SALT LAKE CITY – Beware of Princeton, again?
Well, maybe not but there was a laugh or two when Long Beach State coach Dan Monson, a longtime friend of Tommy Lloyd’s, brought up he’d install Princeton’s offense against Arizona on Thursday.
Capsulized preview of the NCAA West Subregional at Salt Lake City that includes No. 2 Arizona, No. 15 Long Beach State, No. 7 Dayton and No. 10 Nevada: https://t.co/TK4fWUxafn
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) March 20, 2024
Obviously, Princeton defeated UA last year in the NCAA tournament’s first round.
“I said, ‘Tommy, we’ve been putting in that Princeton offense for three days,'” Monson joked. “‘It’s complicated. It took a little extra time today.'”
Lloyd laughed, almost knowing the question of a reaction was coming. Lloyd said Monson told him that about “50 times” when the families of Mark Few, Lloyd and Monson got together on Tuesday night.
“I told him it would be great to see some semblance of offense,” Lloyd said, bringing laughter to the room.
Then he got serious.
“Dan’s a veteran,” Lloyd said. “I think he knows this opportunity he has. I have no doubt that his team’s going to come out ready to play with a spirited effort tomorrow.”
Bigtime recruit commits to Arizona
It came as a surprise to many when 5-star recruit Joson Sanon committed to Arizona on Wednesday morning.
He’s to be a class of 2025 but will reclassify and play for Arizona next season.
He’s a 6-foot-5 small forward who is considered an NBA player after his first year at UA. He chose Arizona over Kentucky, Connecticut and Alabama.
Next year’s recruiting class is loaded with talent as Carter Bryant (5-star), Jamari Phillips (4-star) and Emmanuel Stephen (4-star) are expected next season in Tucson.
Boswell talks
Kylan Boswell spoke for the first time with the media about the photo that circulated over the weekend that apparently saw him playing blackjack at a Vegas casino.
Boswell said he talked about it with the team and Lloyd about it and that’s all he would say. When asked if it was indeed him, he didn’t say yes or no. Some people thought it was a photoshop.
“I can’t comment on it,” he said.
He later asked if you could confirm his grandfather passed a couple of weeks ago (yes, he said) and he added his aunt passed away as well. It’s been a tough few weeks for Boswell.
The ties that bind … Arizona and Gonzaga
There were a number of questions asked about Tommy Lloyd’s connection to Monson and Mark Few. It became excessive, maybe. But Few made light of it near the end his press conference after a third straight question about Arizona and Lloyd.
‘Let’s talk about Lute,” Few said.
It didn’t come to that. But it was funny.
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