Because this is college basketball 2026, Arizona will play a conference game Saturday about 30 miles from the Atlantic Ocean against a team made up mostly of guys attending their third or even fourth colleges.
It’s all about change, of course. Never-ending change.
Change that pushed Arizona from the imploding Pac-12 into the nearly coast-to-coast Big 12 in 2024. Change that allowed Arizona to add a former German pro player, Ivan Kharchenkov, and rebrand him as a college freshman this season.
And change that allowed four of last season’s Wildcats to enter the “transfer portal” free-agent market before the NCAA Tournament was even over last season.
Earlier this week, the NCAA did move to slow that free-agency thing down a bit, at least.
On the recommendation of coaches who often had to recruit — and hear about — transfers while many of them were still working NCAA Tournament games, the NCAA Division I Cabinet voted to close the transfer portal until after the postseason and shrink it to 15 days.
That means players can’t be officially recruited or visit anywhere until April 7 this year, though they can announce a departure anytime, and can commit anytime after entering the portal. Previously, transfers had been able to enter the portal a day after Selection Sunday, creating inevitable off-court noise during the popular NCAA Tournament.
Departing Arizona center Henri Veesaar, for one, both visited and committed to North Carolina in the days leading up to the Final Four last season. Now, he wouldn't be able to do such a thing for at least another week.
Asked if the portal change might have an impact, UA coach Tommy Lloyd all but threw up his hands, saying he would adjust to whatever happens. He said it was “minutia” compared to all the other things changing with his sport.
“It's like every day, if you wanted to live and die by it, man, what a roller coaster that would be,” Lloyd said. “I prefer to live and die with basketball games, not the rules surrounding the basketball games, because whatever rule they make today is going to be changed in three days when something … I'm just like, 'Man, I have no time for that stuff right now.'”
Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd gestures during the second half against TCU, Jan. 10, 2026, in Fort Worth, Texas.
Lloyd responded similarly to a suggestion that the new portal window might reduce distractions from the sport’s traditionally popular NCAA Tournament.
“Maybe,” Lloyd said. “Here's my stance: I'm the head coach at Arizona. I love my basketball team. I'm going to have trust — believe it or not — have trust in the powers that be to make the decisions.
“I have no time to waste on giving input on these things. Because it's so crazy right now that why would I emotionally want to get invested in something where I give input, and I think it's a great idea, and they don't do it, and now my feelings are hurt. My team needs my attention right now.”
Instead, Lloyd and UCF coach Johnny Dawkins, once a Duke star at a much different time in college basketball history, are both adjusting to the changing rules and moving on.
Lloyd took advantage of one of those rule changes to pull in Kharchenkov, who had signed a three-year pro contract in 2024 that was supposed to keep him with Bayern Munich until 2027.
Five years earlier, it might be noted, Estonian freshman Kerr Kriisa was forced to sit out 19 of Arizona's games — the vast majority of the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season — because he had agreed to a pro deal in Lithuania scheduled to pay him a relative pittance.
“It's changed a lot,” said Lloyd, long a recruiter of international talent for Gonzaga and now Arizona. “Especially with what's going on these days, I'm just really big on 'Tell me what the rules are, and we'll do our best to operate within the rules and find the advantages within the rules.'”
Even so, Lloyd said he wasn’t sure if the Wildcats would be able to land Kharchenkov last spring because of the changing eligibility rules, and it wasn’t announced until after Bayern Munich finished its playoff run that its young prospect was leaving for the United States.
Arizona forward Ivan Kharchenkov (8) gestures to the bench after nailing a three from way out there during the second half against Arizona State, Jan. 14, 2026, in Tucson.
“A New Chapter For FCBB (FC Bayern Basketball) Talent Kharchenkov,” headlined the club’s news release, which noted on July 1 that “the 18-year-old guard is heading to the U.S. for at least one year to play college basketball.”
While Kharchenkov went on to join an Arizona rotation that included three former transfers, two freshmen and two other international players, UCF's Dawkins has been trying to stay on top of a treadmill that spun arguably even faster, with basically his entire team gone from last season.
After the Knights finished the Big 12 Tournament at 16-16 last March, they were invited to the College Basketball Crown postseason event, but lost eight players to the portal before they were even finished playing in it.
That included leading scorer Keyshawn Hall, who moved to Auburn and opted-out of the Crown. But, curiously, some players who declared for the portal still played in the Crown for the Knights, who went 3-1 in Crown games to reach the final before losing to Nebraska.
Also, one of UCF's top players who did stay out of the portal during that Crown run, Senegalese big man Moustapha Thiam, entered the portal in mid-April — and wound up at Cincinnati.
That, in turn, gave him the chance to return to Orlando on Jan. 11, and drop 24 points on his old team.
After the UCF fans booed him, that is.
“You still want your fans to be engaged,” said Dawkins, who hit the other side of the portal to fill his rotation this season with multi-time transfers. “I'm happy for Moustapha. … I mean, we've gone to almost a professional sports model, so what do we expect? Guys are going to move now.
“You have to be somewhat understanding. You can be disappointed about it, but you also have to understand these guys want to feed their families and they want opportunities to do other things.”
The rules allowed Thiam to do it. The rules now also allow not only some former European pros to play college basketball, but also former G League players and, just this month for the first time ever, an NBA Draft pick dipped into college basketball when James Nnaji joined Baylor.
What’s next? After the Wildcats beat ASU 89-82 in a tense game Wednesday at McKale Center, Lloyd indicated he isn’t going to worry about it.
Arizona guard Brayden Burries and head coach Tommy Lloyd are left with questions after the Wildcats picked up a foul against Arizona State during the second half of their Big 12 game, Jan. 14, 2026, in Tucson.
“I'm going to trust the administrators and the powers that be to make great decisions to move our game forward, because we have a great game,” Lloyd said. “The game of college basketball is great. That game (against ASU) was great. Some of the stuff that’s surrounding the game is maybe not so great.
“But let's keep our focus on the game. The game. The game. The game. That's where the focus should be, because it's really special and eventually it's all going to be worked out. Hopefully we quit talking about the other stuff and we're just focusing on the game.”
