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AG's Wildcat Report - Dispatches on the Wildcats, from Anthony Gimino

Miller has ‘ultimate respect’ for Duke’s Coach K … and little success against him

by on Mar. 23, 2011, under Arizona basketball, NCAA Tournament

Sean Miller addresses the media Thursday. Photo by Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

As Arizona Wildcats coach Sean Miller said Tuesday in Tucson, going against Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski in the NCAA Tournament “isn’t a thrill.”

Miller might prefer anyone else. He has faced Coach K 15 times — 14 times as an assistant coach, including 13 meetings while he was with head coach Herb Sendek at North Carolina State.

Perhaps the one he most remembers came in 2004 when he was an assistant at Xavier.

“Thad Matta was the head coach when we lost to Duke in the Georgia Dome in the Elite Eight,” Miller said at a press conference Wednesday in Anaheim. “J.J. Reddick hit a great shot to propel them to the Final Four.”

The only time Miller was on the winning end against Krzyzewski was when unranked North Carolina State upset No. 7 Duke in the 1997 ACC tournament.

“The ultimate respect is what I have for him,” Miller said Tuesday. “And the reason is that I admire how hard his teams play, and as the faces change, that’s the common thing. Their effort level is amazing, and that’s something that we all try to instill in our own teams.”

Miller, in his fifth NCAA Tournament as a head coach, has an 8-4 tournament record and has never lost to a worst-seeded team. Here’s a factoid to chew on, though: His past three losses in the NCAA Tournament have come against No. 1 seeds.

Just like Duke this year.

Miller gets his first chance at Arizona against the Blue Devils on Thursday in the Sweet 16.

Derrick Williams gets in a shot during Wednesday's shoot-around at the Honda Center. Photo by Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011 at 3:57 pm and is filed under Arizona basketball, NCAA Tournament. Tags for this post: , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  • dap

    Wow, Coach has much experience against Coach K, more than Lute had.  This should help him prep the team.  Either gonna be a good one or a blowout. 

    GO CATS

    • macjoneszona

      Duke won’t ” blow out ” Arizona tonight. Absolute guarantee it! However, what absolute scares moi most about tonight’s Sweet-16 showdown, is the possibility that this game could be ” tightly contested ” going into the final four or five minutes, and the zebra’s bloody INTERVENE with some highly questionable calls favoring Duke, which naturally would turn the game in the Blue Devils favor.
      And believe it or not. I’ve seen way too many games involving Duke being in dire straits in the N.C.A.A. Tournament and the officials coming to Super-K’s rescue and the Blue Devils not surpisingly coming away with a win. 1991 Kentucky vs. Duke Elite-8 game, for one instance, among numerous other Grand Disco Dances, i.e., the Laettner Two-Step Stomp game anyone.

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