Tommy Lloyd wandered around San Diego the day after the Arizona Wildcats defeated Gonzaga in the second round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament. It didn’t take long for him to realize how rabid Arizona’s fans are.
“Just walking on the street, and everyone was from Arizona,” said Lloyd, who replaced Sean Miller as the UA’s head coach on Wednesday. “And Gonzaga travels, too, but it was just a different level and I’ve always respected that. I want to embrace it.”
Arizona fans travel. Their new basketball leader, Lloyd, does too.
During his time at Gonzaga, the 46-year-old Lloyd developed a reputation for recruiting overseas.
Over 20 years, Lloyd helped the Bulldogs land NBA All-Star Domantas Sabonis (Lithuania), Rui Hachimura (Japan), Przemek Karnowski (Poland), Ronny Turiaf and Killian Tillie (France), Elias Harris (Germany), J.P. Batista (Brazil), Mario Kasun (Croatia) and Canadians Kelly Olynyk, Robert Sacre and Kevin Pangos.
Lloyd’s final roster at Gonzaga included players from Russia, Lithuania, France, Canada and Mali. The Bulldogs have a commitment from Chinese-born forward Fanbo Zeng for 2021.
With Lloyd on staff, Gonzaga landed players from every continent except Antarctica. Spurs CEO R.C. Buford told the UA that Lloyd "integrated high school and international players into his recruiting profile better than any assistant in college basketball history."
One of Gonzaga’s international stars, Hachimura, was poached from the Wildcats in 2016. Per Lloyd, Hachimura’s top-two choices were Gonzaga and the UA.
“I saw that kid and said, ‘No way am I letting this kid go anywhere else, because in a couple of years, this kid is going to be special,’” Lloyd said.
And he was.
Hachimura blossomed into the West Coast Conference Player of the Year, a Julius Erving Award recipient for the top small forward in college basketball and the ninth pick of the 2019 NBA draft.
However, he wasn’t a star from the get-go: Hachimura averaged just under five minutes per game his freshman season and came off the bench as a sophomore before developing into Gonzaga’s top player as a junior.
In a world where the transfer portal has evolved into NCAA free agency, Hachimura stuck with the process. That he did speaks to the ability of Gonzaga — and Lloyd — to develop talent, not just identify it.
“I love those stories, and I think there’s a lot of value in developing guys that way and having a nice mixture on your roster with young, high-potential guys that are developing, experienced veterans that have been through the wars, a young talented guy that needs to work with the veterans,” Lloyd said. “So I like having that well-balanced roster to the best of your ability, and it’s a challenge.”
Added Lloyd: “The problem is this: the kids want instant gratification — now and if it doesn’t work, they want it now again. It used to be they wanted instant gratification and if it didn’t work out, well, then they had to hit pause. Whether they have things to figure out themselves or get into a new situation, time is a great teacher.”
Lloyd became fascinated by other countries growing up in small-town Kelso, Washington. His family would host foreign exchange students every year and “started to get exposed to different cultures.”
Lloyd played at Whitman College before spending time as a pro in Australia and Germany. The money he earned playing basketball in Germany was spent on travel for Lloyd and his wife, Chanelle. The couple backpacked through Europe and Africa, and spent time in Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and other countries.
“We were broke. … We were backpacking Europe on $40 a day,” he said.
While in Australia, the Lloyds met a couple who owned a hotel and were offered jobs. Lloyd did everything from checking guests into their rooms to poaching eggs and bartending in the evening. Not the usual around-the-world expedition, “but it was epic,” he said.
“From there, we showed up at Gonzaga,” Lloyd said.
Lloyd put his international experience to use on coach Mark Few’s staff. The Zags “had to go out and think differently to get the level players to compete nationally,” Lloyd said.
“Back when we were building the program, people were like, ‘Ugh, Pac-10, Pac-12 schools are recruiting him; we’re probably not going to get him,’” Lloyd said.
“So in order to get that talent, we had to think differently, and you know what? I got on a plane and went over to Europe and started meeting people, and one relationship led to another. … It’s kind of something that evolved and grew on its own.
“To be honest with you, there was no crazy plan; it’s just getting out there and doing it.”
Arizona began to wade into international waters in recent years, too, and the Wildcats’ 2020-21 roster was its most diverse one ever.
New UA coach Tommy Lloyd says that while he loves coaching foreign-born players, “it’s not realistic to have 13 international players and no Americans.”
Lloyd inherits a roster with five international players: All-Pac-12 Freshman forward Azuolas Tubelis (Lithuania), wing Bennedict Mathurin (Canada), center Christian Koloko (Cameroon), wing Tibet Gorener (Turkey) and forward Tautvilas Tubelis (Lituania).
Estonian guard Kerr Kriisa told ESPN on Wednesday that he would enter the transfer portal, “but I’m still open to returning to Arizona depending on how things shake out.”
Lloyd told the Star on Thursday that recruiting Kriisa to stay at the UA is “at the top of my list, as the other guys are.”
“I look forward to sitting down with him and getting on the same page,” he said.
Although Arizona’s current roster is enticing for a coach like Lloyd, focusing solely on overseas recruiting is “probably not a good formula,” he said.
For every Deandre Ayton and Lauri Markkanen, there have been dozens of players from Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Portland and Phoenix.
“I love coaching international players, but I also understand it’s not realistic to have 13 international players and no Americans,” Lloyd said.
“My job is to get the best fit, highest character, most talented guy for our team, and you always have to have that formula. Whether that’s an international guy, a transfer, a junior-college kid, I don’t know.
“But we’re going to fish in all waters, trust me, and we’re going to find the best kids for the University of Arizona no matter if they have a name you can’t pronounce or they’re a kid down the street.”
