Another weekend means another tall task for the West’s top seed Arizona. It’s not like the Wildcats haven’t been in this situation before, given its history.
Last week was big for the 34-2 Wildcats, given some early exits from the NCAA tournament, most recently against Princeton three years ago. Now, the hurdle is the Sweet 16 for Tommy Lloyd & Company. All while the rumor mill of a key job opening up, but success brings those rumors. (more on that later)
After all, Lloyd is the third coach in NCAA history to make the Sweet 16 in four of his first five seasons as head coach (Steve Lavin – UCLA; Steve Fisher – Michigan).
Still, three times the season has ended here – vs. Houston (Tommy’s first year), two years ago vs. Clemson and last season vs. Duke.
Now, comes the question: can Arizona get past this road block?
“I think this team is built for the long haul,” Tommy Lloyd told reporters in San Jose. “But I also respect the fact that we’re going to have to do it possession by possession, media time-out by media time-out type of game, and our opponents are formidable.”
Yes, Arkansas – behind John Calipari – is good. Still, Arizona is a No. 1 seed for a reason It’s the only team to go 6-0 – or have the best record – against the remaining field in the Sweet 16.
“Obviously we want to be playing Saturday, but we’re not going to look past this opportunity or make it like an end-all, be-all for anything because it’s not that,” Lloyd said of Thursday night’s game. “Our approach to our guys has been normal. Let’s just treat this as normal.”
Yet, we all know this isn’t normal. It’s the madness of March with the hope of reaching the angst of March, something Arizona hasn’t seen – or experienced – in a quarter century when the Wildcats reached the title game.
The expectations from most of the observers feel Arizona has what it takes, a group that’s good enough and talented to get there.
As Lloyd often says, Arizona is built for it. And it has proven its worth, having won 23 consecutive games and getting to the top of the polls for nine consecutive weeks. Outside of back-to-back losses, nothing has really changed for Arizona. It’s good one through eight on the roster with interchangeable parts.
Now they face the Razorbacks, led by sensational freshman Acuff, Jr., who Lloyd coached a couple of years ago for USA Basketball.
“Darius is a supreme talent, and he’s a great young man,” Lloyd said. “… Darius is a serious guy. He doesn’t always say a lot. I was only around him for three, three and a half weeks or something. So, I’m sure there’s more to him than I saw, but what I know is he’s a supreme competitor, and I know that’s a guy that’s not afraid of the moment, and he has the ability to kind of, quote-unquote, get the eye of the tiger. He has that ability and that mentality to kind of rise up his game based on the importance of the game.”
The question now is: can Arizona so can advance to the Elite Eight, a place it hasn’t reached in more than 10 years?
“I don’t really think the past is a predictor of the future,” Tobe Awaka said. “I think we’re just worried about what’s next up on our plate, which is Arkansas. We’re going to prepare to the best of our ability, follow the game plan, follow the scout, and hopefully if we do what we do, we’ll be successful.”
The game comes on the heels of Lloyd being mentioned – prominently – for the head coaching job at North Carolina, one that came open earlier this week. Distraction or not, there’s that talk.
“I already have one of the best jobs in the country,” he said. “One thing we talk about in our program all the time, and I think I’ve gotten better at, and I think our team has been crushing it this year, is just the ability to have full focus and be present in the moment.
So, I think we have a great team. I think we have a chance to advance in this tournament game by game. But I’m not delusional. I know we could lose tomorrow.
But this team deserves my full focus, so there’s not one thing that is going to knock me off my path. I’m 100 percent focused on Arizona basketball and this program, and I can’t wait until the ball gets thrown up tomorrow and then can’t wait to try to figure out a way to come out on top.”
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