DETROIT – Xavier coach Sean Miller is the latest coaching candidate in the mix at Arizona.
Jeff Goodman of FoxSports.com reports that Miller was flown on a private plane Sunday morning to meet with Arizona AD Jim Livengood in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
“By no means does this mean it’s done,” a source told Goodman.
Arizona turned to Miller after USC coach Tim Floyd flew to campus, considered it and then spurned the Wildcats.
Miller signed an offseason extension at Xavier through the 2017-18 season, but he is a hot name in the coaching carousel right now. In five years at Xavier, he has been to four NCAA Tournaments, making the Sweet 16 this year and the Elite Eight last season.
Should he take the job, it would have implications for the Xavier recruits, including Kevin Parrom, a New York native at South Kent (Conn.)
WILLIAMS, IZZO ON THE ‘DETROIT’ CAUSE
Much has been made here in Detroit about how the city is a symbol of the nation’s struggling economy and how Michigan State’s run to MOnday’s National Championship game has been a big lift for the city.
North Carolina coach Roy Williams isn’t buying it.
“I do realize they have a cause,” Williams said Sunday. “Well, we have a cause. We want to win a national championship, period, the end. And if you would tell me that if Michigan State wins, it’s gonna satisfy the nation’s economy, then I’d say, ‘Hell, let’s stay poor for a little while longer.’
“I don’t think that’s gonna happen. So if all the workers of America come down and start guarding my butt on the bench, then I’ll start being concerned about it.”
Spartans coach Tom Izzo, who is appearing in his fifth Final Four since 1999, realizes his team is playing not only for the school, but the city and the entire state of Michigan.
But he also says the main cause is winning a championship.
“The state, the city is very important to me,” Izzo said. “But the cause right now is for the Michigan State players to win a championship, and hopefully the repercussions from that will help a lot of people. It’s a feel good for a lot of people.”
Izzo was brutally frank in his assessment of the rematch of a game the Tar Heels won 98-63 at Ford Field in December.
“If we play good and they play good, we’re losing,” he said. “That’s the way I look at it.”
