One of the most interesting pieces of land in Arizona is the desert. The desert is hot, humid, dry, and extends for miles upon miles. In one episode of the show Breaking Bad there was a scene where the protagonist Walter White went into the desert driving in his Pontiac Aztek.
He was singing this song by America.
“I’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name. It felt good to be out of the rain. In the desert, you can remember your name.”
If anyone wants to have success as a basketball player they need to drive their Pontiac Aztek through the Sonoran desert and take a trip to Tucson, Arizona.
Because what the Arizona Wildcats are doing as a basketball program is one of a kind, each year they keep getting better.
And one thing is for certain — if you play well enough, they will remember your name.
Developing Talent
One of the main reasons why elite high school prospects join the Wildcats is because of their ability to develop talent. Head coach Sean Miller has a knack for finding skilled prospects who enjoy staying in the gym and expanding their game.
Not only does Miller get the can’t miss prospects to enroll at Arizona, he also receives other players like Gabe York, Nick Johnson and Derrick Williams who are highly skilled and productive but were under valued during high school.
Many athletes join the Wildcats program and only a few leave without becoming a better player when they started.
Some of the most recent examples of his projects are…
Nick Johnson: After leaving high school, Johnson was a skilled athlete who could jump through the roof. After playing three years for coach Miller he left as a guard who could defend, rebound, score and pass the ball. His basketball IQ also increased playing in many late game situations.
Derrick Williams: Arizona was single-handedly propelled to the elite eight round of the 2011 NCAA Tournament. His time at Arizona was well served because Miller gave Williams the keys to the offense and displayed that he could make him into a dynamic scorer. Miller put Williams in many different sets within the offense including the low post, the free throw line, the three-point line and telling him to push the ball creating fastbreaks. Before Arizona, Williams did not have the ability to execute a lot of these tasks on the court.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson: At 6’7, 220 pounds Jefferson is a versatile wing player. He has top flight athletic ability and is currently working on getting a jumpshot. When Hollis-Jefferson gets that consistent jumpshot before he leaves Arizona, he will hear his name called in the lottery of the NBA Draft. Jefferson’s talent this season will blossom under one more year of Miller’s teaching.
Stanley Johnson: Their latest recruit Stanley Johnson will benefit from Miller’s teaching as well. Leaving high school as one of the best perimeter defenders, Johnson will develop his offense playing under Miller’s system. Offensively, Miller will use him now in fastbreak situations but look forward to him creating shots off of the dribble.
Consistency
The Arizona Wildcats have a record of 129-48 under Coach Miller.
Quietly year in and year out, he continues to help his teams reach their full potential. The western side of the United States for college basketball was normally ran by other traditional powerhouses, but now there is a changing of the guard thanks to Miller coaching Arizona.
Think about it like this, when was the last time you could say UCLA was the best school on the Pacific coast?
Arizona now wears the crown, as king of the west coast in basketball.
Since Miller has taken over the Wildcats, they have made it to the sweet sixteen round of the NCAA tournament three times in the last five years. In addition, they have made it to the elite eight round twice (2011, 2014).
The Wildcats keep retooling with a bunch of major prospects and finding diamonds in the rough to help their program. This is because of Miller’s coaching as well as one of his greatest strengths, his recruiting.
Getting Talent
Not only is Miller one of the great coaches in college basketball, but his ability to recruit is vastly underrated. In college basketball, it is easy to say that Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari may be the only person who can say they get better prospects every year.
Miller has been able to find McDonald’s All-Americans to come to Arizona to learn how to become better players.
Just look at the history of his recruiting classes:
Next year if Arizona continues with its stellar recruiting, then they will have the best recruiting class in the country for the 2015.
Arizona keeps finding a way to connect to athletes and relay the message that winning is important and so is developing as a player.
Arizona often gets highly touted prospects that are willing to stay in school for more than one year. When the athletes stay and get better it helps the program.
Players develop chemistry with teammates, the freshman come in and learn the ways of the veterans, thus keeping talent and retaining success.
This process can potentially give you an incredible starting five of talented and seasoned college players. In addition, the other touted players that do not start will make the bench that much deeper and reliable.
Miller has Arizona basketball rolling in a direction that their beloved former head coach Lute Olson use to have.
Though Olson’s shadow is as a large as a 20-foot cactus, it soon may be Miller’s cactus that will cast a 40-foot shadow. All Miller has to do now is take the next step in his coaching career and win an NCAA championship.
The way recruits keep flooding in at Arizona is a sign of great promise. Arizona’s opponents need to have awareness that they will play against greatness each time they play against the Wildcats.
A warning for their foes when entering into the desert — bring a lot of water because this Arizona team can cause heat dehydration.