Coaching uncertainty shadows No. 14 Arizona

Who is the coach of the 14th-ranked Arizona Wildcats?

It’s uncertain after assistant Lorenzo Romar coached the team Saturday night in Eugene, Oregon.

Embattled head coach Sean Miller wasn’t on the bench as the Oregon Ducks downed the Wildcats 98-93 in overtime.

Miller’s status is apparently under review after a report linking him to college basketball’s burgeoning corruption scandal surfaced late Friday night.

Here is the full story from azcentral.com.

The adversity comes at an inopportune time for Arizona.

The Wildcats host Stanford and Cal this week to close their regular-season schedule.

Also looming? The Pac-12 tournament and the NCAA tournament.

In the meantime, Arizona (22-7 and 12-4) is clearly in need of coaching-staff clarity.

Arizona coach Sean Miller linked to basketball corruption scandal

Add the name of Arizona head coach Sean Miller to the burgeoning corruption scandal in college basketball.

ESPN is reporting that Miller discussed with a representative for a professional player agent a plan to pay $100,000 to center Deandre Ayton.

Authored by Mark Schlabach, the story is linked here.

The corruption investigation by the FBI came to light last fall with indictments of officials in and around college basketball for bribery and fraud.

Among those indicted were assistant coaches at Arizona, Auburn, Oklahoma State and Southern Cal.

The story intensified earlier this week when the NCAA ordered Louisville to vacate victories over a four-year period that included the 2013 national title.

Louisville fired coach Rick Pitino last fall after Pitino was linked to a plan to pay a recruit.

Pitino has not been charged criminally.

Another chapter in the tale unfolded Friday when Yahoo Sports reported that players from more than 20 Division I teams had been identified as possibly breaking NCAA rules, according to information uncovered in the probe.

See the story, written by Pete Thamel and Pat Forde, here.

Some of the players identified are being held out of practices and games leading into the final few weeks of the regular season.

Texas, for instance, is holding out guard Eric Davis Jr.

But other schools, namely Duke, Alabama and Michigan State, are allowing players linked to the investigation to play.

Those players include forward Wendell Carter at Duke, guard Collin Sexton at Alabama and Miles Bridges at Michigan State.

With the reports swirling about Miller and Ayton, Arizona is set to play tonight at Oregon.

Miller was unavailable for comment to the media Friday night, per a story at azcentral.com. See the story here.

Arizona (22-6, 12-3) and Southern Cal (20-9, 11-5) are 1-2 in the Pac-12 standings.

The 7-foot-1 Ayton, averaging 19.6 points and 10.9 rebounds, is considered a potential NBA lottery pick if he comes out for the draft this summer.