What does Murray bring to a basketball program? I have no idea. Presumably, neither does he; he only graduated college in 2007 and is still a G.A., meaning he’ll be doing quite a bit of quiet learning — preparing tape, taking notes, keeping the clipboard handy, that sort of thing — for at least a few more years. But he’ll be interesting to watch. If he has one-tenth of his father’s charisma, it’s only a matter of time until he’s a major college hoops coach on his own.

Good luck to Murray in his new endeavor. Something tells me he’ll do just fine.

The University of Arizona can’t catch a break. First, Tim Floyd turns them down and now Sean Miller has (reportedly) decided to stay in Cincinnati.

Xavier’s Miller met with Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood on Sunday about the Wildcats’ open head coaching job but rejected the school’s offer later that night, according to multiple media reports.

Xavier AD Mike Bobinski told ESPN.com’s Andy Katz that he expected to speak with Miller late Sunday or early Monday. He wrote in a text message: “Nothing firm at this moment, but I remain very optimistic that Sean Miller will continue as our head basketball coach at Xavier.”

Miller “has a potential Final Four team coming back next season, loves where he lives, has security and is paid well and has the best job in his league, yet has to decide whether or not this is the right job for him to explore,” Calipari said earlier Sunday.

So who’s next for Arizona? I’m sure the Wildcats would like an established guy in his 40’s (or early 50’s) who could guide the program for the next 10-15 years, but those coaches are hard to come by. Tim Floyd (55) elected to stay with USC, and now Miller (40) has as well.

Monday afternoon update: Sean Miller has accepted the Arizona job.

So much for those reports that had Tim Floyd packing his bags for Arizona. He has decided to stay at USC.

Floyd announced his decision in a meeting with reporters in Los Angeles Thursday afternoon. Floyd said he not only visited Arizona but also spoke to Memphis about its opening.

“I felt that I needed to look at those two programs,” Floyd told reporters on Thursday. “I am at a point where I want to do something really special and I feel like I needed to go look at an elite program.

“But there is something really special about building your own traditions, your own histories and doing it with a group of guys that you love. … I have never been more excited to be a Trojan.”

Floyd said his contract at USC remains unchanged.

“I have three years left on my contract,” he said. “No, there have not been any changes made that I am aware of. I would like another year or two. I think that would be great. I would like for this to be my last job.”

Floyd has done a nice job at USC, which is why Arizona wanted him in the first place. He has guided the Trojans to three straight NCAA appearances and three straight 20+ win seasons. The next step for the program is to crack the Elite Eight or Final Four.

So which direction does Arizona go now that Floyd has publicly turned down the job?

So much for those Pitino-to-Tuscon rumors. It looks as if Tim Floyd is poised to take over as head coach at Arizona.

Tim Floyd will be named basketball coach at Arizona, Mark Asher of Sports 620 KTAR, ESPN’s radio affiliate in Phoenix, is reporting according to multiple sources.

Floyd met with Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood on Wednesday night to work out the final details of the deal and an announcement is expected Thursday, according to sources.

Floyd, 55, has spent the last four seasons at USC with an 85-50 record. He led the Trojans to three NCAA tournament appearances — including the Sweet 16 in 2007.

Floyd previously coached in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls in 1999-2002 and the New Orleans Hornets in 2004.

He was also the head coach at Iowa State, New Orleans and Idaho.

Floyd is certainly a proven recruiter (O.J. Mayo, DeMar DeRozan), but I wonder if Arizona fans were expecting a bigger name to come to Tuscon. Rick Pitino recently bought a house there, which fueled speculation that he’d take over as head coach, but apparently sometimes a real estate transaction is just a real estate transaction.

I’m watching the games with LaRusso and his co-worker/buddy Kevin, who is from Foxboro, so he’s a big Patriots, Celtics and Red Sox fan. We got into a minor spat last year over whether or not the Celtics would have beat the Lakers had Andrew Bynum been healthy – he thought a Boston win would have been a sure thing while I thought it would have thrown the series on its ear, but we’re way past that now.

5:14 PM: Louisville is spanking Arizona (not a huge surprise) and Oklahoma is up eight or ten on Syracuse (a bit of a surprise). I think the Orangemen have a shot at pulling this one out, though it’s not looking particularly good right now.

5:20 PM: What is the deal with these Howie Long commercials where he mocks anyone who has a truck that’s not a Chevy? This probably brings back memories of high school for Howie. Is there any chance that he wasn’t stuffing freshman in lockers on a regular basis? He reminds me of a meaner “Big John” from “Can’t Buy Me Love.” He was the one who stuck his butt out the window of a house party and farted in the face of a young Seth Green. For those that haven’t seen the flick, it’s one of my favorites from the ’80s — McDreamy plays a McLoser who pays a girl to date him so he can be popular. Hilarity (and surprisingly touching social commentary) ensues. Anyway, I’m waiting for one of these guys in these commercials to tell Howie to go f*ck himself. Do we really need a washed up NFLer mocking a fellow truck owner because it has a convenient “man step” or gets two fewer miles to the gallon? Give me a break.

5:42 PM: So much for Syracuse. They’re down 20 early in the second half and are looking like they’ve never played basketball before. Oklahoma is doing a nice job of passing on the interior to negate the Orangemen’s zone. I bet the three days of preparation helped. This isn’t a bracket killer, but it sure doesn’t help. I have Gonzaga coming out of this region, so the Bulldogs’ game against UNC is a lot more important to me. It’s tough when there are only two games on and both are blowouts. I just told Jessie that I was blogging and she thought that I was saying that I was “black.” (I’m white.) It was a weird moment. Apparently, I need to enunciate better.

6:01 PM: The Sandbox’s self-proclaimed “World’s Greatest Happy Hour” consists of $1 off overpriced bottles of beer, $3 well drinks and 1/2 off selected appetizers. This is the “World’s Greatest Happy Hour”? Really? Shouldn’t there be a Happy Hour Committee that can fine or sue restaurants when they make ridonkulous claims like this?

6:35 PM: Man, Oklahoma looked strong. The Big 12 is on a roll and if Kansas beats Michigan State, they’ll have three teams in the Elite Eight. Jonny Flynn injured his back in the middle of the game and that sort of limited Syracuse’s comeback ability. They made a little run, but never really got it close. After their strong run in the Big East Championship, I bet a lot of people had Syracuse in the Elite Eight (and maybe even the Final Four). Unfortunately, Jessie has left the building, but here’s a picture I took of her and Christy…

Christy and Jessie, BFFs.

6:56 PM: I asked LaRusso and Kevin what the average age is of the other patrons in the bar – it’s definitely an older crowd early in the evening. LaRusso said 42 and Kevin said 44. LaRusso says is skews MUCH younger around 10 PM. By then, most of these silver foxes are probably getting ready for bed.

7:28 PM: Gonzaga is not off to a good start. Down 10 with eight minutes to play in the first half. Ty Lawson looks great (of course, since my whole bracket depends on him being injured), and Carolina is making EVERYTHING. Well, not everything but they’re 15 of 23 from the field right now. Gonzaga has blown a couple of layups…not a good start.

7:44 PM: I give up. (Well, not quite yet, but I’m really getting frustrated.) North Carolina has 48 points (up 16) with four minutes to play in the first half. They are shooting out of their minds, and the Bulldogs are getting rattled. Gonzaga is starting to throw the ball all over the arena and it’s leading to easy UNC points. The Zags seriously need to get this lead down to 10 by halftime. And that starts with making a bucket and getting a stop.

Meanwhile, Kansas is up seven on Michigan State. I wasn’t impressed with the Spartans the three or four times I saw them play, but one thing’s for sure — Tom Izzo’s team is not going to give up. We’ll see if the Jayhawks can hold on in the second half.

THE NEXT MORNING: Well, the battery died on my laptop and the two Sandbox power outlets I tried to use didn’t work. I was running on four hours of sleep (special thanks to my son, Max, for waking full of piss and vinegar at 5:45 AM) and I just didn’t have the wherewithal to finish the diary when I got home. Truthfully, I was a little depressed. My Elite Eight picks went 1-2 on the night (1-3 if you count the one pool where I had Kansas instead of WVU), so I think it’s safe to say that watching the games at Sandbox was a bust. I am probably too superstitious to go back.

Amazingly, my pools are not dead yet, but I have no margin for error. Pittsburgh has to beat UConn in the final, and Oklahoma has to make the Final Four. (It actually doesn’t matter if Louisville makes it.) Of the two Yahoo pools (that utilize the Scenario Generator), I can still win one outright, and could finish in the money in another. I won’t be sure if I’m still alive in the 104-bracket pool, but something tells me that I’m not. Needless to say, I’m not in as good of a position as I was entering the Elite Eight the last two years.

The Sagarin 2+ point favorites only went 3-3 in the Elite Eight, so the overall record of this system is 36-11 (or 77%) this year. The last two seasons, this method has hit at an 85% clip, so it’s definitely disappointing. What’s worse, the team that would have picked to win it all had they been healthy (UNC) is starting to look really healthy. For as much as we hear how important the big toes are to a player’s performance, I just didn’t think Lawson could lead the Tar Heels to the Final Four on a bum toe. I am beginning to regret this decision.

On a more qualitative level, save for the Michigan State/Kansas game, this was a pretty boring night of action. Oklahoma, North Carolina and Louisville won by a combined 73 points. There’s obviously a lot on the line (a.k.a. a trip to the Final Four) in today’s action, so be sure to check out my preview of Saturday’s games.

48 games over four days is going to produce some drama, and Sunday’s action was no different…

- #1 seed Pitt gave another scare to those that had the Panthers going to the Final Four (or in my case, all the way to a title) with a less than stellar effort against Oklahoma State. They continue to underwhelm, but they’ve been getting the job done in crunch time. They’re not going to be able to phone in a win against Xavier next week, however, so they better bring their “A” game.

- Syracuse continues its hot run that started in the Big East tournament. Arizona State pushed them a bit in the second half but the Orangemen were able to limit James Harden by utilizing their patented zone defense. I like Harden, but he has a tendency to disappear at times. There were long stretches over the two tournament games where he faded into the background.

- Dayton pushed Kansas for a while, but the Jayhawks were able to pull away in the second half. Cole Aldrich had an unlikely triple-double — 13 points, 20 rebounds and 10 blocks — to lead the way for Kansas. The Jayhawks have a nice inside-outside game with Aldrich and point guard Sherron Collins (25 points, seven rebounds).

- Arizona ended #13-seed Cleveland State’s Cinderella run, but in a way, the Wildcats have been fitted with their own glass slipper. It will be interesting to see how Chase Budinger, Jordan Hill and Co. can fare against Louisville next week. Everyone knew that Arizona was capable of winning a couple of games in the tourney, but they’ll really be tested against the Cardinals.

- Tough finish for Marquette, who had a chance to tie (or win the game with a three) when Lazar Hayward stepped on the end line when trying to inbound the ball. In his defense, the inbounds play wasn’t drawn out very well, so the guy he was thinking about throwing the ball too was “kind of” open. Anytime you put a player in a position of indecisiveness, bad things can happen. Hayward had a nice game (13 points, 12 rebounds), so the Golden Eagles wouldn’t have even been in that position without him. Down four, Marquette head coach Buzz Williams wanted a foul on Maurice Acker’s three-point attempt, but there wasn’t much contact there and Acker was the one who created it. Williams was acting like a petulant child on the sideline down the stretch. Basketball is the only sport where a grown man can throw a two-hour tantrum and get away with it.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for a complete preview of the Sweet Sixteen.

1. Louisville is a class above the rest, but they have a serious flaw.
No major conference team comes into the tournament hotter than Louisville. They have won 10 straight games, including wins over Providence (twice), Marquette, West Virginia and Villanova. They even beat a red-hot Syracuse team to win the Big East Championship. They have the country’s second-best adjusted defensive efficiency (points allowed per 100 possessions, adjusted for strength of schedule), and aren’t too shabby offensively, either. But the conventional wisdom is that you need strong guard play to win a title, and the Cardinals don’t have a guard that averages more than 7.8 points per game. However, Louisville’s little guys can really defend, and that might be enough.

2. There are some live dogs.
I doubt there were any coaches out there hoping to get a first round matchup with Arizona this week. With future NBA’ers Chase Budinger, Nic Wise and Jordan Hill in the lineup, the Wildcats can play with anyone. But will they show up? #10-seed USC is hot as a pistol right now and the Trojans actually might be the favorite in their matchup with #7-seed Boston College. Freshman phenom DeMar DeRozan has averaged 19.8 points over the last five games, all USC wins. #13-seed Cleveland State is 29th in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency. What does this mean? The Vikings can really defend. That’s bad news for the Demon Deacons, who shot just 30% in their ACC tourney matchup with Maryland last week.

3. That Kansas/WVU pick is a tough one.
Not only is this a great matchup between two very good teams, but with the winner’s date with the vulnerable Michigan State Spartans in the next round, this one might have huge bracket implications as well. Should we pick the Mountaineers, who recently beat Pittsburgh and Villanova, and lost by five to a hot Syracuse team in the Big East semis? Or do we pick the Jayhawks, who beat Oklahoma, Missouri and Texas before laying an egg against Baylor in the Big 12 tournament? Maybe the best plan to enter two pools so we can pick both.

4. The longshots can shoot the long ball.
The three-point shot is the great equalizer, and the favorites in the Midwest better not fall asleep on the perimeter, or they might be in for a long day. #14-seed North Dakota State has a four-pack of players that make an average of 6.2 three-pointers a game, highlighted by leading scorer Ben Woodside’s 22.8 points per game and 43% accuracy from long range. #15-seed Robert Morris has Jeremy Chappell (2.5 3pg, 41% 3PT) and Jimmy Langhurst (1.9 3pg, 43% 3PT), who can both really light it up. So, Kansas and Michigan State — don’t say you weren’t warned…