Sean Miller has turned Arizona into Kentucky West

The decision Allonzo Trier finally announced on Sunday afternoon has been in the making for nearly all of his young lifetime. It had been forged across gyms from Seattle to Maryland to Las Vegas, supported at one end by a single mother on a social worker’s salary and at the other by the type of people who make infrastructure possible for prodigious young basketball talent.

The path that led Trier to a commitment to Arizona this weekend wasn’t totally unlike the one many of his peers atop the class of 2015 have been on. If there’s a difference, it’s the sheer amount of time he’d been in the spotlight.

Trier was the subject of a New York Times cover story as a sixth grader detailing just how the early the youth basketball machine starts to prop up its young talent. His regimen was as incredible as any origin story should be. He found the ball handling drills Pete Maravich used to do on YouTube and practiced them daily. He wouldn’t leave the gym until he made 450 jump shots, starting out close and working his way to the three-point line. He was already getting his tuition to private school paid for by a lawyer in Seattle, and the hookup even included free dental care.

If Trier’s story to this point is ostensibly about a wunderkind made good, it’s a bond he shares with his new head coach. Next season will be Sean Miller’s 11th coaching high major college basketball, which doesn’t seem particularly odd until you realize he’s still only 45 years old. As Miller prepares for his sixth season at Arizona, it’s apparent he’s turned his Wildcats into something resembling Kentucky West. Tucson is once again a premium destination for the best high school basketball players in the country, all thanks to Miller’s natural ability to connect with the top recruits year after year.

Trier, ranked the No. 19 player in his class by ESPN, is the third five-star prospect Miller has signed for 2015. He’ll join two-way point guard Justin Simon and 6’8 wing Ray Smith in a loaded recruiting class that will only get better. Miller is still in the mix for Ivan Rabb, a 6’11 pogo stick out of Oakland who is a consensus top-five talent. Arizona is also after Stephen Zimmerman, a 7-foot center and consensus top-10 prospect.

Trier’s commitment gives Miller 11 five-star recruits over the last five years, a number bested only by the 16 John Calipari has procured at Kentucky. Calipari is able to point to the NBA millions he’s helped John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis make at Kentucky, and Miller’s own pro pipeline is just getting started. If Derrick Williams (the No. 2 pick behind Kyrie Irving in the 2011 NBA Draft) hasn’t turned into his best example, maybe Aaron Gordon will. After one season at Arizona, Gordon became the fourth pick by the Orlando Magic in June. A year from now, we could be saying the same thing about Stanley Johnson.

Johnson is the prized recruit for Arizona this upcoming season and the de facto replacement for Gordon. While Gordon was a freak athlete and lockdown defender, Johnson projects as something closer to Jabari Parker as a huge wing at 6’7, 237 pounds who’s able to bully smaller defenders and score from all three levels. He’ll be a lynchpin in what might be the most talented roster in the country this side of Kentucky.

Arizona was dominant last season before their run ended against Wisconsin in the Elite Eight, as they finished 33-5 with the top defense in the country, per KenPom. They did it without Brandon Ashley, a stretch power forward who missed the second half of last season with a foot injury. Johnson and Ashley will be joined by returning starters Kaleb Tarczewski and T.J. McConnell. The starting lineup is rounded out by another potential lottery pick in the 2015 NBA Draft in wing Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.

Anything less than another Pac-12 title and a long run in the NCAA Tournament will be a disappointment for Arizona. The talent level in Tucson is just that high. McConnell, a senior, is the only starter who doesn’t have the ability to play in the NBA. It’s another parallel with Kentucky that Miller’s program is quickly building. He may have to replace all five starters a year now, meaning the high-level recruits he’s securing should get plenty of playing time. It’s a West Coast version of “succeed and proceed.”

This upcoming season, Johnson and Ashley will function as the primary scorers, Hollis-Jefferson will be the athletic wing flying around on both ends of the court and Tarczewski will provide an interior presence and rim protection. A year from now, Trier, who just led the EYBL in scoring and is actually a few months older than Johnson, will be the go-to offensive option. Ray Smith will be the long, athletic wing. Simon will be applying the on-ball pressure McConnell will provide this season. Given Miller’s recruiting prowess, it seems like a safe bet to pencil either Rabb or Zimmerman into Tarczewski’s role. Add in Ryan Anderson, too, a talented power forward who will have one year of eligibility left after transferring from Boston College.

The best programs in the country use past success to perpetuate future success. Look at Kentucky every year under Calipari or how Duke will go from a team led by Jabari Parker and Rodney Hood to one with Jahlil Okafor and Tyus Jones. Miller is building that type of program at Arizona, forgoing a full rebuild for a ruthless reload. Start to trace the trend and one thing is evident: for Miller and Arizona, this talent pipeline is just getting started.