SAN FRANCISCO — In the seven months since he took over the Arizona men’s basketball program, Tommy Lloyd has consistently radiated an easygoing and upbeat approach to everyone around him.
“He comes to practices with smile every day,” forward Azuolas Tubelis says.
Except when the Pac-12 held its annual preseason media day at the conference’s headquarters Wednesday, revealing the Wildcats as a pick to finish in a fourth-place tie, Lloyd was just a little bit less enthusiastic.
Sure, he smiled. Lloyd spoke about becoming of a first-time head coach, the challenge of being in a Pac-12 instead of West Coast Conference schedule, his international recruiting strengths, while cracking a few jokes.
But he also made it clear he’d rather be someplace else than talking to media folks all day. Like maybe spending the day at the Richard Jefferson Gym, or McKale Center.
“Not even close,” Lloyd said, chuckling, during a brief interview after a lunch break in the festivities. “Don’t take offense.”
No coach has a choice, of course. Each Pac-12 coach and two of their key players went through the usual “car wash” of media day responsibilities — the on-set Pac-12 Networks interviews, the radio interviews, the filming of promos for in-season commercials and public service announcements, the posing for still photographs, and the main stage interviews with media from around the conference footprint.
Lloyd went through all of it, but the flight home couldn’t happen fast enough.
“I don’t love to hear myself talk,” Lloyd said. “I think this time of year, you’re so focused on your team, and what’s coming ahead as a coach, you want to get back and just work on getting your team ready for a season. I get that it’s important to come and do these things, but it’s not my favorite.”
As it was, Wednesday’s media day interrupted what was only the third week of practice for the Wildcats under Lloyd, who has brought in a more fluid offensive system from his two decades as a Gonzaga assistant coach. The Wildcats have held their annual Red-Blue Game as well as other officiated intrasquad scrimmages, and they’ll face St. Mary’s in a closed scrimmage on Oct. 23.
Things get even more hectic after that. The Wildcats will at least face Wichita State, Illinois, Tennessee in nonconference play, on top of early conference games against Colorado and Oregon State, then open the 18-game portion of league play in the toughest possible fashion — with a trip to Los Angeles over New Year’s to face UCLA and USC.
It’ll be a different challenge than Lloyd faced at Gonzaga, where the nonconference schedule was cranked up annually to offset the low-rated opponents of the WCC.
But that’s way ahead of where Lloyd’s eyes were Thursday.
“I’ve really focused on us at this point,” he said. “Once we get to the non-conference season, we’ll be evaluating ourselves constantly and then we’ll watch what’s coming down the pipe.
“I’m really looking forward to the journey, what it’s going to be like to be playing in the Pac 12, where every game is going to be a battle. I’m not going into any crazy preconceived notions like I have all the answers. I’m just looking forward to experiencing it.”
If Thursday’s official Pac-12 preseason media poll holds up, Lloyd and the Wildcats will get through it well enough.
The Wildcats were picked to finish in a fourth-place tie with Oregon State, while UCLA was a near-unanimous pick to finish first, Oregon was picked second and USC was picked third.
Considering the Pac-12 put four teams in the Sweet 16 last season, and could put half its teams in the tournament this season, that’s a sign that Lloyd and the Wildcats are commanding some respect.
Even if Lloyd wasn’t comfortable with saying that sort of stuff, either.
“I’m not gonna act like I know,” Lloyd said. “This is my first year in the league and I’m taking everything with a grain of salt, to be honest with you. Nothing personal, but I’m not reading into anything.
“And, hey, listen: Arizona is a great program. I think it has built-in respect. And we have some good returning players. But like all teams, especially with a new coaching staff, we’ve got to put everything together.”
Tubelis wasn’t worried about that. Tubelis and Mathurin, who were both given preseason all-league honors, joined Lloyd at the media day, expressing confidence that the Wildcats might even be better than fourth-place.
“We’re picked fourth, so that means we need to prove something,” Tubelis said. “If we would have been picked first, we don’t need to prove anything but I think it’s right. And we can do more. More than in fourth place. I can say that you will see. Just watch us.”
Of course, the team picked first was UCLA. The Bruins return nearly everyone from their stunning First Four-to-Final Four run from last season while adding rim-protecting Rutgers transfer Myles Johnson and five-star freshman forward Payton Watson.
The Bruins’ experience and talent is so convincing that even coach Mick Cronin wasn’t trying to downplay it.
“Our starting point is just different,” Cronin said. “Hopefully your endpoint is further down the line as well. It’s a definite advantage having all these guys back.”
Oregon lost guard Chris Duarte and matchup nightmare Eugene Omoruyi, but coach Dana Altman reeled in his usual transfer portal haul to make up the difference, with transfers Jacob Young (Rutgers), forward Quincy Guerrier (Syracuse) and guard De’Vion Harmon (Oklahoma) joining five-star center Nate Bittle.
That means the Ducks may struggle early but they’ll be a major factor, as they usually are, in the conference race by February.
“You know, we’re moving along kind of slow now,” coach Dana Altman said. “I know they’re frustrated because we’re not moving quicker, especially the veterans who have a pretty good idea of what we’re doing.
“But I think if we keep working at it, we have a chance to be OK.”
Despite losing Evan Mobley, USC actually returns a deep and experienced roster that generated a pick for third place, while Oregon State pulled into the tie for fourth with Arizona.
That meant the Beavers, who made a run all the way to the NCAA Elite Eight despite finishing in a sixth-place tie last season, won’t be sneaking up on anybody.
A year ago, they made T-shirts noting how they were picked to finish 12th in the Pac-12, then reached the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight.
“I promise, it wasn’t us,” OSU coach Wayne Tinkle said. “It wasn’t supposed to be this big rally cry. It was just kind of an internal deal that got blown up.
“But I don’t know. Maybe you guys were tired of hearing that and said `OK, let’s pick them high and see how they handle that.’ ”
At the other end of the respect spectrum was Cal, picked to finish last despite a veteran roster, and Washington State, which was picked eighth despite having upgraded its talent level dramatically in coach Kyle Smith’s three seasons.
“We don’t invest too much in that,” Smith said. “But I do feel like we were competitive last year, I think we have experience in the frontcourt and the addition of some impactful players in the backcourt.
“We’ll see how it comes together. The league is good, man. But winter’s coming. That’s our thing. Come on up to Pullman.”
Rim shots
Lloyd said he’s hoping guard Pelle Larsson can return soon after surgery to repair a broken foot in August. “He’s around, he’s functioning but he’s not on the court for practice full time yet,” Lloyd said.
Pac-12 deputy commissioner Jamie Zaninovich said the conference will soon be promoting fixed and contingent matchups (in multiple-team events) with its new alliance partners, the Big Ten and ACC, while also working to create midseason alliance tournaments and encouraging teams to flesh out nonconference schedules with alliance partners when possible.
