“Awesome,” UA coach Sean Miller said, just before he stepped on that elevator to the Wildcats practice. “I’m happy for him. I know it’s been a heck of an offseason for him and it’s great to see him back on the sidelines. One of the greatest guys I’ve ever met.”

Kerr, who was also one of the greatest players in UA basketball history, with a jersey retired in McKale Center, will be taking the reins back from Luke Walton, the former UA forward.

Walton, who helped the Warriors to an almost silly 39-4 record while filling in for Kerr on an interim basis since October, also happens to be the son of Bill Walton … who was spending the weekend in the Bay Area because he was assigned to broadcast both of UA’s games.

Wildcat family, everywhere.

Except there’s one missing piece here: Ivan Rabb is playing for the other team Saturday.

Recruited maybe as much as any player Miller has pursued at Arizona, Rabb stuck hard on the Wildcats’ recruiting radar since his freshman season at Oakland’s Bishop O’Dowd High School, all the way up to last April, when he chose to play for Cal.

If there’s a tough sting to that one, Miller didn’t show it Friday.