Other branches of the Gonzaga coaching tree were bound to snap back at Tommy Lloyd sometime in NCAA Tournament play, and the Arizona coach could have been set up for an even more awkward fate Sunday.
While the Wildcats picked up their expected No. 2 NCAA Tournament seed in the West Region, their opener Thursday against No. 15 Long Beach State will force Lloyd to face the coach who first hired Lloyd at Gonzaga, Dan Monson.
But Arizona didn’t line up with Gonzaga or Boise State, two other teams led by Zag-blooded coaches that have been put in a projected West Region tournament pod together.
Gonzaga’s “Mark Few and (Boise’s) Leon Rice and I were all together at Gonzaga at the same time, and I was just hoping that wouldn’t happen,” Lloyd said. “Thank goodness that didn’t happen.”
But the assignment still put Lloyd in a somewhat awkward position. Monson was fired last week at Long Beach State before the 49ers (21-14) romped through the Big West Tournament to pick up an automatic NCAA Tournament bid, meaning an Arizona win would end the Long Beach State career of the guy who opened the door to a coaching career for Lloyd.
Monson first agreed to hire Lloyd as a graduate assistant in 1998 before Lloyd took a year off to play basketball and travel, returning later after Monson had taken the Minnesota job while Few was promoted at Gonzaga.
But despite all that history and what still is a strong friendship between them, Lloyd indicated business is also at stake.
“I’ve got a job. And my job is to lead the Arizona basketball program,” Lloyd said. “So that’s where 100% of my effort and energy is. And he has a job, even though he doesn’t maybe going forward there. But he’s going to coach again somewhere — and I’m sure they’re going to use it as a rallying point for their program to see if they can play one more.”
There’s plenty of work for Lloyd to do, too. Not only do the Wildcats have something to prove after losing to 15th-seeded Princeton in the first round of last season’s NCAA Tournament, but they have also lost two of their past three games, struggling notably on offense against the zone defenses of USC and Oregon.
Arizona lost 78-65 at USC on March 9, then beat the Trojans 70-49 in the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinals before losing 67-59 to Oregon in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals on Friday, with its perimeter players all playing under their shooting and ballhandling averages.
Moreover, a photo that appeared to be point guard Kylan Boswell sitting at a gambling table surfaced on social media Friday, when Boswell shot 1 for 6 against the Ducks. Boswell is only 18 and it is a misdemeanor in Nevada to gamble while under age 21.
“We’re aware of it; we’ve handled it internally,” Lloyd said when asked if he was aware of the photo. “That’s all I gotta say about that. We’ve got a strong culture. I’d say we’re not perfect, but we love Kylan, and I have no worries.”
Boswell averaged just 3.7 points over the Wildcats’ last three games while shooting 4 for 23 from the field, including 1 for 10 from 3-point range — and he his nine turnovers have been accompanied by six turnovers.
The Wildcats’ Pac-12 Player of the Year, Caleb Love, has also been in a shooting funk, averaging just 7.3 points over the three games while shooting a collective 4 for 18 from 3-point range. He also has 11 turnovers, outweighing his seven assists.
“He just didn’t play well,” Lloyd said. “He’s had a great season, but just didn’t play well, the last couple games, and we can’t overthink it. We don’t need to make a mountain out of a molehill. He’s a great basketball player. He just needs to get out there and play well on Thursday.”
But the upside of their loss to Oregon is that the Wildcats will be more rested with all that work ahead. Lloyd said it made a big difference to return from Las Vegas on Saturday afternoon instead of having to return in the early morning hours on Sunday after winning the previous two Pac-12 Tournaments.
What they do with all that time will be clear on Thursday.
“I feel good. I feel good,” Lloyd said. “I think we’re well rested. We’re definitely healthier than we were last year. I think we’re ready to be in attack mode. We’re ready to have a good week of preparation, go out and play a good Long Beach State team and let it happen.”
If the Wildcats (25-8) beat Long Beach State, they would face the winner of another first-round game between Dayton and Nevada on Saturday in Salt Lake City. The winner of their four-team pod will advance to the West Region semifinals (Sweet 16) in Los Angeles.
While the Wildcats slipped from the No. 1 Tournament seed they were assigned as of Feb. 17 during the NCAA’s early seeding reveal, UConn (South), Purdue (Midwest), Houston (South) and North Carolina (West) were given the No. 1 seeds.
That meant that Love would face his former team in the West Region finals (Elite Eight) if both Arizona and UNC win their first three NCAA Tournament games.
Meanwhile, the Pac-12 wound up getting four teams in the field for the final tournament as it is presently constructed.
After Oregon beat Arizona on Friday and then Colorado on Saturday in the final of the Pac-12 Tournament, the Ducks took the conference’s automatic bid and were given a No. 12 seed. Washington State was given a No. 7 seed and Colorado was assigned to a First Four play-in game against Boise State.
Former Arizona Wildcats men's basketball player and longtime Major League Baseball legend Kenny Lofton saw his name placed in the UA basketball Ring of Honor at McKale Center Saturday, March 2, 2024, during a UA blowout win over Oregon. (Courtesy Arizona Athletics)
