By the time Tommy Lloyd was named Arizona’s new coach Wednesday, Dylan Anderson didn’t even really have a decision left to make.
The best of his recruitment worlds had already collided.
According to his father, Rob, the versatile four-star junior big man at Gilbert Perry High School has been intrigued with the success of nearby Arizona and its big men since then-coach Sean Miller offered him a scholarship as an eighth-grader … and yet he has lately had Gonzaga on the top of his list thanks in large part to Lloyd’s recruitment efforts.
So, boom. Anderson became Lloyd’s first-ever commit for Arizona on Friday, scheduled to play for the Wildcats in 2022-23.
“It was an absolute win-win for the family — Dylan gets to stay home and represent Arizona,” Rob Anderson said. “We love everything Tommy Lloyd is about, and he has a 20-year proven history at Gonzaga. For us, it couldn’t be a better situation.”
When Rob Anderson says “family,” he apparently means it, too. At 9:12 a.m., Dylan Anderson posted a tweet saying “I am excited to announce I will be taking my game to the next level at the University of Arizona to play for Coach Tommy Lloyd.”
Then Anderson went back to class. And, later in the afternoon, he couldn’t be reached for comment, either, because, well, Rob said “Grandma took him out to celebrate.”
Rob said the family had begun anticipating the possibility Anderson might want to become a Wildcat as soon as speculation grew heavy a week ago that Lloyd would get the job.
Rob Anderson said he did not have communication with Lloyd while UA was conducting interviews, but the family did plenty of preliminary discussion on its own.
“We had a week to think about this,” Rob Anderson said. “This was not a rushed decision. So after multiple discussions with the family, and then once it was made official on Tuesday it was an easy decision for us.”
While coaches can’t discuss commitments until their letters-of-intent are received, the quick move made sense for Lloyd, too.
The commitment gives Lloyd a quick splash in the recruiting world, as well as an intriguing prospect for the 2022-23 season. Not only is Anderson a true 7-footer, according to his dad, but Perry coach Sam Duane says he can score from all ranges on the floor.
“We play five-out with him because he can stretch the floor,” Duane said. “We’ll go pick and rolls with him, then we will run some sets, we kind of we move him all over. We don’t pigeonhole him to the post.
“This year, he’s really expanded into getting the rebound and bringing it. He’ll spot up for 3s, we’ll run him off pick and pops, we’ll post him when we can, we kind of put him at all three levels and give him freedom.”
One other thing is noteworthy about Anderson’s game: That it still happens in a Perry High School uniform.
Rob Anderson, a youth club coach who works daily with his son, said he gets regular calls from prep basketball factories trying to recruit his son. But he’s said the college coaches who have been recruiting Dylan told him sticking with the normal high school experience wouldn’t hurt, and that his son doesn’t really want to leave anyway.
Nor do his friends, apparently.
“He likes it at Perry, and I think our guys like him,” Duane said. “He’s really well liked around Perry because he has high character. He’s a good basketball player and his best basketball is to come but he’s an even a better person.”
Akinjo enters portal
Even if junior guard James Akinjo decides to return to school from the NBA Draft pool, that school might not be Arizona.
Akinjo entered the transfer portal on Friday, giving him a second option for next season after he made the all-Pac-12 first team last season. He averaged 15.6 points and 5.4 assists while shooting 40.8% from 3-point range and logging by far a team-high 34.9 minutes.
A product of California’s East Bay, Akinjo transferred to Arizona from Georgetown in January 2020 after playing just over a year for the Hoyas. He was the Big East’s Freshman of the Year in 2018-19.
Murphy might stay
While Lloyd has yet to announce any of his new assistants, the fact that associate head coach Jack Murphy continued to recruit Anderson might be one sign he could remain with the Wildcats.
Murphy also has an international recruiting background, like Lloyd, and the two have known each other for years. Murphy was also NAU’s head coach for seven seasons.
During his introductory news conference Thursday, Lloyd said his staff would “definitely have some Arizona flavor on it for sure” when it is finalized.
“Anybody who’s been in the coaching business as long as I have, you have relationships,” Lloyd said. “So I’ve definitely talked to a few people that I’d love to be on my staff.
“But I haven’t overloaded my staff because I want to get my feet on the ground here and get to know people. And I think it’s really important to have Arizona ties within my staff.”
Lloyd will have a $1.05 million salary pool for his three full-time assistants, plus $285,000 for other basketball-related staff such as operations, on-campus recruiting and analytics.
Arizona’s assistant coaches collectively made $890,000 last season, with Murphy at $335,000, Jason Terry at $280,000 and Danny Peters at $275,000. Both Peters and Terry have contracts through April 2022 that say they will be paid the same amount next season, minus any salary they make next season if employed in “the same field.”
Simpson in limbo
Not only are all three of Arizona’s fall signees in doubt, but Chaminade High School coach Bryan Cantwell said a lack of communication has made things tough for his star guard, K.J. Simpson.
Simpson has been expected to get a release from his Arizona letter of intent since Miller was fired last week and at least consider going elsewhere, but Cantwell said he hasn’t even been able to do that so far. Cantwell said the family has spoken with Peters, but not any administrators.
“We need someone from the school to tell us what’s going on,” Cantwell said, not referring to Lloyd, who wasn’t hired yet when Simpson began considering a decommitment. “That’s what the family is waiting for. It’s weird to me that no one for the school, no one contacted K.J. to see how everything’s going and to say what the process is. No one has called us back.
“There was great communication with Coach Peters and Coach Miller and then no communication.”
