Sean Miller on Brandon Williams’ senior season: ‘I’m not sure I can speak on that’

Brandon Williams has been tearing it up for Crespi High School lately, so Sean Miller was asked Monday about the point guard’s senior season.

He chose not to comment.

“I’m not sure I can speak on that because of NCAA rules,” Miller said.

It was an odd answer since Miller has spoken publicly about Williams before. In November, Miller discussed both Williams and Shareef O’Neal in a press conference after the 2018 recruits inked non-binding financial aid paperwork with the Arizona Wildcats.

When Miller was reminded that Williams had signed, he said: “I know. I’m not sure if I can talk about Williams.”

NCAA rules state that coaches are able to discuss signed recruits, but not unsigned recruits. Williams has not signed a traditional National Letter of Intent, so perhaps he is an exception, and Miller is technically not allowed to talk about him, even though he did a few months ago.

Arizona has stopped including any mention of Williams and O’Neal from the game notes it produces for each contest, and it removed the Tweet that announced their signings, lending more credibility to that notion.

If you want to know what Miller previously said about Williams, here were his comments about the four-star recruit’s game in November:

“What we love the most about him is he can score and be a playmaker. Great off the dribble, physically strong, can shoot the 3-point shot. The way the game has changed where you put different guards out there at the same time and don’t worry about what position they are, Brandon can be on the court with anybody and we look for him to come in and make an immediate impact.”

Miller, who said Williams has McDonald’s All-American talent, also talked about the knee surgery that sidelined Williams for his junior season, saying it was not the result of an injury.

“That’s important to note,” Miller said in November. “He had more of a genetic thing with his leg that he was able to get fixed. To his family’s credit, he did at a time which is very smart. And he missed a lot of action. He wasn’t on the circuit this spring or summer.”

We found out recently that “genetic thing” was osteochondritis dissecans, a joint condition in which bone underneath the cartilage of a joint dies due to lack of blood flow.

Williams has returned from that injury, and looks like his old self in his senior season. The 6-foot-2 point guard is averaging 24.7 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 2.4 steals per game in just 19 minutes (he has been on a minute-restriction).

Williams is the No. 31 prospect in the 2018 class, per 247Sports.

Follow Ryan Kelapire on Twitter at @RKelapire