Wildcats react to Sean Miller’s denial of NCAA violations

Arizona Wildcats head coach Sean Miller shot down an ESPN report that, based on what a source of the story allegedly heard on an FBI wiretap, implicated Miller in a potential recruiting violation.

Miller said Thursday he looked forward to getting back to basketball and apologized for the negative attention the report put on the Arizona program.

And with a Thursday night game at McKale Center against the Stanford Cardinal on deck, it appears the Wildcats are ready to stand behind their head coach.

A handful of current and former Arizona players went to Twitter just as Miller got off the podium to defend himself.

over the past week, the words of others have split fans, turned teammates on one another, and even cost us a recruit. “analysts” caught a wave of insulting a man without facts, all for rt’s, website clicks and media attention… and all for what?

— Solomon Hill (@solohill) March 1, 2018

GAMEDAY 💯🔑 LOCKIN #SAVAGELIFE pic.twitter.com/1oiG9d95C4

— Rawle Alkins (@Iam_RawleAlkins) March 1, 2018

pic.twitter.com/6DKmyIzQiw

— Ira Lee (@iramandoesit) March 1, 2018

🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼

— Dušan Ristić (@ristic_dusan) March 1, 2018

that stanford game gon have a different type of vibe to it…

— Solomon Hill (@solohill) March 1, 2018

Uh-ohhhhhhhh @espn @Mark_Schlabach #ItsMillerTime #BearDown

— Max Wiepking (@maxwiepking52) March 1, 2018

In the press conference Thursday, Miller denied he spoke to Christian Dawkins about a $100,00 payment to earn a commitment from now-freshman Deandre Ayton. Dawkins and former Arizona assistant Emanuel “Book” Richardson was arrested September when the FBI investigation into college basketball recruiting corruption began.

Miller, who stepped away from the Wildcats after the ESPN report by Mark Schlabach broke Friday, didn’t answer questions but maintained he runs a clean program.

He is expected to coach Arizona on Thursday against Stanford, ESPN’s Jeff Goodman reports.

“I cannot remain silent in light of media reports,” he said, adding the report by ESPN was “inaccurate and completely false.”

ESPN said after Miller’s comments that it stood by Schlabach’s report.

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