Bear Down Wildcats

97cats wrote: ↑Fri Mar 11, 2022 9:46 pmthree losses

Miller is a witch, Tommy is a genius.

He's yelling "Let's Go Irish!!"

Olsondogg wrote: ↑Fri Mar 11, 2022 9:47 pm Miller is a witch, Tommy is a genius.

dont i fucking know it

Tommy kind of reminds me of a young Bobby Bowden. Spewing all this hee-haw well and good stuff to the media meanwhile internally he's just thinking about kicking some more ass.

RaisingArizona wrote: ↑Fri Mar 11, 2022 9:55 pm Tommy kind of reminds me of a young Bobby Bowden. Spewing all this hee-haw well and good stuff to the media meanwhile internally he's just thinking about kicking some more ass.

That’s why he is called the “Aw Shucks Assassin” . So damn blessed to have gotten this guy!

What do Tommy Lloyd Dan Monson Leon Rice have in common?

All are trying to join Mark Few as conference champions this weekend.

And all are former coaches at Gonzaga.

Go Cats!

ZagCatFan wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 7:56 am What do Tommy Lloyd Dan Monson Leon Rice have in common?

All are trying to join Mark Few as conference champions this weekend.

And all are former coaches at Gonzaga.

Go Cats!

best of luck the first weekend you guys should have a great time in the Pacific Northwest and kick some tail.

Go Zags!

IrishAzCat wrote: ↑Fri Mar 11, 2022 9:49 pm

These moments are so rare that you love to see it from him. He had a right to be upset as his most seasoned player forgot the rules of getting the ball past the halfcourt line. Thankfully the game was already in hand, but he needs Kier to know shit like that and act on it as soon as today. After yelling at Kier like that he gave him endless props in the postgame presser. Tommy knows how to play the game. Only lose your shit like this when it's required.

ZagCatFan wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 7:56 am What do Tommy Lloyd Dan Monson Leon Rice have in common?

All are trying to join Mark Few as conference champions this weekend.

And all are former coaches at Gonzaga.

Go Cats!

I only wish the Pac-12 had the same tournament bracket set up as the WCC.

CTL's anger when Kier blew the 10-second call, with less than a minute left was uncharacteristically intense - this from a guy who is unusually tolerant when players make mistakes in his aggressive offensive scheme. It was surprising!

And, I thought he was unusually emotional in his post-game presser.... Especially when acknowledging his staff's contributions last night!!!

His accomplishments this season have exceeded all expectations! A coach could hardly have a more impressive and rewarding start to a career! But, the pressure must be intense!! And, losing his PG at such a critical point threatens ("threatenED" - maybe better, I hope?) to jeopardize the whole thing!!!

There's a lot (A LOT!!!) more than just "Aw shucks" there - He's a winner!!!!

Bear Down Tommy!!!! Survive and Advance!!!!

The outburst at Kier was a coaching knowing he is going to need Kier in big moments going forward and he can’t have his pg making those kind of mistakes

Shout out to the Tommy gun for listening to his assistant coaches for crowding the paint to take away their 2pt shots and get rebounds and give them the 3. They only made 8 shots from 2. 16 3s and still won because of it.

Heard some comments about our multiple defensive strategy’s that the coaches rave about. Very NBAish was said. Must come from Fois

pc in NM wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 8:16 am CTL's anger when Kier blew the 10-second call, with less than a minute left was uncharacteristically intense - this from a guy who is unusually tolerant when players make mistakes in his aggressive offensive scheme. It was surprising!

And, I thought he was unusually emotional in his post-game presser.... Especially when acknowledging his staff's contributions last night!!!

His accomplishments this season have exceeded all expectations! A coach could hardly have a more impressive and rewarding start to a career! But, the pressure must be intense!! And, losing his PG at such a critical point threatens ("threatenED" - maybe better, I hope?) to jeopardize the whole thing!!!

There's a lot (A LOT!!!) more than just "Aw shucks" there - He's a winner!!!!

Bear Down Tommy!!!! Survive and Advance!!!!

first time I saw Lloyd’s intense side was documentary series call The March to Madness. HBO followed Zags in 2016 season.

Lloyd ripped into the team in the locker room. Nice peek behind the curtain.

https://www.amazon.com/Gonzaga-The-Marc ... B01GIXCVL8

the Genius

Love this dude

Greatest postgame speech since these are one tough bunch of Cats.

I need to see it... Tucson Fox cut away... WTF?

Alieberman wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 9:50 pm I need to see it... Tucson Fox cut away... WTF?

It's on PAC-12

The Aw Shucks Assassin!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think Tommy knows how to do anything BUT kick ass.

that was perfect the man is a genius

I remember thinking Tommy was a stupid horrible hire.

This is unreal

Alieberman wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 9:59 pm I remember thinking Tommy was a stupid horrible hire.

This is unreal

i dont think you ever thought that -

97cats wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 10:02 pm

Alieberman wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 9:59 pm I remember thinking Tommy was a stupid horrible hire.

This is unreal

i dont think you ever thought that -

I had no idea who Tommy Lloyd was when his name first started to be mentioned and was completely underwhelmed.

I'm not proud of this.

Coach of the Year LOCK.

How can anyone else win it? If that happens it will be a travesty.

CTL got it done. I have more confidence in this team than any team in recent memory. Like I said before, Cooley did a decent job this year, but he's in the 40s on KenPom and lost early in his conference tourney. Give him a gift certificate to Peter Lugers and call it a day. But leave the real awards to CTL, cause you're not going to see something like this for a very long time.

And yes, I was one of the biggest Lloyd detractors. It wasn't personal, but no one thought an assistant could jump from a mid major and dominate every coach in a Power 5 conference. And develop the entire starting five. And break the Pac 12 wins record. And put together a top recruiting class in his first year. UCLA fans will have to accept the new peking order in the Pac 12. This feels awesome.

Alieberman wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 9:59 pm I remember thinking Tommy was a stupid horrible hire.

This is unreal

But he's in the Assistant Coaches Hall of Fame.

A team shoots 64z% and can’t beat us. A team makes a record 15 threes and can’t beat us. A FF team from the previous year only turns it over 7 times and we spot them 5 at half and they can’t beat us. We guard an all American with a 7 ft center on the perimeter and we get 11 blocks. 6 wins when we trailed by double digits. Who does this? The defense was suffocating. Lloyd has to win COY unless people are flat out blind

azcat49 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 10:13 pm A team shoots 64z% and can’t beat us. A team makes a record 15 threes and can’t beat us. A FF team from the previous year only turns it over 7 times and we spot them 5 at half and they can’t beat us. We guard an all American with a 7 ft center on the perimeter and we get 11 blocks. 6 wins when we trailed by double digits. Who does this? The defense was suffocating. Lloyd has to win COY unless people are flat out blind

Yup. People are blind

RawleArenas wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 10:06 pm
……..And yes, I was one the biggest Lloyd detractors. It wasn't personal, but no one thought an assistant could jump from a mid major and dominate every coach in a Power 5 conference. And develop the entire starting five. And break the Pac 12 wins record. And put together a top recruiting class in his first year. UCLA fans will have to accept the new peking order in the Pac 12. This feels awesome.

You weren’t the only one my friend…..I’m still just so happily STUNNED at this year so far. #BeyondWildestExpectations

three losses

I wasn’t a Tommy Lloyd guy from the beginning.

I wasn’t a Tommy Lloyd guy a month into the season.

I had my doubts. I had my biases. I had my silly grudges.

I was so fucking wrong. And I will own that from now until the Sun swallows our planet a billion years from now.

I was so wrong.

Are you retiring Tommy Boy?

I was extremely skeptical of Lloyd. Definitely felt he would prove to be a downgrade from Miller. I was very, very wrong.

I didn't necessarily think Lloyd would be a downgrade from Miller, I just thought he was a risk and that if he did succeed it would probably take 2-3 years to really see it. I anticipated is being a like 23-10 borderline like 9 seed team this year that maybe had a couple good wins and went like 13-7 in conference.

Fishclamps wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 11:00 pm Are you retiring Tommy Boy?

No chance. But now when I call him that it’s like I’m calling myself “Chicat Dumbfuck” like an ironic badge of no honor.

I had predicted all of this in the beginning. You guys need to listen to me more instead of filling up these boards with all your negativity.

Oh btw, i just forgot to post my thoughts.

First Year Head Coach
Team comprised largely of underclassmen
Had to re-recruit existing starters
Had to recruit his bench on fly
Had to enter a still toxic media/admin environment
Had to coach to a new offensive system
Had to coach to a new defensive system
Had to coach through Covid Chaos
Had to deal with inconvenient injuries
Still coached to radical stat/impact improvement amongst starters
Still coached to a 30-win regular season
Still coached to a top-2 ranking
Still coached to a Conference Season Title
Still coached to a Conference Tourney Title
Still coached to multiple player accolades
Still built a culture of fun, of competition, of clear agenda to win

Not a single element of this season was easy. It was a battle from day one when he had to convince Mathurin to NOT transfer to Oregon while juggling multiple other reported potential transfers.

He was scrutinized as a first year coach, as the coach who replaced Miller, as the coach winning with Miller’s players, as a recruiter…

He entered the conference coaching a team expected to fight hard for the middle, who returned a largely intact FF UCLA squad, and a Competitive core of an Elite 8 USC, and Oregon is still always Oregon… his club was an afterthought for majority of preseason pundits. For others, it was a punchline.

But he didn’t shy away from a legit Non-Conference Schedule with 2 Top-15 Road Games. He didn’t bitch when he played 3-game schedules in a week 3x.

He just fucking won.

In it all…

He just fucking wins.

I was skeptical of how he would be as a head coach and as a recruiter. He has made me eat all my skepticism and then some. This has been one heck of a ride this season, and it is not over!

Another skeptic here who just knew it was a dumb fucking mistake to hire someone with no head coaching experience. Even as the season progressed, I remained skeptical, grudgingly admitting that he is a good in-game coach (but can he recruit?). And now I am all in on Lloyd. I will still always love Miller and will hate Bobbinsheeke for how they screwed him and the players over. So now I am embarrassedly happy that Lloyd is our coach. I think there are an awful lot of us in this club.

EastCoastCat wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 10:06 pm Coach of the Year LOCK.

How can anyone else win it? If that happens it will be a travesty.

Coach K for lifetime achievement ......

BBQ wildcat wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 10:31 am Another skeptic here who just knew it was a dumb fucking mistake to hire someone with no head coaching experience.

After the disastrous football season with also a never a head coach, and same with the soccer program, I was also extremely skeptical.

Same with softball, but Lowe is doing pretty well.

Let's be clear: Hiring a head coach with no head coaching experience is a concerning move for a top program. It's not that Lloyd was a smart hire. It's that he's such an amazing head coach after all that he transcended everything.

Merkin wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 11:00 am Same with softball, but Lowe is doing pretty well.

Eh not really, but she wasn't left with much in regards to pitching.

Chicat wrote: ↑Mon Nov 22, 2021 6:23 pm If Coach Tommy wins national coach of the year I’ll give $100 to whatever charity you want.

Ari, you got your charities lined up? I don’t care how the award shakes out. He’s the goddamn Coach of the Year. Just tell me where to send the money.

CTL can relate really well with his players; we hear this being referred to over and over by players in postgame interviews. “Trust” is almost always mentioned - pretty amazing for a less than one year relationship!!!

Lute, wasn’t nearly as good, but had Ros all those years. I’m not sure about CSM in that particular respect, but I suspect Book was kept around because this was a strength CSM needed. (mostly speculation - am I on target?).

I think this is a feature of coaching that is increasingly valuable with the current generation of athletes. I think Steve Kerr is strong here, too!!