Fans like the ones that sold out McKale Center for the Red-Blue game and the many more that tuned in online expect one thing from Arizona basketball, wins.
For Sean Miller, it is an expectation he knew and embraced since he first stepped foot on the campus of the University of Arizona four years ago. But with the team coming off a season where they reached the Sweet 16 and a preseason ranking in the top five for the his fifth season driving the ship, expectations are as high as ever.
“I think we had a lot of expectations last year and some unrealistic ones when I first got here just because of the history and tradition,” said Miller. “I really don’t worry about it and I don’t think our team should because part of the reason why you want to be here as a coach and as a player, why we have 14,500 at our red-blue, is because we have high expectations.”
“We embrace those,” he added. “But just because you are preseason whatever or because people think you have an opportunity to be the best team, that remains to be seen.”
Despite the fact that the Wildcats lost key seniors from last season in Solomon Hill, Mark Lyons and Kevin Parrom, a new and talented freshman class and eligible transfers coming in has people thinking the loss of experience wont cause them to skip a beat.
“We have a lot of different parts that I think are talented,” Miller explained. “It’s exciting to think about it. But how that all comes together, I think we have to have some caution and wait and see.”
The talent on paper looks as impressive as ever based on how sought after a lot of these players on the roster were out of high school. However, Miller does have some concern over how deep this team actually will be this season.
“We have a lot of interchangeable players, but we may, from a pure body perspective be one man down on the front line,” he mentioned. “Also shooting in particular. We have a number guys we are going to count on who haven’t done it or have to do it better.”
“I think we are one of many teams who have a promising season ahead,” Miller stated. “But how good we are going to be still remains to be seen.”
Wildcats kick off their regular season Friday, November 8th against Cal Poly.
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Jared Cohen
A born and bred Arizonan, Jared has had great passion for the hometown teams all his life. He now channel's that passion into covering the pro, college and high school teams around the state as a Multimedia Reporter for Sports360AZ.