Welcome back to the non-stop rumor mill that is the amateur sporting association known as the NCAA’s coaching cycle.

Whether it’s football or men’s (and to a lesser extent, women’s) basketball, the four-letter association sure finds a way to generate headlines come season’s end.

This year is no different, especially for those of you reading from the sunny streets of Tucson.

The Arizona Wildcats, who finish their 2020-21 season tonight against the Oregon Ducks, face an offseason full of bloviating and burdensome questions.

First, will the Wildcats agree to extend men’s basketball head coach Sean Miller’s contract, which is scheduled to end at the end of next season?

It’s not a cut-and-dry question and answer. Miller, of course, has led Arizona into an NCAA-imposed quagmire, which caused the school to forfeit any shot at playing in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

He also led the Wildcats’ rag-tag cadre of players to a 17-8 record this season, arguably putting forth his best top-to-bottom coaching job of his career in the Old Pueblo.

Will AD Dave Heeke keep Miller twisting in the wind, or will the two sides agree to part ways during the blistering heat of a Baja Arizona summer?

Will the NCAA hand Arizona its lunch and hand out severe punishment that could include loss of scholarships, postseason bans and vacated wins?

Will Miller throw one of his patented tantrums and storm out of Southern Arizona, fresh off a season here he eclipsed 300 wins in Tucson and 400 for his career?

This is, of course, a laundry list of rhetorical questions that is above both my and your paygrade, dear reader, but is one that will vex my friends in the Old Pueblo for days to come.

I haven’t written anything original on this site in quite a while due to having all my free time consumed by work and a general sense of writer’s block that’s prevented me from adding much to this site.

I’m on a roll right now, though, and will put forth a scenario that could unroll in the days ahead that ends the Sean Miller turmoil in Tucson once and for all.

Hope you’re wearing your seatbelts, as this could be a wild and bumpy ride:

The University of New Mexico announced last week that it would part ways with head coach Paul Weir, freeing up one of the West’s most alluring mid-major jobs. Miller has no ties to the Land of Enchantment, but would be a slam dunk hire for the Lobos, injecting life and respectability into a program that’s gone stagnant since Steve Alford decided to become UCLA’s latest hardwood martyr.

Hiring Miller would check another box for UNM, as it would get them another head coach with previous Power Five experience. Alford, as you may remember, came to Albuquerque from Iowa and had a hell of a run in the ABQ before jumping ship.

Miller could have a successful tenure at New Mexico, which always seems to find extra pocket space when it comes to the school’s one true love, which is men’s basketball. Whether they can swing bringing in Miller, who would undoubtedly cost north of $1.5 million per year, is unknown.

It is fun to chase down the rabbit hole and possibly reignite the once-visceral U of A-UNM rivalry at the same time, which is worth something I’m sure.

Miller came to Tucson after a successful stint coaching Xavier and playing point guard for the Pittsburgh Panthers. His brother, Archie, is likely to find himself on the firing line either this offseason or next, so both will likely be on the prowl for a new job soon. What happens if Butler, which has been abysmal this season (save for their shocking upset of Villanova on Saturday), or another Rust Belt power decides to look for a new coach?

Miller would be hard-pressed to pass up the opportunity to start over in his homeland of Steel City Reserve 40’s and decaying factories at a school like, oh, Butler in 2021.

This is all subject to any decent jobs hitting the market this offseason, of course. If any of that happens, it’ll be interesting to see whether Miller jumps on the next Allegiant flight from Tucson International Airport to Indianapolis.

The last and most boring scenario at play here is that Miller and Heeke realize they love winning more than the prospect of dredging the mid-major ranks for a new head coach.

In this scenario, Miller and Arizona agree to what undoubtedly would be a smaller yearly salary for the longtime Wildcats head coach, giving the school greater financial flexibility to spend on its other programs.

Maybe Miller can convince Archie to come back and be his assistant coach once again like old times. Maybe the duo finds a way to keep this year’s roster intact, with talented freshmen like Azuolas Tubelis, Kerr Kriisa and Bennedict Mathurin coming back to lead Arizona back to a deep tournament run in 2022.

Maybe none of this happens and the Wildcats decide yet again to stumble their way toward the NCAA’s buzzsaw of infractions enforcement.

At the end of the day, who knows anything about anything, amirite?