By the time the Arizona Wildcats finished sliding off their chartered boat and into the Pacific Ocean for some Thanksgiving Day snorkeling, their Maui Invitational trophy packed up for the ride home, the weather had turned rainy, windy and slightly cold.
It was time to go back to work.
Except it wasnβt. Because of NCAA rules about mandatory off days and their long trip back Friday, the Wildcats took Thursday and Saturday off and didnβt get in a real practice until Sunday.
βItβs like calculus figuring out when you can practice,β coach Tommy Lloyd said.
The good news for the Wildcats is that, according to guard Courtney Ramey, they all showed up on their own a day after returning from Hawaii.
βI think the whole team was in the gym Saturday at some point in time,β Ramey said, βso it was good to see that, and see how the players werenβt satisfied with the championship.β
It might be easy for the Wildcats to take another day or two off, at least mentally. Not only did they beat Cincinnati, San Diego State and Creighton to win the Maui Invitational title, but on Monday they jumped up to No. 4 in the AP polls. Arizona will face two of the Pac-12βs lower-rated teams to open league play this weekend.
Life has been good to them, so far.
But, during his weekly news conference Tuesday, Lloyd said that βwinning Maui doesnβt mean we start with a 6-0 lead at Utahβ β and he appears to have players who agree.
Ramey, already a veteran of four college basketball seasons at Texas, said he and his new teammates arenβt looking at it that way. A hangover isnβt really an option.
βI think we all kind of understood that we couldnβt just have that linger around, because thatβs not how good teams operate,β Ramey said. βEverybodyβs been doing their part of getting in the gym, getting extra treatment, stuff like that. We talk about (the Maui title), but itβs not our main focus right now. I think our main focus right now is beating a good team in Utah on Thursday.β
Similarly, Ramey said that UAβs rise from No. 14 to No. 4 was something the Wildcats took in stride.
βItβs good to get the recognition, but weβre not satisfied,β Ramey said. βOur ultimate goal is to be No. 1 at the end of the season, and be one the final two teams playing. I think the regular season it matters, but itβs not the ultimate goal for us. Thereβs been teams who werenβt ranked in the Top 25 to make a national championship so weβve got to take that mindset.β
Naturally, those are the kind of words any coach would want to hear. And the way Lloyd spoke about it, Ramey is not only the only UA player thinking that way.
βOur guys understand that thereβs other games on the schedule, and that they havenβt necessarily arrived,β Lloyd said. βI think for the most part our guys have a growth mindset and embrace getting better. So weβre just trying to lock into that.β
βBut, listen, I donβt know whatβs gonna happen when the ball goes up. I donβt know if weβre going to start out sluggish or start out on fire. Weβll have to figure that out and then adjust accordingly.β
Guard Courtney Ramey said the Wildcats all made voluntary trips to the gym on Saturday after returning from Maui.
Utes have Lloydβs βfull attentionβ
Utah won just four Pac-12 games last season and lost its two games against Arizona by an average of 19 points.
Lloyd is bracing for a tougher group this time.
The Utes are 5-2 in coach Craig Smithβs second season. Their losses have come at home to Sam Houston State and to Mississippi State in the Fort Myers Tip-Off.
βI think heβs probably a little more comfortable,β Lloyd said of Smith. βTheyβve got a lot of returning players that are probably more comfortable with what he wants to do and it looks like theyβre off to a pretty good start.
βSam Houston is a really good team that probably no one knows about. So theyβve got my full attention. I donβt think weβre gonna go in there waltzing, believing itβs going to be an easy game. Weβre going in there and understand it could be a possession-by-possession game, and we just got to find a way.β
Arizona center Oumar Ballo shoots over Cincinnati guard Jeremiah Davenport during the first half of their Nov. 21 game. Ballo, the Wildcatsβ 7-foot center, was named MVP of the Maui Invitational.
Big love
Well before Christian Koloko became the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year last season, and before Oumar Ballo became the Maui Invitational MVP, Lloyd had an appreciation for big men.
Lloyd said his system prompts the, to touch the ball often. His bigs even initiate action on the perimeter, while guards are also taught how best to pass to them in the post β something the Wildcats did a lot of in Maui.
In Ballo, Lloyd has a fourth-year junior 7-footer who spent two seasons at Gonzaga, one as a redshirt and one as a deep reserve, then became a key reserve last season and is now averaging a double-double over UAβs six games.
βI love playing with big guys and I really value them,β Lloyd said. βSecondly, we spend a lot of time with those guys. When you think of player development, a lot of people really kind of tend to tilt towards the perimeter players β the ball-handling, the shot-making ability, things that maybe are a little more eye-popping. But I really appreciate the value of a good big and the simplicity of how they can play, and playing with power and force.β
