Also maybe some time to gain perspective.

“I think we can control that,” Miller said. “When you’re in a situation like ours, when you’re 26-4 and 15-2, there are a lot of great moments that we’ve had and every once in a while people can distract players on your team. It’s ‘You need to play more minutes.’ ‘Coach doesn’t know what he’s doing.’ Etcetera, etcetera.

“I think my worry and any coach at this time when you enter March with a lot at stake, is to keep our team on point, to make sure we have our circle and our locker room and we’re focused like we’ve been getting better, preparing for the next game. And in moments like this you learn a lot about the character of your team, about the character of the families that you coach, you learn a lot about yourself as a coaching staff.”

A 15-2 conference mark, of course, usually is good enough to cut down some nets. Miller’s first three Pac-10/12 champions only lost four (2011), three (2014) and two (2015) games, and yet this season … Oregon is still right there with the Wildcats. That doesn’t surprise Miller, since the Ducks retained most of the key players from their Elite Eight team a year ago and added even more talent. They were even picked to finish first in the Pac-12’s official media poll.