Tommy Lloyd Is Already a Top-10 Coach in College Basketball
Being considered “Top 10” in your profession always puts you in rarified air. In college basketball, such a distinction is typically reserved for coaches who have a long track record of success. Every now and then, however, a coach comes along who deserves placement in the elite tier much earlier than that.
He’s only in Year 2 of his head coaching career, but I believe there’s a legitimate case to be made that Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd is a top-10 coach in college basketball. In his first year at the helm, the Wildcats went 33-4 overall, won the Pac-12 regular season and tournament, received a No. 1 seed in the 2022 NCAA Tournament, and reached the Sweet Sixteen. Lloyd was named AP Coach of the Year while also garnering COY recognition from the Pac-12, NABC, and USBWA. He’s already got a stacked résumé.
No Regression Here
Entering this season, Arizona Basketball lost three players to the NBA in Bennedict Mathurin, Dalen Terry, and Christian Koloko. The Wildcats returned some talented pieces, but the loss of their pro talents made them a candidate for regression. It doesn’t look like that regression is happening.
Arizona came out on stop of a stacked 2022 Maui Invitational field, taking down Cincinnati, San Diego State, and Creighton en route to the title. Junior big Oumar Ballo exploded onto the scene in Maui and is averaging over 17 points and nine rebounds per game so far. He’s become excellent evidence of Lloyd’s developmental chops after he followed the head coach over from Gonzaga last year.
Lloyd is turning Arizona Basketball into Gonzaga South with their style of dynamic, up-tempo offense. He currently has them operating as the most efficient offense in the country per KenPom. Outside of a puzzling loss to Utah immediately following Maui, the Wildcats are undefeated at 12-0. They look like one of the best teams in the country for a second consecutive year.
While he doesn’t have the track record of NCAA Tournament success at this point in his coaching career, Tommy Lloyd’s early accomplishments combined with his winning tactics, high-level recruiting, and elite development skills make him a top-10 coach in college basketball. With what he has shown so far, it’s not a stretch to say Arizona Basketball will be a consistent factor in March moving forward.
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