Arizona Basketball: Who's Saying Sean Miller Can't Recruit the West Coast Now?

When Sean Miller was hired to be the head basketball coach at the University of Arizona in April of 2009, many people wondered whether or not he would be able to recruit out West.

They pointed to the fact that his home (Beaver County, Pennsylvania), his alma mater (Pitt) and his coaching stops (Wisconsin, Miami of Ohio, Pitt, NC State and Xavier) had all been in the East or Midwest.

On top of that, Miller hired a staff with primarily East Coast roots and connections.

To seal the deal, many of the players that Miller and his staff initially went after (in their mad dash to catch up in recruiting in '09) were from the East.

In his first Arizona recruiting class (2009), Miller miraculously signed five players: two from NYC (MoMo Jones and Kevin Parrom), one from the Ukraine via Florida (Kyryl Natyazhko) and two from California (Derrick Williams and Solomon Hill).

Even after signing Williams and Hill, predictions were made that Miller would not be able to consistently draw players to Tucson from the East Coast and that he still lacked significant connections on the West Coast.

When MoMo Jones decided to transfer after this past season and go back to New York, more than a few people said, "See. I told ya' so."

In his 2010 recruiting class, Miller pulled in two West Coast players (Jordin Mayes and Daniel Bejarano) plus Jesse Perry, a mid-western JuCo player.

The knock this time was that while Miller signed Mayes and Bejarano, he was not able to pull in the elite-level players from California, Oregon and Washington like his predecessor (Lute Olson) had done for over two decades.

But, starting with the Wildcats' 2011 recruiting haul, less and less people are talking about Miller's inability to sign big-time West Coast ballers.

New on campus this fall is Rivals.com's No. 2 PG, 6'3" Josiah Turner (from Sacramento, CA), No. 5 SG, 6'2" Nick Johnson (from Gilbert AZ via Findley Prep in Henderson, NV), No. 9 PF, 6'9" Angelo Chol (from San Diego, CA), and No. 11 PF, 6'8" Sidiki Johnson.

And to show that 2011 was not just some kind of fluke, Miller and his staff have put together what is currently considered by ESPN.Com the 2012 No. 1 recruiting class in the nation...all from West Coast players. 

The Cats just added the No. 4 player in the country, 6'8" PF Brandon Ashley (pictured, from Oakland, CA via Findley Prep in Henderson, NV), to a class that already included No. 4 PF, 6'10" Grant Jerrett (from LaVerne, CA), and No. 8 SG, 6'1 Gabe York.

The way I count it, Miller, in these last two classes has signed six of seven big time recruits from out West.

While recruiting ranks and ratings have never won a single ballgame for any college, it is definitely good news for Miller, his staff and the Arizona program that they are having this kind of top-notch recruiting success.

If these extremely talented student-athletes will work hard and gel as a team, the sky is the absolute limit.

Final Fours in the future? Stay tuned...