Being left off top point guard list gives Arizona's Jaden Bradley extra motivation

Opting out of a traditional multi-team event this season, the Arizona Wildcats instead signed up for three major neutral-site games all run by outside promoters and the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Arizona beat Florida on Monday in the first one, will play UCLA in Los Angeles next week for the second and will face San Diego State in Phoenix on Dec. 20 for the third one.

But there’s another thing that the Basketball Hall of Fame does with the college game each season — providing lists and an eventual winner for five positional awards — and UA coach Tommy Lloyd has a problem with that this year.

Rarely one to complain about his team or players being left off award or other honors lists, Lloyd redirected his opening comments Monday in Las Vegas to question the 20-player preseason watchlist of the Hall of Fame’s Bob Cousy Award for the top college point guard.

Lloyd had quite the platform to do it, too: Before a nationwide TNT audience earlier that evening, UA point guard Jaden Bradley had 27 points, five assists and two steals while providing steady leadership in the Wildcats’ 93-87 win over the defending national champions … but he wasn’t put on that list.

“The Hall of Fame is awesome, but how in the world do they not have Jaden Bradley one of the top 20 point guards in the country?” Lloyd said. “You guys know, I don’t mess with these lists that much, but JB and I talk about it a little.”

Lloyd added that Bradley “doesn’t take up any extra space in the room that he has to,” which is pretty much always the vibe that Bradley has given off since he arrived at Arizona in 2023 after transferring from Alabama. He typically spends more time talking about teammates than himself.

But inside, as with Lloyd, Bradley does have a competitive streak.

The snub did appear to get to him.

Asked after the postgame press conference if he considered himself one of the nation’s top 20 point guards, Bradley didn’t pause.

“For sure,” he said. “Definitely want to be in that conversation. But it’s no biggie that I’m not on the list. … I just want to see my teammates win and be successful and achieve their dreams.”

That is part of his job as the Wildcats’ veteran point guard. Especially this season, with a team that has seven freshmen, three of whom started against Florida. While UA received monster debuts from forwards Koa Peat (30 points) and Ivan Kharchenkov (12 points, 10 rebounds), a little direction from a veteran point guard didn’t hurt.

Especially Monday, when the Wildcats quickly found themselves down by up to 12 points against the Gators.

“It was just talking to the guys,” Bradley said. “It’s a long game. And it’s assessing my game, too. I had some turnovers early on and I’ve got to clean that up. I’ve just got to break down the film and see where we can adjust so we don’t have any slow starts.”

Although he doesn’t have Caleb Love sharing the backcourt with him this season, Bradley said his role actually is much the same.

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“No difference,” Bradley said. “We’ve got, obviously, got a different team from last year, and people got to take different roles. We’ve got some great freshmen. We got some great leaders. It mixes really well.”

On Monday, the mix was dominated by Bradley, Peat and Kharchenkov, with nobody else scoring in double figures against the Gators. But on Friday against Utah Tech, or Tuesday against NAU or Nov. 14 against UCLA, it could be different.

Maybe wing Anthony Dell’Orso hits four or five 3s. Maybe freshman guard Brayden Burries can’t be stopped driving to the basket, or maybe Tobe Awaka and/or Motiejus Krivas dominate the post.

All of which can happen after a pass or three from Bradley.

“The thing about basketball is you’ve just got to be ready for your moment, your time,” Bradley said. On Monday, “It was Koa, Ivan and myself. Next game, it’s probably Brayden, Delly, Tobe, Mo. You just got to be ready for your night and be happy for your teammates’ success.”

But Monday’s formula might not have been totally random. All three standouts had plenty of material for motivation.

While Peat arrived at Arizona as a well-known five-star recruit, he hasn’t been getting the preseason hype that freshmen such as Kansas’ Darryn Peterson and BYU’s AJ Dybantsa have been.

Even fewer discussions of top college freshmen have included Kharchenkov, despite the fact that he was playing in Germany’s top pro league last season and had to be bought out of a three-year deal with Bayern Munich just to get to Tucson.

And there was Bradley, the guy who didn’t make the Cousy list.

“Definitely a little bit of extra motivation,” Bradley said. “But that’s what basketball is for. Any motivation you can find, whatever you got going on in life, that’s big for the game. It pushes me.”

Maybe it will push Bradley to make the midseason watch list for the Cousy Award, for which a panel of voters can add or subtract anyone. Or maybe he goes beyond that.

Already, Bradley was one of the 50 players named to the watchlist for the Oscar Robinson Award, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s honor for top overall college player.

Even if that sort of stuff is not his only priority.

“He’s always leaving room for his teammates to be special, and at the end of the day, he’s just a get-it-done type of guy,” Lloyd said. “I know there’s add-ons to that list. But if there’s any way this guy’s not one of the top two or three point guards in the country, I mean... I’ve been doing this for a while, and they don’t make them much better than this.”