The way Sean Miller sees it, a college basketball game is really 10 different four-minute games.
 
With media timeouts every four minutes of each half, the game is naturally split. And Miller believes that if you can win the majority of those four-minute segments, you'll be in good shape to win the game. It's a statistic kept during games on the Arizona sideline. He also believes that perhaps the most important of those segments – especially in close games -- is the last one.
 
So it's no surprise that Miller's preseason conditioning program is called "The 10^th War Program" as a nod to the final battle of a game.
 
This fall, Miller decided to put a new twist on the program. The Wildcat who excelled most throughout the program would be recognized. The coach sought to pinpoint one player who had strong test results in the various conditioning drills and someone who worked hard, did things the right way and provided a positive example for his teammates.
 
Last week, before the team's first official in-season practice of the 2018-19 season, Miller unveiled his pick to the team during a meeting with the players. He shared with the team that the winner would be recognized with a boxing style championship belt that would be displayed in the team's locker room with a plaque displaying the winners.
 
He then announced 6-foot-9-inch forward Ryan Luther as the winner of this year's competition. Miller slapped the belt around Luther's waste as the graduate transfer from Pittsburgh got an ovation from his teammates. The belt features the Block A, a Pac-12 logo and A Players Program crest on it.
 
"I was pretty honored," Luther said. "It was humbling because (Miller) could have given it to a lot of different guys. Everyone worked real hard in the offseason and made great improvements throughout the summer. So just to get recognized felt real good."
 
Among the numbers that jumped out to Miller when deciding on Luther as the winner of the belt was that on the bench press, he did 25 reps of 185 pounds, establishing a new program record. Luther, who averaged 12.7 points per game and 10.1 rebounds a contest last season at Pitt, had his season cut short due to an injury and then decided to look at other options for his final season of college basketball.
 
He settled on Arizona and wanted to form a good first impression on Miller when he arrived in Tucson.
 
When he got his hands on The 10^th Warrior Belt, it was final validation that he had.
 
"We're welcoming in a new player that I think can bring some things to the table to help us," Miller said Monday during the team's Media Day. "When you're around someone like Ryan, you understand that he's not 18-years-old, that he's been through practices, he's received criticism, he's been coached, he's seen the highs and the lows of college sports. That will be helpful.
 
"If he wouldn't have gotten injured, he was potentially on his way to being an all-conference player."
 
Instead, he did suffer an injury 10 games into the season, forcing him to redshirt and giving him one more year of eligibility. He committed to Miller and Arizona in April and arrived on campus in the summer. He didn't waste any time getting to work with strength and conditioning coach Chris Rounds and proved he was a valuable commodity inside the weight room.
 
"I know it's always important to get strong, because it's such a physical game now," said Luther, a native of Gibsonia, Pennsylvania. "I wouldn't consider myself the strongest guy on the team, I'm just pretty solid at bench and was able to get pumped up to have a good day. So it was cool to be recognized in front of the whole team by Coach Miller, and it's definitely something I'm proud of."
 
Something he's not quite as proud of? His bond with Miller over their favorite football team, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
 
"We just lost another game, so there's not much to be bonding with him on right now," a smiling Luther said.