When he first met Bennedict Mathurin upon taking over the Wildcats last April, Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said the talented Canadian wing noted that he was already halfway through a two-year plan for college.
Mathurin has done nothing to suggest his plan has changed. After becoming the Pac-12 Player of the Year and leading the Wildcats to a 33-4 record and Sweet 16 finish, Mathurin is solidly projected as an NBA lottery pick in June, meaning he'll likely earn at least $3 million next season.
In fact, before Houston beat Arizona 72-60 on Thursday, Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said Mathurin was “going to get drafted so high that they're going to start him” and, when asked about that comment later, Lloyd responded, “I'll let his coach make that decision next year.”
Mathurin’s decision is not in doubt. The Wildcats also have three other players who have generated the sort of NBA Draft buzz that often prompts an early departure from school.
ESPN’s latest mock draft earlier this week listed Christian Koloko at No. 37 and Dalen Terry at 46; Azuolas Tubelis was listed at No. 53 before being dropped from the most recent list.
Koloko was even projected to go in the first round — where seven-figure, two year contracts are guaranteed — by both The Ringer (22) and NBADraft.net (25).
Since all still have college eligibility, they can declare definitively; declare while keeping the option open to return; or decide they will stay. In the immediate wake of a season-ending 72-60 loss to Houston on Thursday, Mathurin, Koloko and Terry all declined to discuss which direction they might go. (Tubelis was unavailable for comment).
"We're not thinking about that right now. We just lost a game," Terry said. "We're just going to get back to Tucson and relax for a little bit and get back in the gym."
Asked what was next for him, Mathurin said pretty much the same thing.
"Next thing for me is to get in the gym and get better," he said. "Whatever the future has for me has for me. That's basically it."
Mathurin already made the sort of improvement that moved him up from a possible first-round pick last June to a projected lottery pick this season. He finished the season averaging 17.7 points while shooting 45% from the field, including 36.9% from 3-point range while also averaging 5.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists.
"Mathurin made a big jump as a sophomore," ESPN’s Jonathan Givony wrote earlier this week. "He fits an obvious mold as a strong-framed, 6-foot-6 wing who can space the floor from well beyond the 3-point line, shoot running screens or pulling up off the dribble, and finish explosively in the open floor."
As much as Lloyd might have tried to take pressure off him, Mathurin also plowed through the increased expectations and defensive attention he received this season, rebounding from struggles both in November and early in Pac-12 play.
"When I first met with Benn, I told him, 'I think you need to take a breath, slow yourself down here a little bit, and let's make a two-year plan,'" Lloyd said. "He's like, 'I know, I am on a two-year plan. This is the second year.’ I said, 'No, no, no, two years from now,' because I didn't want him to carry the burden this year of feeling like he had to be perfect and play well every game to get to the NBA.
"I said, 'Hey, listen, we can make a two-year plan on development and see how you progress, take a little bit of pressure off you.' If you outperform it, great.
"Obviously, I think he's well on his way to outperforming my two-year plan."
Home-state advantage
If Houston was underseeded at No. 5 in the South Region, the NCAA selection committee may have made up for it by allowing the Cougars to face Arizona just three hours away from its campus despite being the lower-seeded team.
Both teams appeared to have roughly equal numbers of fans inside AT&T Center, and also roughly equal appearances: Both wore predominantly red and sounded almost identical on their “U of H” and “U of A” chants.
However, Houston fans were naturally more vocal because of how the game played out.
"The energy was electric," Houston guard Jamal Shead said. "It was awesome."
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said he noticed the Wildcats enjoyed a significant edge in the crowd in San Diego last Sunday, when Arizona beat TCU in overtime. That apparently reminded him about his days bringing Washington State teams into Tucson.
"People have no idea how hard it is to win at the McKale Center," Sampson said. "I should know. I've never won there. But that's because they've been so good.
"You look at that TCU game, that Arizona crowd had a lot to do with raising their kids' level of play, and I knew the Arizona fans would show up (Thursday) because they're great fans. They have a great program.
"But I was proud of our fans tonight. Our fans are learning. They had no idea when we started winning. They didn't understand what winning was. We had to teach them, and now they're starting to catch on a little bit."
Lloyd ‘excited’ about McKale potential
When asked about the turnout at McKale this season and at the AT&T Center on Thursday, Lloyd said UA has received "great" fan support.
"We obviously have a tremendous fan base," Lloyd said. "It started out a little bit slow, but there's a lot of new things in the program. So we proved it, and once we started proving it, they came out. They really supported us.
"I'm excited going forward because I want to build it and make it even better. I want our fan base to be the best in the country, and I think we have the potential to do that. I look forward to rolling up my sleeves this offseason and getting to work on that."
The Wildcats played in front of on-hand crowds that appeared to be around 10,000 most of the early season. They didn’t sell out the 14,644-seat McKale Center until Jan. 29 against ASU.
Arizona forward Azuolas Tubelis tries to get off floater in the lane during Thursday's Sweet 16 loss to Houston in San Antonio.
’Zu tamed
An all-Pac-12 first-team pick, Tubelis ended his season on a rough note. He had just two points while missing all eight field goals he took against Houston, after shooting 2 for 7 and scoring only five points on Sunday against TCU.
Tubelis played only 16 of a possible 45 minutes in the Wildcats’ overtime game against TCU. Against Houston, he missed his four field goals in the first half, then helped Arizona nearly dig out of a 34-28 halftime deficit.
Arizona pulled within 37-35 four minutes into the second half after Tubelis drew a foul and hit two free throws, then grabbed a defensive rebound that led to a layup by Pelle Larsson. But Tubelis, and the Wildcats, faded shortly thereafter, cutting the Cougars’ lead to six late in the game but never gaining any sustained momentum.
"He obviously didn't play very good by his standards the last couple games," Lloyd said of Tubelis. "I felt at the start of the second half he was giving us something, and we were kind of able to get him in some different short-roll scenarios. … (but) he had one of those weekends where he couldn't buy a shot.
"I'm looking forward to taking a little bit of a rest for myself and for him and getting back in the gym with ’Zu. I think he's got a huge jump coming in his near future."
