Everything Sean Miller said ahead of Texas' NCAA Tournament matchup with BYU

Here’s everything Texas head coach Sean Miller said ahead of his Longhorns’ first-round matchup with BYU in the NCAA Tournament.

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SEAN MILLER: First things first. This really is me. There’s not two of me. I know you might think, how did you get here so quickly from Dayton. We went straight, came straight from the airport.

Nonetheless, we’re thrilled to be here. Last night, it seems like it just ended about 10 minutes ago, and here we are in Portland, Oregon, ready to play BYU.

But we’re super, super excited about being here. There’s nothing like the thrill of being in the tournament and advancing. I think there’s some real confidence and togetherness. The way I would describe it from a team-centered perspective, just a lot of good stuff that comes in March being able to win a game.

We take that with us and move towards a big test tomorrow.

Q. Have you slept at all?

SEAN MILLER: Yeah, I mean, I think the reality of our trip, if you’d like to kind of see it through our eyes, is our plane left probably about 3 a.m. East Coast time. It was delayed. We didn’t have a plane there. It is what is. We got going. It’s about a four and a half, five-hour flight. By the time we landed, gaining the three hours, probably got in around 5:30, 6 a.m. We had the morning to sleep. A lot of our players slept on the plane. They’re younger, they can do that.

Fast-forward here today. One thing about young people, they’re so resilient in the way they grow up in this game. They’re playing two and three games a day in travel team basketball. This is a generation that’s never traveled more. They’re everywhere throughout the spring on the heels of their high school season.

We’re ready. I think we’ll move forward. Again, take more of the ability to say that we’ve played a game and we’ve advanced versus we didn’t sleep.

Q. But did you sleep? That was my question.

SEAN MILLER: I did. Yep, I did.

Q. You have played some really elite freshmen this season. You had previously praised Darius Acuff. Where does AJ Dybantsa stack up? Who are guys in the past he compares to?

SEAN MILLER: Yeah, he’s an amazing player and talent. I would call him like generational. Darius Acuff, you’re referring to, point guard at Arkansas, I don’t think there’s too many players that are playing college basketball that are any better than him, in particular if you’re talking about that position that he plays.

But AJ, he’s that position-less player. I don’t really know what position you want to call him. He can do it all. I think his ability to get fouled is maybe unlike anything I’ve seen simply because he shoots eight free throws a game. He can do it in and around the rim, driving, kind of in that odd spot, 15 to 17 feet from the basket. It’s a real gift for not only him, but BYU.

I can’t give you the words and accolades to describe him. He is a great, great player. A player that you and we don’t oftentimes see in college. You can go a long period of time and not see somebody like him.

Obviously watching him in the Big 12, which is a great, great conference, he averaged 25 a game, that obviously jumps off the page.

Q. Related to that, you have a long history, particularly when you were at Arizona, of having to play great players, having to come up with a defensive game plan for them. Does AJ remind you of anyone that you have played previously that you can draw on?

SEAN MILLER: I was thinking about it. I don’t know if I can really compare him to a player. No one really jumps out. I guess you start at the top and think about what LeBron does in the NBA, what makes him so unique. What position is he? He’s like a one-man wrecking crew. He can do so many different things.

AJ is his own player obviously, but that’s the unique path he goes down. His size, mobility, skill level, his mindset of being able to be a smart player, make his teammates better, get to the foul line, how he gets to the foul line, makes it very difficult.

Some of the best players I’ve had the pleasure of coaching, Deandre Ayton, Derrick Williams, Lauri Markkanen, Aaron Gordon, those guys were all obviously great, great players, high picks in the NBA.

The one thing that’s different about somebody like AJ is that scoring punch, getting fouled and doing it in a different way where he has the ball in his hands at his size.

But he’s an amazing talent. Look, I’d really fall short if it just stops with him. He obviously plays for a really, really good coach, who puts him in that position, is obviously teaching him how to play the game. Then he’s surrounded by a great group of teammates.

In particular I know BYU had a tough injury late in the year, which certainly has hurt them. But their supporting cast is still very good. They’re a good team, led by a great player. But they’re a good team, too.

Q. Obviously you have some history with BYU in the tournament in their Mountain West days. What do you make of BYU’s recent rise as a program, being competitive within the Big 12, getting top recruits like AJ?

SEAN MILLER: I mean, I can’t speak to it other than no doubt I’ve certainly competed against BYU as a coach. Dave Rose is an amazing coach. We went against him in Lexington, Kentucky, a long time ago. Obviously got Jimmer Fredette a number of times.

BYU has always been a basketball-centric place when it comes to sports. When you think about sports, you have a lot of respect for their basketball program, their history. Danny Ainge, those guys. They’re clearly competing for the top prize.

We have great respect for the Big 12 Conference. Arizona I’m very familiar with. You look at the top teams in that league, Iowa State, Houston, Kansas, they’re one of the top teams. No doubt we’re playing against a quality opponent that’s investing in their program. You feel that. I think they’re going to be in this tournament in a prominent role for years to come.

Q. Back to last night, among the craziness of that ending, Assistant Coach Ryan Anderson rushing onto the court after Tramon Mark’s winning shot. Can you take us through that moment. What was your level of concern there would be a technical foul called because he rushed onto the court?

SEAN MILLER: Yeah, a tough moment for Ryan as a young coach. Ryan played for me. He felt like he was a player after he ran out there, for sure.

The thing about March Madness is it’s the emotion of it all. A last-second shot, an epic win, a tough loss, it’s what makes March Madness so spectacular, the emotion of it.

All of us just have to make sure we don’t get caught up in the emotion; player, coach, et cetera. Yeah, we certainly didn’t need to end that game on a technical foul. That would have been a bad moment for a lot of people, but in particular a really bad moment for him. I’m glad it didn’t happen.

Q. Last night’s game, is that the sort of thing that can pump a team up in a tournament, contributing that way?

SEAN MILLER: I think what you saw last night when you watched Chendall Weaver’s performance is a senior, somebody that’s coming down the very homestretch of their college basketball career, not wanting it to end, wanting to advance.

Again, there’s so many elements to March Madness that make it what it is. Watching guys that are at the end of their eligibility rise to the challenge and play their hearts out, give everything to the game itself, it’s really what captivates all of us, that makes March Madness March Madness.

Chendall Weaver’s performance, a double-double, but watching how he did it, offensive rebounds, hustle plays, defense, scoring, getting fouled, he really did it all. A big reason that we advanced is just him rising to that challenge and playing the way he did.