GREENSBORO, N.C. – A year ago, he watched the NCAA Tournament like everyone else, or at least in the manner that anyone not employed as a Division I head basketball coach might. Sean Miller had no team. For the first time since he was a junior at Blackhawk High back in the 1980, playing for his dad and pursuing championships and not yet ready to commit to a college, he had no particular stake in March Madness.
This Xavier team belonged to someone else then, and neither were its members involved in March as they wished. Now they are here together, and they will fight anyone – sometimes, if necessary, one another – to remain as long as possible.
Sunday afternoon, it wasn’t quite a family squabble but still as close as one can come in college basketball. In this Midwest Region second-round game, Xavier’s opponent was Pitt, which happened to be where both Miller and his wife, Amy, attended college and where Sean was an All-Big East point guard. And the Musketeers were mercilessly precise in earning an 84-73 victory to advance to the Sweet 16.
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“It’s really remarkable: As much as it’s about me being a coach, it’s way more about these guys,” Miller told reporters at the Greensboro…
