After yet another loss to a lower-seeded team in the NCAA Tournament, we are left to ponder a fundamental question about the future of Arizona men’s basketball:
Is Tommy Lloyd the right coach to lead the Wildcats back to the promised land?
Michael Lev is a senior writer/columnist for the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson.com and The Wildcaster.
I think it’s a no-brainer. A resounding yes. A silly question, honestly — one born out of frustration and emotion.
Just because someone hasn’t accomplished something yet doesn’t mean they’re incapable of it.
I firmly believe Lloyd is the right coach for this place. He is one of the best (relatively) young coaches in the sport. Scores of programs across the country would pay millions to secure his services.
That doesn’t mean he can’t improve at his craft. Or learn from his mistakes.
Lloyd unquestionably deserves a large share of the blame for No. 2 seed Arizona’s 77-72 loss to No. 6 seed Clemson on Thursday in Los Angeles — just as he did the Princeton loss last year and the Houston loss before that. The buck stops with the head coach. (Unless you’re Mick Cronin, in which case you just blame every loss on everyone and everything other than yourself.)
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd, left, reacts after the ball was called out on the Wildcats as assistant coach Riccardo Fois calls out to the court late in the second half against Dayton in the second round on March 23.
When he assesses himself and his program this offseason, Lloyd needs to dig into tactics as much as personnel.
He is an excellent offensive coach. Arizona consistently ranks among the nation’s highest-scoring and most efficient teams. His up-tempo, share-the-ball system is fun to watch and one of the reasons players want to play for him.
It’s not nearly as smooth or effective against zone defenses. We saw that during the regular season. We witnessed it again Thursday.
When the UA football team struggled in the red zone early in Jedd Fisch’s tenure, he made it an offseason priority. Every single practice included red-zone periods. Unsurprisingly, the Wildcats got a lot better.
Every single UA basketball practice this offseason needs to include at least one period devoted to zone offense, if that isn’t the case already. If they don’t show they can dismantle zone defenses, the Cats will continue to face them.
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd answers a question during a press conference, part of the team’s scheduled activities on the day before the Wildcats were to face Clemson in the Sweet 16.
I’d also like to see Lloyd expand his rotation a bit. Nine is greater than eight. Sharpshooting but seldom-used Paulius Murauskas could’ve eased the burden on his teammates by knocking down a 3 or several against Clemson. More minutes during the regular season would have prepared him for that moment.
The personnel situation is much more complicated.
Lloyd needs to figure out what to do with guard Kylan Boswell, who regressed over the course of his sophomore season. It might require a difficult decision.
Despite Boswell struggling in multiple games this year — and disappearing for all but one postseason contest — Lloyd stuck with him in the starting lineup. It appeared that move would pay dividends when Boswell busted out against Long Beach State in the NCAA Tournament opener. That performance proved to be a false positive, though; Boswell had just five points and three assists in the next two games combined.
Arizona can’t go into next season with Boswell as the incumbent point guard — especially when it has a better option in Jaden Bradley. So one of two things has to happen: Either both parties, Lloyd and Boswell, need to agree that a mutual parting is the best option for the player and the program; or it must be made clear to Boswell that playing time will be earned, not given.
How that situation plays out will tell us whether Lloyd can play the role of “bad cop” if he has to.
He definitely gives off “good cop” vibes, and that’s the preferred temperament most of the time in today’s day and age. It’s not 1995 anymore — or even 2015. If players don’t like the way they’re being treated, they can leave and play somewhere else. The transfer portal has changed so much about college sports, including the coach-player relationship.
I would much rather have a Lloyd than a Cronin. Lloyd never would call out his players in public. He doesn’t stomp up and down the sideline, ranting and raving from the opening tip to the final buzzer.
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd mulls over a question from a reporter on Zoom on the day off before the second-round game.
Do you like college coaches who micromanage every minute of every game? I don’t. At some point, the players have to figure it out for themselves. That’s how you learn.
I lived in Southern California when Phil Jackson was coaching the Lakers. One of his philosophies was to coach his players hard in practice — but let them solve their own problems during games.
Do we really think, in his prep for Clemson, that Lloyd instructed his players to pass the ball around the perimeter and chuck up 3-pointers? Maybe he needed to call more set plays. Whatever the game plan was, it wasn’t executed.
Could Lloyd hold his players more accountable? Probably. It’s unclear what goes on behind the scenes in terms of discipline. But there is at least one avenue Lloyd can pursue if someone is out of line: Taking away their playing time.
Whatever happened with Boswell in Las Vegas seemed to go unpunished, at least in that regard. He wasn’t pulled from the starting lineup or benched for a half or … anything.
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd, left, talks with guard Kylan Boswell before the start of the second half during a game at McKale Center on Nov. 17, 2023.
Lloyd could have sent a message to Boswell, and the team, about priorities and putting the program above yourself. Maybe that would have sharpened their focus in the postseason. We’ll never know.
We do know this: Lloyd won a ton of games in his first three seasons.
His 88 wins are one off the NCAA record for a first-time head coach in his first three years. The Wildcats won the Pac-12 Tournament title and the regular-season crown twice apiece on Lloyd’s watch.
While he inherited some extremely talented players — three future pros in Bennedict Mathurin, Dalen Terry and Christian Koloko — Lloyd also took over a program that was in turmoil. He immediately flipped that narrative while changing the culture and developing that talent.
Lloyd did that without ever having served as a head coach in Division I college basketball. Lute Olson had 10 years of head-coaching experience before he came to Arizona in 1983; Sean Miller had five before he arrived in 2009.
Lloyd will turn 50 in December. He’s in his coaching prime. But he still has room to grow and evolve.
The next step is a deep run in the NCAA Tournament — the event by which all college basketball programs and coaches are measured.
I’ll be shocked if that doesn’t happen here — sooner than later — under Lloyd’s leadership.
Clemson held off Arizona in the second half to advance to the Elite Eight of the 2024 men’s NCAA tournament. Watch the extended highlights from the Tiger’s Sweet 16 win here. (March Madness YouTube)
