STANFORD, Calif. β Nearly 35 years after he left Arizona to begin collecting championship rings around the NBA as a player and coach, Steve Kerr still canβt ignore his Wildcat basketball roots even if he wanted to.
βWeβre like a cult,β Kerr said at a UA Foundation event Friday night, noting that former Wildcat star Damon Stoudamire βcalls our group β88.β Weβll walk into an alumni event, and Damon will say `88 is here.β And thereβs β92.β Thereβs all these groups. But we are really connected.β
While Kerr may be known for helping the Wildcats reach the 1988 Final Four, and Stoudamire for doing the same in 1994, the Wildcat cult actually took in an outsider sometime after April 2021.
That was when Tommy Lloyd, Whitman College class of 1998, became Arizonaβs head coach.
Kerr told the group of Bay Area UA alums and supporters Friday that he and the Golden State Warriors staff, which includes another β88β member in Bruce Fraser, reached out to Lloyd. They also invited him to hang out after a Warriors game that UA players took in last season, when the Wildcats had two days between games against Stanford and Cal.
The coaches hit it off, apparently.
βThe best compliment I can give to Tommy is that β¦ after we got to know Tommy a little bit, (Fraser) said, `You know what? The thing about Tommy is heβs one of us. Heβs one of us.β And we arenβt an easy group to (mesh into),β Kerr said, drawing laughter.
βWhat I mean by that is that heβs just humble. Heβs just a guy who wants to win and be part of it. Last year, his whole staff came into my office and they all came to a Warriors game. We sat there for two hours after our game and drank beers. I mean, this is what itβs about. β¦
βItβs this connection that we have to our school that just is never going to leave us. Itβs in our blood. So when we can have that connection through a coach who feels like one of us, it makes it extra special. Weβre really lucky to have this guy. Heβs a great coach and a better person.β
Sitting next to Kerr at the event, before rushing off to hold a film session, Lloyd indicated he was grateful for the relationship. Lloyd and Kerr not only both have easygoing personalities that deploy self-deprecating humor but also run similarly free-flowing styles of offense.
On and off the court β and sometimes when those two areas fuse together β they found a common philosophy.
βSteve and I share a lot of similarities in how we approach the game,β said Lloyd, whose team faced off against Stanford on Saturday night. βOne discussion was βkind of the art versus science of coaching β and I like the science part, the Xs and Os and stuff β but the beauty is in the art.
βSteve told me one time that βthe angle of your backscreens doesnβt matter but how (players) feel about you does.β Itβs so true in coaching β how your players feel about you and how you feel about them is what makes coaching special.β
One other thing they have in common: Both were known for their shooting.
At least on different levels.
When emcee Reggie Geary asked Lloyd about being known as βTommy Gunβ as a player, Lloyd cracked that he was really only a βbroke manβs Steve Kerr.β
Tough memories
While Kerr is known at Arizona as the on-court engineer behind then-coach Lute Olsonβs early successes, including going to that 1988 Final Four, he said Friday he still canβt get away from the Wildcatsβ loss in that Final Four semifinal.
Kerr shot 57.3% from 3-point line that season, the first that 3-pointers were a part of college basketball, but hit just 2 of 12 against Oklahoma in the national semifinals. UA lost, 86-78.
βThat was a dream season. Nightmare Final Four,β Kerr said. βIβm still having nightmares about that last game, believe it or not. I still think about that game in 1988. It is insane. I mean, my wife tells me, `You know, maybe you should move on.β
βWe should have won it all. We didnβt. But thatβs the nature of the tournament. Making it to the Final Four was incredible.β
UA player relations director Jason Gardner, sitting in on the chat as a standout from the Wildcatsβ 2001 Final Four team, shared his own tough tournament memory. In the NCAA championship game that season, Gardner famously did not draw a first-half foul on Dukeβs Jason Williams despite the fact that Williams basically rode on his back.
Williams had two fouls at the time, so a third would have likely sent him to the bench and limited minutes thereafter. But Williams was able to finish the game with four, scoring 16 points in Dukeβs 82-72 win.
βIt was a foul. The ref told me I should have stood up to get the foul,β Gardner said. βEvery day I think about that foul.β
And just in case Gardner ever doesnβt, others will keep it in his head.
During NCAA Tournaments βmy Twitter feed is blowing up from just the foul and a pictureβ of Williams on his back, Gardner said. βSo it kind of never goes away. But that was a great memory to be there. Itβs hard to get there.β
It was a story that is now effectively pinned to the β01β faction of the Wildcat cult.
βWeβre still in the group chat,β Gardner said. βRichard Jefferson and Gilbert Arenas, even today, theyβre on their podcast going back and forth about the game still.β
Home away from home
By now, Cedric Henderson has gotten used to loud, five-figure crowds at McKale Center enveloping him.
But the grad transfer from Campbell experienced something else all together this weekend β that the Wildcats also have pretty strong support at both Cal and Stanford, despite the fact that both schools are roughly 700 miles from Tucson.
On Thursday at Cal, at least a third of the fans in attendance appeared to be cheering for the Wildcats.
βItβs actually amazing,β Henderson said. βYouβre on the road, youβre at a place thatβs not near home. And you have just as many fans as the home team does? Itβs just like, `Wow.β Itβs just a different atmosphere.β
Kriisa had strep
Maybe it helped rest of the Arizona Wildcats in avoiding significant sickness this week that guard Kerr Kriisa isolated and began taking antibiotics Monday for strep throat.
Kriisa missed the Wildcatsβ practices on Monday and Tuesday, then practiced in limited form Wednesday before playing 28 minutes on Thursday at Cal.
βHe stepped away for a few days trying to recover and get his weight and strength back,β UA athletic trainer Justin Kokoskie said before the Stanford game.
Kriisa had eight assists against Cal but was 0 for 7 from the field.
βHe didnβt have his normal energy,β Kokoskie said.