ASU fans not delighting in UA pain.
Metro Phoenix is Sun Devil country, so we waste no opportunity to ridicule University of Arizona sports.
Especially Wildcats basketball. Largely because they tend to be really good and, more to the point, they get the better of Arizona State more often than not.
We aren’t laughing now.
The revelation on Friday — and the reverberations since — that UA Coach Sean Miller purportedly was captured on FBI wiretaps discussing a hefty payment to land freshman sensation Deandre Ayton has rendered us mouth agape.
Miller said in a prepared statement Saturday afternoon that he is confident he’ll be vindicated.
And he deserves every opportunity to defend and explain the damning and disturbing details.
The facts need to see the light of day. But Miller himself affirmed the severity of the situation by sitting out the Wildcats’ game against Oregon hours later.
This is serious.
ESPN, which broke the story, reported that Miller discussed with an associate of an athletes’ financial adviser paying $100,000 for Ayton to sign with UA. The story went on to say that when the associate asked Miller whether the agreement should be finalized with one of Miller’s assistant coaches, Miller said he would handle the matter himself when it dealt with money.
ESPN commentator Jay Bilas described the details as “career-ending.”
Greg Hansen, a longtime sports columnist at the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, declared that “Miller cannot be allowed to coach the Wildcats again. Not Saturday at Oregon. Not ever.” That might come to pass.
The school is scrambling to determine its next steps. The Arizona Board of Regents, which oversees the three state universities, held an emergency session Saturday (and will likely convene again soon) to weigh its options.
We’re still shell-shocked to fully realize the events of the past 48 hours, and for the aftershocks to come.
College basketball long has had a shadowy underbelly. If we didn’t know it before, it was certainly laid bare last fall when the U.S. Department of Justice revealed a years-long sting in its announced arrests of four college assistant coaches, including UA assistant Emanuel “Book” Richardson.
As spelled out by the indictments, the sport is marred by a pay-to-play system in which top high school prospects and their families are wooed to attend specific colleges and later sign with certain sports apparel companies and financial advisers after turning pro.
If the authorities are right, we have a network of unscrupulous coaches, financial managers and agents who conspire and collude to corrupt. With bribes, cash payments and other benefits, and coercion.
It is an ugly, deplorable scheme. And far-reaching. Implicated are numerous top college-basketball programs.
A Yahoo Sports story Friday detailed sweeping potential violations of highprofile players.
Now Miller — and the UA Wildcats — is front and center of it all.
His career may be undone. More lamentable will be the impact on the school, the community, the fans, the team.
A marquee, admired program that took years in the making — and built on the legacy of Miller’s predecessor, the venerable Lute Olson — could come crashing down.
The Wildcats managed to weather the Richardson arrest and the ineligibility of Allonzo Trier for a part of last season (and now again) over a banned substance.
They were poised for a deep run in this season’s NCAA Tournament. They may not overcome this storm. Potential loss of their head coach. Potential vacating of games, including their pending appearance in the tournament. Loss of recruits.
On Saturday, the UA’s top recruit, Shareef O’Neal, pulled out of his commitment to the school.
Another, Brandon Williams, may opt to do the same.
UA fans and supporters have good reason to be grief and panic-stricken.
Bear down, indeed.