring through the summer - every player was in Tucson at some point - the Wildcats were dedicated to getting back to the NCAA tournament. Arizona got off to a strong start and kept building confidence with each win, surpassing expectations as it climbed the polls and Pac-10 standings.

Not even a lost Los Angeles weekend could stop Arizona. After losing to Southern California and UCLA in a span of three days, the Wildcats bounced back with the wins over the two Oregon schools to claim the conference title and complete their first perfect home season in 12 years.

When it was over, the players took a trip through the student section to celebrate, then cut the nets down at the McKale Center for the first time in 11 years - the previous two conference titles were clinched on the road - in a party that was still going strong 30 minutes after the final buzzer in the 90-82 over the Ducks.

Next up is the Pac-10 tournament back in Southern California, where Arizona will be the No. 1 seed, followed by a likely return trip to the NCAA tournament.

''It's amazing. It's the reason I came here. It's the reason we all came here,'' Derrick Williams said of winning the Pac-10 title. ''It's the first step and now hopefully we can win the Pac-10 (tournament) championship, too.''

Williams has been a big reason the Wildcats got here so quickly.

An unheralded recruit out of high school - he wasn't even considered the best player in Miller's initial class - Williams has developed into one of college basketball's most diverse and unstoppable players.

The 6-foot-8 sophomore has a rare combination of power and agility, able to hit shots from the perimeter or clear defenders out on his way to the rim. The favorite for Pac-10 player of the year can finish with either hand around the basket, which came in handy after getting his pinky bent backward against UCLA on Jan. 27, and is a regular on the highlight reels with countless soaring dunks and one big game-saving swat against Washington.

Limited to 22 minutes due to foul trouble, Williams still managed to score 14 points in the title-clinching win over Oregon, hearing chants of ''One more year!'' throughout the game. Williams won't decide whether to try the NBA - he'll likely be a lottery pick when he comes out - until after the season is over, but already has secured his spot among Arizona's long list of great players.

''If you ever want to throw daggers at some of these guys who evaluate high school talent, the only thing you have to look at is where he was ranked. Somebody missed the boat there,'' Miller said. ''If you look closely at the program and name names - Steve Kerr, Gilbert Arenas, Luke Walton, you could go on and on and on - they weren't highly touted, they weren't McDonald's All-Americans, but they were some of the best players who have ever played here and Derrick's now in that line.''

And now Arizona appears to be back in line, its place among the college basketball elite restored.

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