Tommy Lloyd is now one of those guys
Plus: The end of a UNC era and the Terrance Shannon problem
On Thursday, in one of those rare moments of pregame press conference honesty, Tommy Lloyd was asked what it felt like when he was hired by Arizona and then rejected. And, yes rejected is a correct description — former Wildcats greats hated the hire. Who was this Gonzaga assistant to come be the head coach of the Arizona Wildcats? Who was this West Coast Conference random hired to fulfill the legacy of Lute Olson? The Gilbert Arenas-Richard Jefferson media complex went into overdrive.
Lloyd’s answer was great.
They had a right to feel that way. This is an amazing program, and it's an amazing legacy and an amazing tradition. I probably — did I not know myself so well, I probably would have wondered what the heck are they doing hiring an assistant coach from the WCC.
I think that's all justified, and I knew that me just talking or whatever wasn't going to earn people's respect. We need you to come and do a great job on a day-to-day basis and run the program in a way that our former players would be proud of. […]
And the former players, it's the blood, sweat and tears. So those guys have a right to feel that way. I wasn't an Arizona guy at that time, but I'll tell you what — I am now.
Again: Great answer. Badass answer. Except it’s the kind of answer where after the answer you really have to go win the basketball game in question. And not only did Arizona not win the basketball game in question — another in a series of tournament disappointments under Lloyd, highlighted by last season’s loss to No. 15-seed Princeton — but frankly, and befitting the pattern, they were extremely questionably coached en route.
Thus and henceforth, sort of jokingly but also sort of not, Tommy Lloyd shall be known as one of Those Coaches — the kind who can’t win in the NCAA Tournament. (Until they can.)
We posted this on X, The Everything App (TM) Thursday night, and got only a minimal amount of pushback, and yet the kind we can very much identify with: What, it’s Lloyd’s fault they shot 5-of-28 from 3? And no, it’s kind of not, but … it also kind of is?
Without going into a massive detailed tactical breakdown, let’s just say that in the last 10 minutes of the second half Arizona had more than a few opportunities to push the basketball into the teeth of the (very good!) Clemson defense but consistently failed to do so. Indeed, Arizona spent an inordinate amount of the game doing absolutely nothing — just sort of dribbling around, running vague half-transition sets, settling for profoundly needless 3s. Regular readers know this publication is not spiritually against the latter; quite the opposite, actually. But it also always depends on the context of the game, on how it feels, on what makes the most sense in the moment.
It was at this point, at any number of points, that Lloyd needed to call a timeout, grab everyone by the neck, and tell them to get the ball at the rim. Yeah, sure, 3s are analytically smart, blah blah, but they aren’t falling and they’re not even good looks and the game is fading away from you and you’re more talented and you’re doing nothing to change it, nothing at all.
Meanwhile, on the other end, Brad Brownell was doing everything right. His defensive coverages were generally correct; his zone looks flummoxed the Wildcats, right before the Tigers switched into matchup and then man; and his inbounds plays — Lord, his BLOBs. This, while not a BLOB, was also a very good example of the simple tactical advantage Clemson seemed to enjoy all evening: A play run with a second-level understanding of movement and tendency that Arizona did not seem to possess.
Does this mean Lloyd is the worst coach in the history of the world? No. But —
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