The new coach arrived on a wave of optimism, yet some doubt remained.
Could he lead the Arizona Wildcats, one of the sport’s powers that had fallen on tough times, back to the top? He has never proven capable of doing so and there were questions about whether or not he could recruit at a high level now that he was doing so for one of the blue bloods.
As it turned out, much of the worry about how Sean Miller would fare was unfounded. Aided by the implosion of USC’s recruiting class in his first season in Tucson, the former Xavier coach needed all of two seasons to show he could land recruits on the west coast while getting the Cats to the top of the conference and deep into the NCAA Tournament.