The 2024-25 college basketball season quickly approaches and Arizona Wildcats head coach Tommy Lloyd is preparing his young men for their first foray in the Big 12 conference.
The challenges will be greater, the competition tougher, and the grind will be longer, but it will all be worth it should they come out on the other side with the same level of success that they have experienced throughout Lloyd’s tenure at the reigns.
Even with the added pressure of being in a new and better conference, expectations are high for the Wildcats, who have made the NCAA Tournament in all three seasons of Lloyd’s time with the program.
The three previous trips to the dance were much more short-lived than Arizona wanted, but there is a chance that they can break through that barrier this year, with Matt Norlander of CBS Sports even predicting that the Wildcats will finish the year as the runner-up for the National Championship.
“The Wildcats haven’t broken through in a big way in the NCAAs yet (two Sweet 16s and a first-round upset loss with a top-two seed in the past three tournaments),” writes Norlander, “but I will throw a dart and say the breakthrough happens in 2025.”
If any team is capable of doing it, it is Arizona with the roster that Lloyd has put together that includes veterans like Caleb Love, a preseason All-American, and Trey Townsend, as well as freshman Carter Bryant.
“Freshman Carter Bryant is one of the overlooked difference-makers,” adds Norlander, “nationally of all first-year guys.”
It has been a long time since the Wildcats made it that far in the NCAA Tournament, with their last Final Four appearance coming way back in 2001, years before the majority of the current roster was even born.
Tommy Lloyd has proven to be a winning head coach, however, and if any coach is capable of leading their team to the promised land, it is Lloyd.
“Tommy Lloyd has won 88 games in three seasons as a head coach, all at Arizona,” writes Norlander on Lloyd’s success, “all with a style that’s NBA-esque and eminently watchable.”
The wins will continue to come for the program, even with their new home being in the Big 12, as Lloyd and the roster that he has constructed for this year will make sure of that.
It is a promising season for Arizona, and those of us on the outside looking in have the pleasure of being able to witness it.
