Arizona’s Miller, Wisconsin’s Ryan seek Final Four

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Sean Miller has been on Bo Ryan’s radar since the mid-1970s. That’s when the future Arizona coach came to Madison, Wis., for the first time at Ryan’s behest.

Miller was a 9-year-old hotshot point guard, and Ryan was a Wisconsin assistant looking for some juice to enliven a night designed to drum up interest in Badgers basketball. He called up Miller’s father, a coach who agreed to send his son from Beaver Falls, Pa., to help out.

The young Miller donned a Superman cape made by one of the coaches’ wives and showed off his ball-handling and shooting skills.

“Sean more than handled himself,” Ryan recalled Friday. “He was great.”

Ryan, a long-ago point guard himself, sees a lot of similarities in how he and Miller view basketball these days. Their teams – No. 2 seed Wisconsin and No. 1 seed Arizona – square off today in the West Regional final, with a spot in the Final Four at stake.

Neither Ryan, who has 703 career victories, nor Miller, with 249 wins to his credit, has ever gotten that far.

“It’s hard to get to a Final Four,” said Miller, who started his coaching career as a Badgers assistant in 1992. “You can be really good and not make it, both as a coach, a team and a player.”

The Wildcats (33-4) have not advanced out of the regional in Anaheim in three previous tries, dating to 1998. With eight weeks at No. 1 and 21 straight victories during the season, they want to deliver for Miller, who has restored the program’s luster in his five years.

The Badgers (29-7) haven’t been to a Final Four since 2000, shortly before Ryan took over in Madison.