Tommy Lloyd

[RaisingArizona]

I'd look at what went wrong (not enough defensive intensity, not enough scoring, not enough guys who could run the offense) and look at the three guards that Lloyd has pulled in and see if that isn't the exact answer to those problems.

Bal, Boswell, Lewis - long, big, high IQ players who can share it or get their own bucket.

Assume that we pick up another guy like that in the portal and that we return and develop further Larsson and Terry. That'd go a long way in changing the outcome of a game like last night.

There are unanswered questions within that too, though. Boswell and Lewis being 2023, Terry and Larsson would have to stay for their senior season. Larsson probably does, but I doubt Terry's still here.

Bal will be here unless he is homesick or transfers. So you think of a core of senior Larsson, junior Bal, freshmen in Lewis and Boswell. Up front, Anderson is a soph, Ballo a senior. Is Tubelis here as a senior?

Some of it is the type of recruits. Some of it...well, we had guys who could be great defenders, because for half the season they were this year. I think that's the second half of things that matters as much, if not more than personnel.

I see Houston as indicative of a late season where we just fell off where we were earlier. Identifying why that occurred and how to build culture so that it does not recur is just as big a deal for Lloyd going forward. Some of the answer may be personnel. Some of it may be the bad timing of Kerr's ankle. Some of it may run deeper.

Kerr needs to be crafty and intelligent next season. I believe he should watch tapes of Miles, who I think was the craftiest player at his size and physical ability.

TJ was extremely intelligent, but lacked the desire to score, so I always go back to Miles as the model of success.

My list for Kerr would be this:

1. Continue to develop as a defender.
2. Become more consistent with the 3 ball.
3. Develop his floater ...

Use shot fakes and get going downhill rather than resetting for the jump shot. And then utilize the floater )as you mentioned) or find the help defender's man. If he consistently had that Illinois floater off of a shot fake then would be deadly IMO.

[YoDeFoe]

An underappreciated aspect of season one vs the future with Lloyd is how he had to half-ass his preferred style of offense in order to get the most out of our guys who just didn't know how to run it yet. We did not run a ton of ball screen continuity offense - the kind of offense that can get a guard (like Kerr) into the lane without needing to blow by a guy 1v1.

Instead of forcing it, Lloyd switched up his style in the early season to maximize the scoring punch of Benn and Tubelis. That was super helpful in getting those guys going and he should be applauded for his flexibility. But no doubt we'd have been harder to game plan against with a team that knew Lloyd's offense front to back.

Life gets easier moving forward with the return of Kerr, Terry, Larsson, and Bal who have all been in the system a year and know how to run the ball screen continuity offense.

[azcat49]

Choo mentioned on a few occasions that Lloyd had many more wrinkles in this offense but the guys just weren’t ready to execute those nuances of the offense so your point could be spot on.

The other thing is we had to battle grown men against Houston with a bunch of 19 year olds. This extra year should really help

[RondaeShimmy]

Listened to one of Mike Luke's podcasts and they brought up how Lloyd's assistants (in the second half of the conference schedule) had said that Arizona may be better defensively packing it in defensively in the half court more similar to the Miller style and not being as aggressive.

They used to be more aggressive with their defenses using traps, press, ball pressure that expanded the defense away from the half court. This created more easy offense for us the other way.

Just from my memory I remember Arizona pressing less later in the season and being way less aggressive on defense, it used to be true that the defense is actually what drove the offense and made things happen.

I made several posts of how Arizona's defense basically fell off a cliff since about mid to late February. I think this explains it. In the tournament, the team hardly pressed or trapped, and when it did they made things happen consistently in the little times they did. When I rewatched the Houston game the thing that was clear was that Arizona pressed way too late, but when they did so they had Houston flustered and turned it over several times.

[CatFanOneMil]

Lloyd gets NACB

https://twitter.com/ArizonaMBB/status/1 ... 8378915840

[84Cat]

Lloyd gets NACB

https://twitter.com/ArizonaMBB/status/1 ... 8378915840

[EastCoastCat]

Deserves it.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Listened to one of Mike Luke's podcasts and they brought up how Lloyd's assistants (in the second half of the conference schedule) had said that Arizona may be better defensively packing it in defensively in the half court more similar to the Miller style and not being as aggressive.

They used to be more aggressive with their defenses using traps, press, ball pressure that expanded the defense away from the half court. This created more easy offense for us the other way.

Just from my memory I remember Arizona pressing less later in the season and being way less aggressive on defense, it used to be true that the defense is actually what drove the offense and made things happen.

I made several posts of how Arizona's defense basically fell off a cliff since about mid to late February. I think this explains it. In the tournament, the team hardly pressed or trapped, and when it did they made things happen consistently in the little times they did. When I rewatched the Houston game the thing that was clear was that Arizona pressed way too late, but when they did so they had Houston flustered and turned it over several times.

Some of it is 100% personnel driven, IMO. Ballo's role increase directly coincided with what you're talking about, and I think that was a driver. A Koloko/Ballo lineup is almost impossible to press or trap from because they are most limited in mobility. Tubelis seemed to struggle in that area later on too for whatever reason.

Kerr's ankle compounded things because it's also hard to extend when he was out and you had a short lineup or when he was back and his mobility was limited.

I will say I think some of it was opponents learning how to attack Lloyd's system and also being more evenly matched. Some OOC teams you could just overwhelm with athletes and length. The teams that gave us issues did so primarily by attacking what was there to attack. As others have noted, TCU regularly used our p&r coverage and switching to pull over a shotblocker and create chances on the offensive boards.

[YoDeFoe]

I'm wondering... will we see a shake up in the coaching staff this offseason? Too soon, probably, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some moves between this offseason and the next.

[Postmaster]

Listened to one of Mike Luke's podcasts and they brought up how Lloyd's assistants (in the second half of the conference schedule) had said that Arizona may be better defensively packing it in defensively in the half court more similar to the Miller style and not being as aggressive.

They used to be more aggressive with their defenses using traps, press, ball pressure that expanded the defense away from the half court. This created more easy offense for us the other way.

Just from my memory I remember Arizona pressing less later in the season and being way less aggressive on defense, it used to be true that the defense is actually what drove the offense and made things happen.

I made several posts of how Arizona's defense basically fell off a cliff since about mid to late February. I think this explains it. In the tournament, the team hardly pressed or trapped, and when it did they made things happen consistently in the little times they did. When I rewatched the Houston game the thing that was clear was that Arizona pressed way too late, but when they did so they had Houston flustered and turned it over several times.

That coincides with the injuries. Seemed like Larson, Kier, Ballo got increased minutes but Lloyd didn’t really backfill those minutes with Nowell and Bal.
I’m wondering if the team just got worn out. And that led to less aggressive defensive scheme.

[goslingswagg]

I'm wondering... will we see a shake up in the coaching staff this offseason? Too soon, probably, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some moves between this offseason and the next.

not sure what Fois wants to do long-term but wouldn't surprise me if an NBA team offered him a full time assistant coach role this offseason. thankfully it feels like Murphy likes where he is at, and I doubt Robinson wants to move again this offseason

[ChooChooCat]

I'm wondering... will we see a shake up in the coaching staff this offseason? Too soon, probably, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some moves between this offseason and the next.

not sure what Fois wants to do long-term but wouldn't surprise me if an NBA team offered him a full time assistant coach role this offseason. thankfully it feels like Murphy likes where he is at, and I doubt Robinson wants to move again this offseason

Robinson will retire here.

[ZagCatFan]

Congrats Tommy Lloyd!

Great first year can’t wait for next!

[Longhorned]

Tommy Lloyd let us all say "Merry Christmas!" again.

[UAEebs86]

Tommy Lloyd let us all say "Merry Christmas!" again.

Lloyd Christmas?

[YoDeFoe]

I'm wondering... will we see a shake up in the coaching staff this offseason? Too soon, probably, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some moves between this offseason and the next.

not sure what Fois wants to do long-term but wouldn't surprise me if an NBA team offered him a full time assistant coach role this offseason. thankfully it feels like Murphy likes where he is at, and I doubt Robinson wants to move again this offseason

(Fois is my favorite of our assistants and I hope we can keep him in whatever role he wants here)

[goslingswagg]

I'm wondering... will we see a shake up in the coaching staff this offseason? Too soon, probably, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some moves between this offseason and the next.

not sure what Fois wants to do long-term but wouldn't surprise me if an NBA team offered him a full time assistant coach role this offseason. thankfully it feels like Murphy likes where he is at, and I doubt Robinson wants to move again this offseason

(Fois is my favorite of our assistants and I hope we can keep him in whatever role he wants here)

agreed, very hard not to love him

[azcat49]

Fois just left a great situation with Phoenix to join the guy who helped get him started. Why would he leave so soon? I get opportunity but the job isn’t done here yet

[HiCat]

Lloyd gets NACB

https://twitter.com/ArizonaMBB/status/1 ... 8378915840

Excellent. Great season coach.

[UAEebs86]

[Chicat]

He deserves every accolade and award coming his way.

Congrats Coach!

[YoDeFoe]

That's two of three - let's go for the sweep, Tommy. Naismith COY award up next (announced on Sunday).

Edit: I suppose I forgot about the AP as well

[azgreg]

That's two of three - let's go for the sweep, Tommy. Naismith COY award up next (announced on Sunday).

Edit: I suppose I forgot about the AP as well

Didn't Ed Cooley win the Naismith Coach of the year?

[Macho Grande]

Didn't Ed Cooley win the Naismith Coach of the year?

Sporting News. Naismith is announced April 2nd.

[YoDeFoe]

The number of coach of the year awards is too damn high

[UAEebs86]

The number of coach of the year awards is too damn high

[azgreg]

[EastCoastCat]

Congrats to The Awe Shucks Assassin!

[Chicat]

Nice work Tommy Boy!

[Beachcat97]

Excited to see what Tommy does for an encore!

[Jefe]

Your turn Naismith

[Longhorned]

:tup:

[AZCatGirl]

Nice to see Tommy getting the recognition he deserves.

[dovecanyoncat]

Team Arizona .... Fuck Yeah!

[Lando05]

Congratulations Coach!

[IrishAzCat]

[EastCoastCat]

Thank you Irish!!!

[UAEebs86]

Cooley won the Naismith.

[RondaeShimmy]

Kind of funny considering that past two weeks conversations on here and elsewhere about Tommy's style of play not being good for tournament because of how it's officiated and in the end you have two teams who like to get out and run in the final.

Kind of also interesting that defense didn't matter for the final four teams. Duke had a kenpom defense in the 80s not that long ago and played a god awful zone most of the year, North Carolina similar iirc (without the zone). Kansas had a defense in the 50s, 40s and 30s the whole year but during this tournament run they're the only one with a top 20 defense now.

[Beachcat97]

Cooley won the Naismith.

Stupid. No disrespect to Cooley, but what he did pales in comparison to what Lloyd did.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Kind of funny considering that past two weeks conversations on here and elsewhere about Tommy's style of play not being good for tournament because of how it's officiated and in the end you have two teams who like to get out and run in the final.

Kind of also interesting that defense didn't matter for the final four teams. Duke had a kenpom defense in the 80s not that long ago and played a god awful zone most of the year, North Carolina similar iirc (without the zone). Kansas had a defense in the 50s, 40s and 30s the whole year but during this tournament run they're the only one with a top 20 defense now.

The faster teams did win in the semis...it's why I say I don't think pace has a negative correlation, I just don't think it matters much. This is where Final Four teams ranked in possessions per game.

UNC: #66
Kansas: #104
Duke: #190
Villanova: #344

So, no blazing teams, but one top 20%, one top third, then one bottom half and one turtle paced team.

Good point on D. Kansas is the best left, with UNC performing above their season. It's definitely not a postseason that favored the top defensive teams.

[Macho Grande]

[azgreg]

[HiCat]

Tommy Lloyd not sitting back after wildly successful first season at Arizona
By Brian J. Pedersen Apr 15, 2022, 5:00pm PDT

Lloyd said he has no plans to “reinvent the wheel” but does want to address how Arizona handled (or didn’t handle) the physicality of TCU and Houston in its final two NCAA Tournament games. Those teams banged the Wildcats around, keeping them from being their usual explosive self on offense.

“Those last couple games were extremely physical,” Lloyd said. “I didn’t think we were a soft team, but they were physical. So can we find ways to be a little bit more physical in some of those matchups against TCU or Houston, to kind of increase our margin for error. That would be an area that I would like to see. That’s easier said than done.”

https://www.azdesertswarm.com/basketbal ... ster-pac12

[Spaceman Spiff]

Tommy Lloyd not sitting back after wildly successful first season at Arizona
By Brian J. Pedersen Apr 15, 2022, 5:00pm PDT

Lloyd said he has no plans to “reinvent the wheel” but does want to address how Arizona handled (or didn’t handle) the physicality of TCU and Houston in its final two NCAA Tournament games. Those teams banged the Wildcats around, keeping them from being their usual explosive self on offense.

“Those last couple games were extremely physical,” Lloyd said. “I didn’t think we were a soft team, but they were physical. So can we find ways to be a little bit more physical in some of those matchups against TCU or Houston, to kind of increase our margin for error. That would be an area that I would like to see. That’s easier said than done.”

https://www.azdesertswarm.com/basketbal ... ster-pac12

Admittedly, this is driven by me agreeing because it confirms what I said a bunch...but I'm glad Lloyd sees the issue that got exposed in the tourney.

We were the less physical, intense and aggressive team two games in a row. We escaped vs TCU based on talent, then Houston did the same with more talent and it was curtains.

[azgreg]

[azgreg]

[HiCat]

don't know if this is already up

Tommy Lloyd NBA Draft Media Availability

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dfdG0dxniQ

[Jefe]

https://www.ncwlife.com/sports/national ... 96420.html

As the NBA Draft neared the end of the first round Thursday evening, and Dalen Terry’s Scottsdale draft party continued at a relentless beat, Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd walked outside toward the parking lot.

He knew Christian Koloko’s name might be called soon.

“With Dalen, those people were having fun and I was so happy for them,” Lloyd said Friday, after attending Terry’s event at Lo-Lo’s Chicken & Waffles in Scottsdale. “But I love Christian. I kind of wanted to go have a moment by myself where I could go and just watch his name get called. I had a good feeling that at 33, there was a good chance for him to get to get drafted.

“So I jumped in my car and drove up to the road to another restaurant in Scottsdale. I walked in and just sat at the table by myself and no one noticed me. It was perfect. I sat there and watched his name get called and I was super proud.”
....
Lloyd said there were some early moments in practices this season where he had to pull Mathurin and Terry apart a little.

“I just told him that all that macho stuff is fake, to lock in on getting better: ‘You guys need to compete with each other, not compete against each other,’” Lloyd said. “Dalen definitely has juice and brings it every day and Benn’s not afraid of that. I don’t think Benn has quite as much pizzazz or however you want to say it, but we had some tough moments early in the season and Benn was great in those huddles.

“Sometimes, guys say things in those huddles but they’re not able to back it up. Benn was on the guys in the huddles … and then he went out and made huge clutch plays.”

At the same time, Lloyd indicated that Terry also has a substance to him that lies beneath all that showmanship, one reason he improved dramatically as a do-everything sophomore.

“Incredible spirit,” Lloyd said. “I love Dalen and I love coaching him. If you were to ask me a year ago at this time if we would be having a Zoom and Dalen would have been the 18th pick, I’d probably say, ‘Don’t bet on it.’

[RondaeShimmy]