Arizona Commits Green, Mannion Expect To Play & Excel For Sean Miller
Arizona Commits Green, Mannion Expect To Play & Excel For Sean Miller
For all the talk and uncertainty surrounding Arizona basketball, Josh Green and Nico Mannion fully expect to play for head coach Sean Miller next season.
CHAMBLEE, GA — For all the talk and uncertainty surrounding the Arizona basketball program, Josh Green and Nico Mannion fully expect to play for head coach Sean Miller next season.
Miller called the 6-foot-3 Mannion on Sunday night to wish him good luck in the McDonald’s All-American Game, which airs Wednesday night at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
“Just saying good luck, enjoy it,” Mannion said of Miller's message. “I’m sure he’s excited, but I think we’re more excited than him.”
The 6-6 Green said the duo has no doubts that Miller will be the Arizona coach when they get to campus in July.
“The main reason we committed was we trust in Coach Miller and what he’s doing in the program, so we got 100 percent faith in what he’s doing so we’re going to stand by him,” Green said.
Arizona has been linked to the FBI investigation into bribery in college basketball, and Miller is about to be subpoenaed to testify at the bribery trial of Merl Code and Christian Dawkins on April 22.
During Arizona’s Senior Day, Miller gave what was interpreted by many as a farewell speech, but he insisted it was not.
“It certainly wasn’t a goodbye speech,” Miller said.
Arizona failed to make the NCAA Tournament this year, but has the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class coming in next season, highlighted by two McDonald’s All-Americans in Green out of IMG Academy (FL) and Mannion out of Pinnacle (AZ) High, by way of Australia. The duo will also compete for the World Team in the Nike Hoop Summit in Portland, Oregon, on April 12.
They, in turn, have big goals going forward.
“We got our goals high, we’re aiming for Final Four, national championship so that’s what we want,” Mannion said. “Our recruiting class coming in knows that and the guys up there know that so if we just work hard. Me and Josh are going in a little early [to campus]. If we get in early, hit the ground running, I think we can do some good things up there.”
Arizona commits @niccolomannion and @joshgreen_6 are both on the West team. Both guys are really talented pic.twitter.com/e7Devf4mk3
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) March 25, 2019
Said Green: “Sean Miller’s never gone to a Final Four so me and Nico’s goal is to come in there and help him get to a Final Four.”
Green and Mannion played together on the Under Armour circuit with West Coast Elite, and they are bringing that chemistry to the McDonald’s Game and then to Arizona.
“It’s good getting back on the court with him,” Green said.
“I feel like we can bring a lot. I feel we have a really good connection. I feel like a lot of big things are going to happen next year at Arizona.”
Both players are projected as first-round picks in the 2020 NBA Draft according to ESPN.com, with Green at No. 9 and Mannion at 17.
So they may not be around Arizona for long.
“I think our chemistry will just automatically be there,” Mannion said. “We’ve been playing with each other for like three years now. I know what he likes to do, he knows what I like to do. We’re just comfortable with each other on and off the floor so we’ll just be automatically straight off the bat be able to coach each other and knowing it’s coming from a place of love instead of envy so I think it will be good.”
Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who runs ZAGSBLOG.com and contributes to The New York Times. Follow Adam on Twitter.