This time of year, Tommy Lloyd knows the drill. After all, he’s been through the madness of March one, two, three times before as the head coach of Arizona.
Win and explain how it happened. Lose and own it and try to figure it out for the next year.
The last three years, Tommy has had to explain – and own it – given Arizona has fallen short of UA’s seed projections, losing to higher seeds each time.
Stuff happens and usually does at this time of year. Four-seed Arizona faces No. 13-seed Akron on Friday at 4:35 p.m.
“You have to have your team prepared to come out to play, come out and play consistent basketball,” Lloyd told reporters in Seattle on the eve of facing Akron. “You really have to call on the things you’ve done all year. That’s the approach that I take. I’m sure players that have been there … obviously there’s probably a little bit of an advantage of having played in a few tournaments and stuff like that, but all in all I don’t think it matters because once that ball goes up, the score’s 0-0.”
And all games are, he said, “are knockdown, drag-out affairs and you got to be prepared to compete like that.”
Sounds simple, but not always the case. Already in the NCAA tournament on Thursday, McNeese State defeated Clemson and Creighton defeated Louisville.
If you’re not ready – and even when you are – upsets happen. Last year’s returning players know it, given they lost to Clemson in the Sweet 16 while a favorite. Senior Wildcat Trey Townsend, too, knows the drill, given he was on the right side of a big upset when Oakland defeated Kentucky in the opening round.
“Just to make sure everyone’s locked in,” Townsend said of telling his teammates what’s ahead. “And playing against them like it is a one seed, everyone is a one seed.
“As (Tommy Lloyd) has been saying there’s no upsets really in this tournament. Everyone’s really good and you got to come in and whoever executes the best, has the best energy and just plays its best is going to win. So, we’re going to try to do that.”
Anything – and anyway – to motivate his team. He’ll have to have them step up on defense, too, given Akron’s proficiency in shooting the 3-poiner.
The Zips make nearly 40 percent of their points off the 3. They like to shoot them.
“(It’s) really honing in on the game plan, to limit those threes, because obviously they can shoot it pretty well,” Townsend said. “But we played in a really tough conference this year against a lot of teams that could shoot it. So, we’ve experienced it before.
“They’re another talented team, obviously everyone in this tournament’s super talented. So, we’re going to try to execute the best we can and limit those 3s.”
Because if Arizona doesn’t, it could be another moment of Tommy haven’t to explain what went wrong.
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