Tommy Lloyd says he's excited, but not nervous, approaching his Arizona coaching debut

For those who have heard, seen or read anything about Tommy Lloyd since Arizona hired him in mid-April, the following announcement probably won’t come as a surprise.

“I've never been a guy that's gotten too nervous about games,” Lloyd said Monday, the day before his first regular-season game as the Wildcats’ head coach. “I mean, I think the game’s at 8:30 tomorrow. I've never found any benefit to getting nervous. If it’s at 8:30, if I’m nervous, why would I want to drive myself crazy for 36 hours?”

At the same time, that doesn’t mean Lloyd isn’t dead serious about coaching the Wildcats or winning games. “I’m excited,” he said.

The way Lloyd explained it, it’s just that it’s all part of an introductory process that included intrasquad scrimmages, a closed scrimmage against Saint Mary’s on Oct. 23 and an exhibition game against Eastern New Mexico on Nov. 1.

“This is the first real game, I guess, but I’m not approaching it any differently,” Lloyd said. “But I love games on any game day. Games are a big reason why you do these jobs. So I'm excited to go out and see where our guys are at. And wherever we're at, we'll attack where we need to go moving forward.”

Apparently the circle around him is pretty chill, too. Asked if he was getting any good luck wishes from friends, family or coaching peers, Lloyd shrugged.

“You know what’s funny about that? Not really,” Lloyd said. “Right now it’s the old coaching (adage) that everybody has their own problems they’re dealing with. My coaching friends are probably worried about what they have going (Tuesday), which is all right.”

Chances are, Lloyd will look cool-headed in his head coaching debut, too. Lloyd and his staffers wore polo shirts and sneakers for their Nov. 1 exhibition game against Eastern New Mexico in the sort of look that became popular during fan-free pandemic games last season, with former UA coach Sean Miller wearing a windbreaker for games in 2020-21.

The casual look may stick around this season on many staffs throughout college basketball, and certainly with Lloyd’s.

“I've always wondered why we wore suits, but you didn't want to be that guy standing out,” Lloyd said. “Now it's a little more acceptable" to avoid them.

Lloyd said his staff will again wear polos for the opener, though he said he prefers a long-sleeve, quarter-zip pullover — and took a playful shot at equipment manager Brian Brigger for not producing some yet.

“They call him EMOY, right, but I don’t know if he’s EMOY right now because we don’t have any long-sleeved pullovers,” Lloyd said jokingly, referring to the unofficial “Equipment Manager of the Year” tag that fellow staffers bestowed on Brigger years ago. “I feel like I’m gonna be coaching naked tomorrow coaching in a polo. I prefer to have a long sleeve because sometimes it gets a little cold on the bench.”

Regardless of what Lloyd says, thinks or wears, though, this much is true: He’ll be the 17th person ever to lead the Wildcats as a head coach in a regular-season game Tuesday, and he’ll be a head coach in a college basketball game for the first time in his life.

Of course, NAU coach Shane Burcar said, Lloyd probably could have been a head coach a lot earlier in his career, instead of spending 20 seasons with Gonzaga as an assistant.

“I give Mr. Heeke (UA athletic director Dave Heeke) a lot of credit — they say (Lloyd) was an assistant but let’s not forget he turned down a lot of big-time jobs and the one that he wanted finally opened up," Burcar said.

“Since he got the job, we’ve talked several times and I have all the respect for him in the world with his loyalty to Gonzaga’s program and I have all the respect in the world for Sean Miller, too. I always said Sean’s a man’s man, a coach’s coach. I think Arizona is a great spot to keep things rolling.”

Larsson likely to play

Lloyd said he expects sophomore guard Pelle Larsson to play Tuesday against NAU, after the transfer from Utah missed much of the preseason with a broken foot.

Larsson returned to full practice drills after UA's Oct. 23 scrimmage against Saint Mary's but did not play in the Wildcats' Nov. 1 exhibition for precautionary reasons. UA continues to be moving him along slowly after he underwent surgery in August.

"He's practiced a little bit the last couple days and obviously it's a day to day thing at this point, nothing crazy," Lloyd said. "He's on a little bit of a time limitation and we're playing the long game with it.

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"I would expect him to play. I don't know exactly what that looks like yet minutes wise. He's still getting back in practice. It's not like he stepped back and practice and he's 120% the player was last year at this point. He's still kind of working his way back on all facets — physically, skill-wise, timing-wise — all those things are taking a little bit of time."

Sophomore guard Dalen Terry, the player UA made available for Monday's news conference, wasn't as hesitant in his assessment.

"He's looking real good to me," Terry said. "And I remember playing against him at Utah. He's better than he was last year."

While Larsson is expected to eventually challenge for a starting guard spot, Lloyd said he didn’t see any reason to change his starting lineup from the group that started against Eastern New Mexico: Terry and Bennedict Mathurin on the wings, Kerr Kriisa at point guard, Azuolas Tubelis at power forward and Christian Koloko at center.

Guard Justin Kier, forward Kim Aiken, center Oumar Ballo and Larsson are expected to be the top reserves off the bench, with freshman wings Adama Bal and Shane Nowell likely playing more limited roles.

Lloyd said he hoped to play his “top 10 or 11 guys” in the opener if possible.

“We’ll have to see how the game plays out,” Lloyd said. “I think they can all contribute and I think it’s important early in the year to give guys opportunities to contribute, to have a successful moment or make a mistake, because those are great things to learn from.

“These kids work really hard and you want to make sure that they're bought in and you're not crushing their spirit on day one.”

Wildcats offer four-star 2023 guard

Dusty Stromer, a four-star guard in the class of 2023 from Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California, announced via Instagram that he received a scholarship offer from Arizona.

The Wildcats so far have been known to have offered scholarships to only three other players in the 2023 class: AZ Compass Prep point guard Kylan Boswell, who played with Stromer on Peach-Jam-winning Team Why Not 16U team last summer; five-star forward Mookie Cook of Oregon and AZ Compass Prep; and Chicago-area forward Matas Buzelis, who has Lithuanian roots.

Noting that Stromer did not play high school ball last season while he trained during COVID restrictions, Los Angeles Times reporter Eric Sondheimer called Stromer a “breakout player for 2021-22" who has grown to 6-6 and become more versatile.

With class of 2022 domestic players, the Wildcats have also offered only four scholarships: To Forward Dylan Anderson of Gilbert Perry, guard Jaden Bradley of Rochester, N.Y., guard Shaedon Sharpe of London, Ontario and Collin Chandler of Farmington, Utah.

Anderson committed to the Wildcats in April and is expected to sign a letter-of-intent at Perry on Wednesday, the first day of the fall signing period. Sharpe committed to Kentucky and Bradley to Alabama while Arizona is no longer recruiting Chandler, who is believed to be a Utah lean.

In part because the Wildcats could have future scholarship restrictions stemming from NCAA sanctions, and because only Kier is the only current player who will run out of eligibility next spring, Lloyd said he has aimed to be careful adding players. The spring transfer portal promises another chance to add numbers if needed.

“What I don't want to do is get greedy and bring in some things that might mess up our where we're at and our chemistry,” Lloyd said. “I want to be really conscientious about the pieces we're adding.”

Sean and Archie Miller to podcast

Former UA coach Sean Miller and brother Archie will host a weekly podcast called "Next Play, with the Miller Brothers" and be a regular part of the Field of 68’s "After Dark," a nightly streaming program about college basketball.

Sean Miller has mostly stayed out of the public eye since UA fired him on April 7 after 12 seasons with the Wildcats, while Archie Miller was fired in March at Indiana after four seasons with the Hoosiers. The brothers were together at UA in 2009-10 and 2010-11, with Archie as UA's associate head coach before Dayton made him its head coach in 2011-12.

“Sean and Archie Miller are both moving on,” read a description of “Next Play” on Spotify. “ For the first time in their professional lives, neither are coaching this season, which makes this the perfect time for them to launch a podcast. 'Next Play' is a coaching mantra. You have to forget about what happened on the last possession and move on to the next one. That's what Sean and Archie Miller are doing, and this podcast will be that journey."