TUCSON, Ariz. -- By the time March comes around, Arizona coach Sean Miller is confident his team will be good on defense, offense and all things in between.
Now, however, is not that time.
In what seemed like a get-it-out-in-the-open press conference on Thursday, Miller admitted he was "disappointed in a lot of things."
Miller said this year's version could be living off last year's success and all the preseason publicity it's received.
"We are nowhere near where we would have been a year ago at this time," Miller said. "I can see us getting off to a rocky start."
Junior guard Gabe York admitted it "doesn't feel like the No. 2 team in the country."
Coach speak? Miller calls it "telling the truth."
One area that is different, he said, is the "very quiet" atmosphere in the gym, which means to him that leadership is a work in progress.
The next public viewing of the Wildcats will be Sunday's one-and-only exhibition game against Cal Poly Pomona at 4 p.m. The starting lineup has not been divulged, and it could change often.
What's disconcerting, Miller said, is his team isn't playing together like it did last year -- a defining trait for a team that started 21-0 and finished 33-5 and one basket short of the Final Four.
Not once on Thursday did he crack a smile or a smirk. Sometimes he does.
"Hopefully, the team's chemistry and identity starts to form," Miller said. "Hopefully when we enter conference play we will feel much, much better than where I feel today."
Through the first 25 practices, he said he hasn't heard anyone that's been around the team say he has a good team.
"I've had 30 people say we're not as good as everybody said we were or that they can see that we have the makings of something good down the road," he said.
Miller said he doesn't believe Arizona is worthy of its No. 2 ranking in the preseason national polls: "We are not that team. We have a long, long way to go."
Following Sunday's exhibition game, the Wildcats official open their season on Nov. 14 vs. Mount St. Mary's.
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