Wow, I gotta admit that although I have never been a Sean Miller fan, I do kind of like his defiance here.
However, while he vehemently denies having the conversation about paying D. Ayton, he does admit:
“I also want you to know that the one time someone suggested to me paying a player to come to the University of Arizona I did not agree to it. It never happened. And that player did not come to the University of Arizona. Out of respect for this ongoing investigation, the privacy of the student-athlete and his family, I’m not gonna share further details concerning this matter.”
So it appears that Sean admits that he did indeed have a conversation about paying a player, but it was probably not D. Ayton. Was it Brian Bowen or another player who did not come to Arizona?
ESPN might owe a huge apology to D. Ayton, but the crux of Schlabach’s ESPN story might still be accurate: That Sean Miller had a discussion about paying for a player to come to Arizona, even though according to Sean that player did not, in fact, attend U of A.