BOULDER, Colo. 鈥 After losing a sixth straight game Thursday for the first time in 15 years as a head coach, Sean Miller was given nearly three days to spend in a Rocky Mountain foothills city known to be among the country鈥檚 happiest and healthiest.
Maybe that鈥檒l help.
Of course, it鈥檚 not like Miller and his struggling 蜜柚直播 Wildcats are out seeking vortexes, scaling the nearby Flatirons or checking into a yoga retreat.
鈥淲e鈥檝e gone out to eat,鈥 Miller said. 鈥淭hat was about it.鈥
But as it was, Miller hopped off the Wildcats鈥 team bus after a Saturday afternoon practice in the same sort of more relaxed mood you might have noticed in his recent sideline demeanor.
Normally approachable but businesslike during interviews on the road between Pac-12 games, Miller took a seat in the Wildcats鈥 hotel lobby, then elaborated at length when asked about what鈥檚 gone wrong.
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And not just about what he called his team鈥檚 鈥渢errible鈥 defense (allowing 51 percent shooting during the streak), the impact of Brandon Williams鈥 knee injury on his shorthanded rotation, Ira Lee鈥檚 improved play or Devonaire Doutrive鈥檚 defensive learning curve.
Miller also spoke at length of the big picture that the Wildcats are dealing with as they try to break their losing streak in precisely the wrong place to do it. 蜜柚直播 has lost four of six games in Boulder since the Buffaloes joined the Pac-12, beating them during that span only with the Elite Eight teams of 2013-14 and 2014-15.
Here鈥檚 how that part of the conversation went:
Maybe it鈥檚 simplistic, but when you have a losing streak like this do you worry guys lose the mojo or confidence, and what do you do about it?
A: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not an easy question to answer. I think everybody loses confidence. When you lose six in a row, the coach loses confidence. Players lose confidence. Fans, they lose confidence. That鈥檚 the thing about sports, it鈥檚 kind of black and white: 鈥楧id you win or did you lose?鈥 And right now we鈥檙e in a tough rut. We鈥檙e working hard to climb out of it and as crazy as it sounds, man, it just takes that one game, that one moment and some of the confidence can be rekindled and you can get back to playing your best.鈥
There鈥檚 been talk you seem a little mellower on the sidelines, and sitting down more. Is that a wrong assumption?
A: 鈥(Chuckles). You know, there鈥檚 a fine line when things aren鈥檛 going well, how you react as a coach. Talk about confidence: I think sometimes you try different things to get the most of your team. To continue to be hard on players, especially in a game, I don鈥檛 know if that always works. If a guy has great confidence, you鈥檙e playing for championships, you鈥檙e playing for a seed, your bar is very high.
鈥淩ight now, we haven鈥檛 really lowered our bar but we鈥檙e trying to break through. I think that a demeanor of a coach, how he interacts with a player, especially in front of an audience, I鈥檓 doing the best I can of trying to get our guys to the finish line.鈥
So if you have a good team, you can be harder on them?
A: 鈥淵eah, and not just harder on them. Just more about that every play matters. And not that every play doesn鈥檛 matter but I think for us the margin for error is a lot less. There are times when we鈥檙e not the favorite and I think how you interact with your players, talking about a guy who doesn鈥檛 have a lot of confidence, being really hard on him isn鈥檛 always the answer.
鈥淚 use Rondae (Hollis-Jefferson) as an example. Filled with confidence, right? Always winning, playing on two teams that are trying to get to a Final Four (in 2013-14 and 2014-15), you want to hold the bar really high for him because you can bring out the best in him that way.
鈥淏ut somebody who鈥檚 in search of their own confidence maybe wonders if they鈥檙e good enough or maybe they鈥檙e struggling just to survive 鈥 and giving him a different look, a different demeanor, that鈥檚 what I鈥檓 trying to do.
This group of guys gets along. They鈥檙e nice. So maybe they鈥檙e not the type you can light into 24 hours a day?
A: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 right. Yep. Yep. But I would say this, what I said at the beginning of the year and around Christmas, I鈥檒l say again: We have a great group of guys. They really are. Good people. Great teammates. They like each other. And for us, it鈥檚 about can we establish being the best we can be. And I believe the best we can be has more wins in our future. It鈥檚 just up to us to get there.鈥