Tommy Lloyd has brought the Arizona Wildcats’ men’s basketball program to new heights, forming a formidable squad. He’s got his own style and approach, which has the Wildcats sitting at the top of college basketball.
But can Lloyd take this momentum at this point and carry it all the way to March and into the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament?
Tommy Lloyd Makes Arizona Into His Own Image
If Wildcats’ fans didn’t know already, Arizona sits at the No. 1 spot in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll, winning 61 votes — a unanimous selection.
Lloyd had been part of Gonzaga head coach Mark Few’s staff, and he’s seen a program reach a pinnacle but not finish. In 2021, Gonzaga reached the men’s championship final, only to lose to the Baylor Bears. At Arizona, Lloyd has taken his best Wildcats team, back in the 2023-24 season, all the way to the Elite Eight, but lost there.
Right now, Lloyd might be facing a career crossroads at Arizona. Many successful college basketball coaches have reached March, only to see things fall apart.
Look at what happened to the Kentucky Wildcats in the 2009-10 season. They started out 19-0 and entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed. But the Wildcats reached the Elite Eight, only to lose to No. 2-seed West Virginia 73-66.
In the 2010-11 season, the Ohio State Buckeyes roared out to a 24-0 start and entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed, too. But Ohio State lost to No. 4 seed Kentucky 62-60 in the Sweet 16. Those are just two of many examples of teams that roared out of the gate with excellent records, only to fall short of the big prize.
What about Lloyd’s record in the tournament? In all four of Lloyd’s seasons, he’s carried Arizona into the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. In 2022, the Wildcats reached the South Regional semifinals, where they lost to Houston 72-60. Arizona beat Wright State and TCU to reach that point.
In 2023, the Wildcats simply didn’t show up and lost a first-round game to Princeton 59-55. In 2024, after victories over Long Beach State and Dayton, Arizona lost in the West Region semifinals to Clemson 77-72. Then, in 2025, Arizona beat Akron and Oregon to reach the Sweet 16. But the Wildcats were knocked off by Duke 100-93.
Despite these setbacks, Lloyd is still a relatively young coach. He’s also put together maybe the best roster in his career, one that just might be the best in college basketball, too. Lloyd, at this point, has a career coaching record of 130-33, all with Arizona.
Here’s the bottom line: If Lloyd can take this Arizona team all the way to college basketball’s promised land — an NCAA men’s basketball championship — then he probably cements himself as a top-five basketball coach in the sport.
Should the Wildcats, though, not be able to maintain a competitive edge in the tournament, then questions will surround Lloyd entering next season.
How will the Wildcats do in March? What happens there will define how Wildcats fans, and college basketball fans, remember this era under Lloyd.
