While much of the attention is focused on how Arizona will fare on the football field in its first Big 12 season, there is just as much interest in how the team will perform on the hardwood.
The Wildcats have developed into a nationally dominant team under head coach Tommy Lloyd, winning 88 of 108 games since he took over in 2021. Their accomplishments include two Pac-12 regular season titles and two Pac-12 tournament titles.
However, the Big 12 will present us with completely different challenges.
Not only Kansas awaits them there, but also Houston, which already won its first conference title in its Big 12 season last year. Behind them are the 2020-21 national champions Baylor, Kansas State, which made it to the Elite Eight in 2022-23, and the always hard-to-beat Iowa State Cyclones.
What speaks for Arizona, however, is that Lloyd is one of the best coaches in the game.
On3’s James Fletcher III looked at the best coaches in the Big 12 Conference and while he didn’t rank the Wildcats’ head coach at the top of his list, he was still rated very positively at number 4.
“Arizona caught up immediately with its constant threat approach… The 2022 National Coach of the Year already has three NCAA Tournament appearances and two Sweet 16 appearances on his resume early in his career. It doesn’t look like it’s slowing down anytime soon. And he’s winning basketball along the way,” he writes.
Lloyd is only behind Hall of Famers Bill Self, Kelvin Sampson and Scott Drew.
This is a great situation for the Wildcats.
As they enter a conference that many analysts consider to be the best in the country, they will need good coaching to be competitive right away and maintain a program that can contend for titles.
Arizona definitely seems to be able to do this with Lloyd.
