While Carter Bryant weighs NBA stay-or-go decision, Arizona has to strategize

For high-major college basketball coaches who routinely spin off players to the NBA Draft, a trick question often awaits toward the end of roster-building season every spring.

Do you recruit a replacement for somebody testing the NBA Draft, or wait until he decides? If you wait, who might be left? And if you don’t wait, can you find a potential starter willing to come with the realization that he probably won’t start if your draft-tester returns?

Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd has faced this puzzle twice before, and is again this spring because freshman forward Carter Bryant is testing the NBA Draft as a projected first-round pick.

If he returns to Arizona for his sophomore season in 2025-26, Bryant would be a key standout for the Wildcats, expected to earn a low seven-figure amount between the UA-paid revenue sharing and outside NIL funds next season. But if he stays in the NBA Draft and is picked in the middle of the first round as projected, he would receive a guaranteed two-year deal in the $7 million to $12 million range.

Saying he’s supportive of Bryant no matter what he decides, Lloyd indicated he will roll with it.

“That’s what happens when you coach a high-level basketball program,” Lloyd told the Star last month. “You’re gonna have guys that have the opportunity to look at the NBA draft and then they have a decision to make: Do they stay in the draft or do they come back to college? It’s very normal in this day and age.”

Lloyd faced the problem immediately after the Wildcats earned a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed during his first season as UA’s head coach in 2021-22. Three players jumped into the draft, but while Bennedict Mathurin and Christian Koloko did so irrevocably, guard Dalen Terry gave early indications he was planning to return.

But Terry blew up in pre-draft testing and team workouts, in part because of his 7-foot-1 wingspan, and ultimately stayed in the draft. He announced just before the May 31 deadline that he wouldn’t return to Arizona and later became the No. 18 overall pick.

“When Dalen left us — and he 100% should have, so don’t take that the wrong way — at the end of May, we were kind of stuck in a bind recruiting-wise,” Lloyd said during the following season. “Things weren’t coming easy.”

But 10 days after Terry announced he was staying in the draft, Lloyd effectively replaced him with another player who withdrew from the NBA Draft pool: Former Texas guard Courtney Ramey, who had started 3½ seasons for the Longhorns.

Since Ramey was in the transfer portal and NBA Draft pool at the same time, the UA staff put out feelers while Ramey went through the pre-draft process, just in case Terry stayed in the draft and Ramey did not.

Ultimately, it worked out for both parties: Ramey had a new home to soak up the minutes Terry left behind, having become disillusioned after former Texas coach Shaka Smart left in 2021, while Lloyd received a replacement for Terry who was more proven than incoming recruit Filip Borovicanin or rising sophomore Adama Bal — and had more high-level experience than incoming Campbell wing transfer Cedric Henderson.

“We had to really be patient and let everything kind of play out,” Lloyd said after Ramey committed. “I think the things he’s looking for are the things we can provide — the opportunity, the development, playing on a stage like Arizona. I’m expecting him to come in and make a significant impact.”

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Ramey did, becoming Arizona’s third-leading scorer (10.5) while shooting 40.2% from 3-point range and providing veteran leadership.

In 2023, Lloyd didn’t have as much surprise to deal with. Forward Azuolas Tubelis and Pelle Larsson both entered the draft but Tubelis was widely expected to leave Arizona and Larsson was expected to return, and both players did exactly that.

So by the time the NBA released an official withdrawal list that did not include Tubelis’ name at the end of May 2023, confirming the Lithuanian’s departure, Lloyd already had a full 13-player roster in place for 2023-24. Included was a replacement for Tubelis in San Diego State forward Keshad Johnson, who committed in mid-May.

Last spring, things became thorny again for Arizona: Guard Caleb Love went down to the wire in the NBA Draft process, something that also played into the minds of incoming signees Jamari Phillips and Joson Sanon, both of whom decommitted.

But instead of waiting late into the spring for Love to decide, Lloyd found a potential replacement who expressed a willingness to play off the bench if needed: Campbell transfer Anthony Dell’Orso, who committed three weeks before Love made his decision.

Even though Love ultimately returned, Dell’Orso wound up starting the last 28 of Arizona’s 37 games anyway — alongside Love on the perimeter. The Aussie wing shot 41.3% from 3-point range and played a key role in the Wildcats’ second-round NCAA Tournament win over Oregon.

“Obviously, when Caleb comes back, there’s a little bit of a ripple effect,” Lloyd said last June. “Sometimes, some of these younger players, whether it’s NIL or playing time, things don’t align, and there’s other opportunities out there.

“But, more importantly, I’m really excited about the team we’ve got. We’ve got everything in the right place.”

Finding a potential replacement for Bryant might be tougher for Lloyd this spring, no matter whether he chooses to act quickly or wait until Bryant decides. Many transfers have already rushed to sign revenue-sharing and NIL deals with schools before the House settlement is finalized, after which the NIL portions are expected to be scrutinized.

When the transfer portal closed to entry on April 22, just 13 of 247 Sports’ top 100 transfers were still on the market. And the few who might withdraw from the NBA Draft are likely to command top NIL/revenue sharing deals, especially if the House settlement is not final.

Still, even without Bryant or a replacement, the Wildcats already have 11 scholarship players lined up for 2025-26, including a potential starting lineup that could include three returning starters — Dell’Orso, center Tobe Awaka and point guard Jaden Bradley, who is also testing the draft but is expected to return — plus five-star freshmen Koa Peat and Brayden Burries.

The Wildcats can take up to 15 players under the NCAA’s new roster limit, but Lloyd said last month he didn’t have a set number in mind.

“But we’re always looking to add and to find value and build the best all-around roster we can,” he said. “We’re not trying to be the first to the finish line with our roster. We’re just trying to make sure that we have the roster that makes the most sense for us.”