There are longer offseasons in other college sports, but the one between the end of one Arizona basketball season and the next somehow feels longer. Especially when the former finished with a thud.
A second trip to the Sweet 16 in three seasons under Tommy Lloyd turned out to be the ceiling for last year’s Wildcats, who were knocked off by Clemson in the West Regional for yet another NCAA Tournament elimination as the higher seed. In past years that would have been followed by a mass exodus of talent from the program, either via graduation, the NBA Draft or, more recently, the transfer portal.
Those things happened again this offseason, with two starters going pro and two others transferring to the Big Ten. But what remains, and what’s been added, has the makings of a pretty good team.
“I don’t really have any concerns,” Lloyd said of his fourth UA roster, which will make its regular-season debut Monday against Canisius. “I like where we’re at. I like who we got. I believe in them wholeheartedly. I like the work they’ve done, and I love the direction they’re going. That doesn’t mean things won’t pop up over time as you deal with adversity and maybe get exposed on a few things. But sitting here today, I don’t. I’m not saying we’re a perfect team, but I feel really good about where we’re at.”
The 8 p.m. MT game, which will be streamed—get used to this, Wildcat Nation—on ESPN+, marks the start of Arizona’s tenure in the Big 12 Conference after 46 years in the Pac-12. The Wildcats are projected to finish 5th in the Big 12, while also sitting 10th in the initial Associated Press poll.
The big games will come, but for now Arizona will open with one of a handful of buy games on the schedule. Here’s what to watch for when the Wildcats host the Golden Griffins:
Starters and starter-quality reserves
Arizona’s backcourt is locked in, with Jaden Bradley, Caleb Love and KJ Lewis set to start at the 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Only Love started last season, but Bradley and Lewis were also significant contributors especially during the postseason and their collective experience makes Lloyd feel that Arizona has the old-school equivalent of a backcourt full of juniors and seniors.
Oakland transfer Trey Townsend looked great in Arizona’s two exhibition games, making 6 of 8 3-pointers after only making 12 all of last season, and his versatility should allow him to throw as the 4. That leaves the 5 spot, which has been Tennessee transfer Tobe Awaka in the preseason but may end up being Motiejus Krivas if/when he’s healthy.
Lloyd said this past week that Krivas, who has been out with an ankle injury, has been practicing and could play in the opener, but there’s also no need to rush his return. The more pressing game for him to be ready for is Nov. 15 at Wisconsin, as neither of Arizona’s first two opponents have much size in the post.
As for the bench, expect the UA to legitimately go at least nine deep with Henri Veesaar the third option down low while Anthony Dell’Orso and Carter Bryant will play meaningful minutes at the 3 and 4. Coming off the bench will be something new for both, as Dell’Orso started 31 of 32 games last season at Campbell and Bryant was a 5-star recruit who was always his team’s best player.
“I’ve never been in a position where I’ve come off the bench before,” Bryant said. “Usually I’m used to being the biggest guy on the court. Now I’m playing catch up. It’s been a journey. Trust me, if you would have saw me the first three weeks of practice they were beating up on me. Anytime they got a switch on me they were like, okay, we’re gonna go after this kid.”
Dell’Orso, whom Lloyd said told him during their whirlwind recruitment in the spring would rather come off the bench at Arizona than start for other teams, said who is on the court at the outset isn’t as important as who is contributing down the stretch.
“There’s a rumor that people think that starters are everything and the bench is nothing, and that’s not how it works,” Dell’Orso said. “At this level you need everyone to win. It doesn’t really matter if I’m starting or if I’m coming off the bench playing 30 minutes, either way I’m playing 30 minutes.”
Caleb Love 2.0
En route to winning the final Pac-12 Player of the Year award, Love set career highs in scoring (18.0) and rebounding (4.8) and was a huge part of the Wildcats winning that last conference title. But he also was a huge determining factor in most of their losses, shooting 36.5 percent overall and 25.9 percent from 3 in defeat compared to 43.4/36.2 in wins.
The 5-for-18 performance in the Sweet 16, including going 0 for 9 from outside, would have been a terrible way for Love to finish off what had been a stellar UA career. Instead, after testing the NBA Draft waters for the second year in a row he came back to Tucson.
And rather than just prepare for another season of the same from Love, he and Lloyd sat down and discussed a plan for how the fifth-year senior could make the most of this last go-around. Some of that has been on display in the preseason, as Love is playing off the ball instead of with it and limiting his 3-point attempts to catch-and-shoot, while also showing even more aggression inside the arc.
“I don’t think Caleb, every second on the floor, has to try to outdo what he’s done before,” Lloyd said after the Point Loma exhibition. “I love how he blends into the game. I love the fundamentals he’s playing with, and just really valuing those. He had a drive in the second half, going left, got to a jump stop, he picked the ball up, a good pickup, had a swivel … and a little dumpdown pass for Trey for a dunk. I thought that was one of the better plays for the entire game. The highlight dunks and coming off the ball screen and dunking, and that’s cool. He can do that, but I just think to keep getting him to appreciate the simple things and the fundamentals and that that’ll be great value for our team and great value for him as a player.”
Love is fourth among active Division I scorers with 2,124 points, and in 2023-24 was the UA’s leading scorer in 19 of 36 games. He’ll no doubt be at the top of the list several times this season, but maybe not nearly as much as a year ago.
“Caleb and I have a lot of trust in each other, and he knows that me maybe asking him not to do more is good for our team, and ultimately could be really good for him in what he what he’s trying to pursue,” Lloyd said. “Listen, I’m sure Caleb’s gonna have 25-point plus games here and there. I mean, that’s just the type of player he can be. But I don’t know if we want to build our team where we’re dependent on that. I think we have a lot of weapons and a lot of pieces, and we come at you a lot of different ways.”
An unknown opponent
Twice last week Lloyd joked that he didn’t know the school colors of Canisius—it’s blue and gold—because he was still focused on Arizona before switching his attention over the weekend to scouting the Golden Griffins. But there’s only so much study the Wildcats can do on their first opponent because of how different that team is from last season.
Canisius has a new head coach, Jim Christian, who has previous stints in charge of Kent State, TCU, Ohio and, most recently Boston College from 2014-21. He has a career record of 320-286 with nine postseason appearances including two NCAA bids at Kent State in the mid-2000s, but at Canisius he’s inheriting a program that hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 1996.
A member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Canisius only brings back four players from a 14-18 team. The projected starting lineup includes transfers from Central Michigan, Long Island and Mercer.
The Golden Griffins are projected by KenPom.com to 12-19 this season, 9-11 in its league, and are ranked No. 308 out of 364 Division I schools, making them the lowest-rated team on Arizona’s schedule. As a result, the predicted result (92-62) gives the Wildcats a 99.7 percent chance of winning.
