Arizona held its weekly press conference today ahead of this week’s games agains the Oregon schools as the Wildcats begin their final road trip of the season. UA had an interesting trip to Oregon last year and that was asked about Tuesday, but there was a lot more media around for the press conference as well.
Here’s a quick rundown of what was discussed and the biggest takeaways from Arizona’s press conference Tuesday that featured Sean Miller and Ryan Luther.
- To start the biggest thing that is going to come from Tuesday’s press conference is Miller’s response to repetitive questions about the notification of a subpoena that was reported on by Yahoo! Sports Monday. A reporter from Phoenix (there were several non-regulars in attendance in terms of reporters not normally at weekly press conferences) asked Miller a couple questions about the subpoena and at one point Miller said “no comment” before telling the reporter he could drive back to Phoenix. It’s going to get attention, but to his credit it was not the first time Miller had been asked the question. It would get asked about a couple more times by the time Tuesday’s media session finished.
- When it comes to things on the court there was a lot of talk about Brandon Williams once again as the freshman guard made his return Sunday after missing six games with knee soreness that came as a byproduct of his preexisitng knee issue that held him out for his junior year of high school and needed surgery. Miller once again leaned on the word “firepower” as what Williams provides most for the team in his return in addition to improved depth and someone else who can make the players around him better.
There was an added boost with Williams on the court Sunday night in UA’s win over Stanford and the hope is that he can continue to play more and Miller said there is a “middle ground” the team hopes to have this week with the standout freshman playing more than the 18 minutes he played Sunday but not as much as he played when he was at full strength early in the season.
“You recognize his importance when he’s not there,” Miller said of Williams Tuesday. “All of us have some players that are better than others. Some that fill roles that no matter how hard we try we can’t duplicate without that player being available. Although Brandon Williams played only 18 minutes, and statistically his game doesn’t jump out at you, I do think that he gives us depth which has plagued us during his absence.
“He gives us a playmaker, which I’ve talked about a lot over the last month. It’s not just what he does but his ability to get others shots. He had two passes in the Stanford game that led to a 3-point shot by Brandon Randolph and I think a dunk by either Chase [Jeter] or Ira [Lee] around the basket. He’s very talented in terms of being able to get other people shots.”
- The Oregon schools have been an interesting challenge for the Wildcats. UA split its earlier meeting with the Oregon schools when the team was at full strength (minus Emmanuel Akot) with Oregon taking a win and UA taking down Oregon State mostly without Jeter. Miller didn’t want to talk about last year’s meeting with the Ducks when he was not able to coach as the program looked into accusations made in an ESPN article about the team potentially paying to earn a commitment from Deandre Ayton. Miller said Tuesday that he remains focused on the present.
UA has Oregon State up first this week and Miller continued to be complimentary of the Pac-12’s third-place team lead by Tres Tinkle.
“That was certainly a while back,” Miller said. “So, I think both teams continue to develop. Before we played Oregon State the last time we talked a lot about their undeniable experience. They have three-year starters, four-year starters. Their top three players – Tres Tinkle, Stephen Thompson and Ethan Thompson – those guys are not only talented but they’ve been through the battles. They’ve been through the ups and downs of a college basketball season.”
- Miller was asked plenty of times about outside distractions and while he declined to open up about it a ton he did say that he has recently had a nephew undergo open heart surgery and that is something that deserves his attention more than anything on the outside. He reiterated his love for his family and said those are the things that have his focus at this point along with getting his team to have a strong finish to the season.
When asked if he has had to talk to his players about everything outside when it comes to noise from the media or others he said his team is used to it at this point.
Here’s a quick rundown of what was discussed and the biggest takeaways from Arizona’s press conference Tuesday that featured Sean Miller and Ryan Luther.
- To start the biggest thing that is going to come from Tuesday’s press conference is Miller’s response to repetitive questions about the notification of a subpoena that was reported on by Yahoo! Sports Monday. A reporter from Phoenix (there were several non-regulars in attendance in terms of reporters not normally at weekly press conferences) asked Miller a couple questions about the subpoena and at one point Miller said “no comment” before telling the reporter he could drive back to Phoenix. It’s going to get attention, but to his credit it was not the first time Miller had been asked the question. It would get asked about a couple more times by the time Tuesday’s media session finished.
- When it comes to things on the court there was a lot of talk about Brandon Williams once again as the freshman guard made his return Sunday after missing six games with knee soreness that came as a byproduct of his preexisitng knee issue that held him out for his junior year of high school and needed surgery. Miller once again leaned on the word “firepower” as what Williams provides most for the team in his return in addition to improved depth and someone else who can make the players around him better.
There was an added boost with Williams on the court Sunday night in UA’s win over Stanford and the hope is that he can continue to play more and Miller said there is a “middle ground” the team hopes to have this week with the standout freshman playing more than the 18 minutes he played Sunday but not as much as he played when he was at full strength early in the season.
“You recognize his importance when he’s not there,” Miller said of Williams Tuesday. “All of us have some players that are better than others. Some that fill roles that no matter how hard we try we can’t duplicate without that player being available. Although Brandon Williams played only 18 minutes, and statistically his game doesn’t jump out at you, I do think that he gives us depth which has plagued us during his absence.
“He gives us a playmaker, which I’ve talked about a lot over the last month. It’s not just what he does but his ability to get others shots. He had two passes in the Stanford game that led to a 3-point shot by Brandon Randolph and I think a dunk by either Chase [Jeter] or Ira [Lee] around the basket. He’s very talented in terms of being able to get other people shots.”
- The Oregon schools have been an interesting challenge for the Wildcats. UA split its earlier meeting with the Oregon schools when the team was at full strength (minus Emmanuel Akot) with Oregon taking a win and UA taking down Oregon State mostly without Jeter. Miller didn’t want to talk about last year’s meeting with the Ducks when he was not able to coach as the program looked into accusations made in an ESPN article about the team potentially paying to earn a commitment from Deandre Ayton. Miller said Tuesday that he remains focused on the present.
UA has Oregon State up first this week and Miller continued to be complimentary of the Pac-12’s third-place team lead by Tres Tinkle.
“That was certainly a while back,” Miller said. “So, I think both teams continue to develop. Before we played Oregon State the last time we talked a lot about their undeniable experience. They have three-year starters, four-year starters. Their top three players – Tres Tinkle, Stephen Thompson and Ethan Thompson – those guys are not only talented but they’ve been through the battles. They’ve been through the ups and downs of a college basketball season.”
- Miller was asked plenty of times about outside distractions and while he declined to open up about it a ton he did say that he has recently had a nephew undergo open heart surgery and that is something that deserves his attention more than anything on the outside. He reiterated his love for his family and said those are the things that have his focus at this point along with getting his team to have a strong finish to the season.
When asked if he has had to talk to his players about everything outside when it comes to noise from the media or others he said his team is used to it at this point.
