Where do you start as one memorializes a night to remember? Well, probably the score when it comes to No. 2 Arizona and its 73-57 win over No. 6 Iowa State on Monday night in McKale Center.
That’s where senior Jaden Bradley will long remember his 17-point, six-rebound game in his swan song game at home that coincided with Arizona’s Big 12 Conference title. Lest anyone forget Arizona was picked to finish fourth.
“Just blessed to be in this position,” said Bradley. “Grateful for the coaches, the staff, everybody that’s been a part of the journey that helped to get me here and excited that we did what we did today, Big 12 regular champions. Just grateful for the opportunity.”
He was part of the last conference title UA achieved, a couple of years ago. It’s the 41st conference title, 32 of which have come in the regular season. It’s also the third in five years under Tommy Lloyd.
“I don’t remember that one a lot, but I remember this one,” he said of the last Pac-12 title. “Big 12 is the best conference in college basketball right now, just doing it all with my brothers just knowing stuff we talked about before the season, it’s clicking. March is a special month in basketball. We still got a lot of room to go.”
After all, it is March a time when you spring forward – as they await Saturday’s meeting with Colorado, the Big 12 Conference tournament and then the Big Dance.
The journey to this point has been mind-blowing. Hasn’t it?
Still, it was a goal. Seeing – imagining – is believing. And here they are -finishing up what will likely be one of – if not the best – regular-season runs in program history at 28-2 overall and 15-2 in the conference.
“We talk about vision a lot,” Lloyd said. “What’s our vision, what’s our purpose? Vision, its imagery. We want to envision ourselves cutting down the nets. We want to envision hoisting that trophy. Don’t get ahead of yourself, then you got to dig into like, what do we got to do to get that, what’s the most important thing today? Let’s lock into our process, but to be able to do it at home and celebrate with our fans is really cool.”
They did, with thousands of fans still in attendance to listen to the seniors say thank you and to what’s ahead. And to what just happened.
“When you move to a conference like the Big 12, you don’t know how it’s going to turn out,” Lloyd said. “Obviously, I was like, ‘bring it on.’ There is no one predicting the future, and for us to go out and do this in our second year. says a lot about Arizona basketball. It’s not about me, it’s about the program, and (was) about the program well before me that gave us the foundation to do this kind of stuff, so we’re excited to carry on the legacy. We want a good day off (Tuesday) and then we want to get back to it.”
Of course, there was that celebration on Monday. Heck, 3 ½ hours after the game started, Bradley, Tobe Awaka and Anthony Dell’Orso were still taking questions from the media.
Hell, for a night time stood still just to celebrate.
Or to be tortured.
“That is as good of a team as we’ve played against in the time I’ve been the head coach at Iowa State,” said Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger, who likely felt like the coach of the Washington Generals (Harlem Globetrotters’ nemesis).
Adding: “When you draw up the schedule and you draw senior night at McKale Center that’s not one you are real excited about. We know the home court and how tough it is to play … We knew it was going to be a really tough environment and it proved to be one.”
And so here Arizona is: A likely No. 1 seed in the West and the No. 2 team in the country after spending nine weeks at No. 1. They’ve been able to knock off teams like No. 6 Iowa State, defending champion Florida, highly ranked Houston, highly ranked Connecticut, ranked Alabama and so many more.
Add those up and so many others and they add up to 140 victories, the most for a coach in his first five years. That would be Tommy Lloyd.
“I feel fortunate, I feel lucky, all those things, and I’m not good at counting big numbers,” he said. “It’s really hard for me to count past one. So, I keep it pretty simple, but I’m happy. I’m happy the program has been successful. I’m happy for the community …
I’m just thankful that I get to represent this community, and I take that role seriously. I love this place, and what brings me joy is, we win and everyone embraces and feels good and smiles. That joy is really powerful.”
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