Arizona's Tommy Lloyd says loss to Princeton will keep driving him 'the rest of my career'

After telling the McKale Center crowd during the Red-Blue Showcase that the Wildcats’ first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Princeton last season would ultimately become a “gift” to aid his coaching, Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd expounded on the thought Monday.

Lloyd told Arizona supporters at a UA Arthritis Center fundraiser Monday evening that he felt bad for them after the loss “because I know the joy it brings you that time of year when we play well – but also made it clear again that he expected there would be a long-term payoff.

“I'm not gonna say it every day, because I'm gonna be sick of saying it, but I honestly feel like when we lost in Princeton” it would help, Lloyd said. “My first thought was, `I have to increase our margin for error. I have to.' So I roll my sleeves up, and I'm figuring out ways so when we get to those games, I'm gonna make sure that we're not slicing it so thin.

“It’s been awesome. That Princeton game is going to be a gift. It's going to be a gift that, hopefully for the rest of my career, I'll always remember and always build from it. It’ll be a great reminder that this stuff ain't easy, and I've never asked for it to be easy."

Lloyd said he realized that a No. 2 seed, as Arizona was last season, has lost to a No. 15 just 11 times in NCAA Tournament history.

“I’m one of the 11, and it’s a pretty awesome list,” Lloyd told the crowd at the fundraiser. “Lute Olson, Mike Krzyzewski, guys like that are on it too. So we’re moving forward and I’m excited. No promises this year but I think you guys are gonna like what you see. We’ve got a high energy group, we’ve got great size, we’ve got depth at every position. We have some really nice transfers, and there's some really good young players.”

Other notes from Lloyd, who went on a spring recruiting hunt to fill out a roster with seven new players:

• Guard Kylan Boswell — brace for it, folks — might still be the youngest player on the roster (after media noted repeatedly last season that he was the youngest in Division I at 17).

“He should be a freshman now. That's the truth. He's ready to take the next steps. And we’ve got a freshman who's been great in practice all summer and on our trip -- KJ Lewis, who has been awesome. I'm so happy for him and how he's going to develop.”

• Of freshman center Motiejus Krivas and forward Paulius Murauskas, Lloyd joked that “we basically traded the Tubelis brothers for two other Lithuanians. I love the Tubelis brothers but we're excited because these two guys I think are gonna really be able to help the team.”

• Of freshman guard Conrad Martinez, whom he has nicknamed “El Jefecito” because of his 6-0 size and confident demeanor: “He's the boss. He's a little hooper. I don't know how much he'll play a freshman but when he gets on the court, you guys are going to be blown away with his speed, quickness, his savvy and his cojones. He’s tough. I love him and he's doing an incredible job in practice.”

• Of his returners, Lloyd said Pelle Larsson was “ready to take the next steps to come into his own and Oumar (Ballo) has really the last couple of weeks reasserted himself as the dominant force we hoped he would be. Then you look at Filip Borovicanin, and he’s made big progress.”

Newcomer Johnson's 'natural leadership ability'

So who’s the leader of the new bunch, a team with seven newcomers? At least in some ways, it might be Keshad Johnson, the grad transfer from San Diego State.

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“He's a really good athlete, a good defender and he’s actually pretty good offensive player too,” Lloyd said. “So I'm sitting down with my office and we're kind of going back and forth and I said, `Hey, you know we’re gonna we have these European kids. We’ve got these guys. And we’ve got that guy and we've got to make sure everything fits together.'

“He honestly told me this and I’ll never forget it: He’s like `Coach, you don't worry about me. I'm water. When I'm around, things blend together.'

“So all right. I like this guy. He's got great natural leadership ability. He's been great.”

UA coach Barnes happy for roster of "good people who work hard"

While joining Lloyd at the event, UA women’s basketball coach Adia Barnes praised one of her veterans — fifth-year guard Helena Pueyo, whom she said turned down a three-year professional contract in order to stay with the Wildcats for a fifth season.

But overall, Barnes has seven new players and said that practices have been uneven so far as a result. She said she didn’t know if the Wildcats would be defined as a great defensive team or good offensive team but, as she did during her team's media day earlier Monday, said she liked their character and grittiness.

“What I do know is we have some really good kids and really good people who work hard and are coachable,” Barnes said. “They’re absorbing everything and I’m just happy for that.”

'Keeping active' to prevent osteoarthritis

Getting the two basketball coaches to speak during a period of full practices and fall recruiting isn’t easy, but UA Arthritis Center director Dr. Kent Kwoh said the center was “fortunate to have a great relationship with the athletic department” over the past 40 years.

Of course there’s also a pretty strong connection between athletics and arthritis in general. The center noted that one of three Arizonans have a form of arthritis and half over age 65 do, while Kwoh said athletes who suffer severe injuries as ACL tears can be particularly prone to develop osteoarthritis.

“Keeping active is important,” Kwoh said. “The key is injury prevention.”