Arizona Basketball: A bitter-sweet passing of the guard

It’s a new era for Arizona Basketball and for the Tucson community, as the hiring of Tommy Lloyd brings a number of mixed emotions for Wildcat fans.

We have made it through yet another painful hiring process conducted by the Arizona Athletic Department, and here we sit on the brink of a new dawn with Coach Tommy Lloyd who will lead the pack of Wildcats, ushering in a new era of Arizona Basketball.

As most new hires usually do, the addition of Lloyd brings about a sense of optimism, hope, and even some skepticism as to whether this is the right direction to be headed in. In the case of Arizona Basketball, this could not ring more true as the hiring of Lloyd has layers of emotions attached to it.

Arizona Wildcats

First off, now the former head coach, Sean Miller took the program out of a low point, and brought Arizona back to a competitive level, delivering multiple Elite Eights, Sweet Sixteens, Pac-12 Championships, etc. all while sending numerous players to the NBA.

Sean even boasted a winning record against the school from up north all while fueling the rivalry along the way by telling a reporter they can “head back to Phoenix”.

Over the years, Coach Miller gained respect and adoration in the hearts of many faithful Wildcats, and that could not be more evident in the roaring chants raining down from the rafters in McKale Center as he returned to the bench a few days after ESPN broke the initial news of the scandal.

While these accomplishments are hard to match, many loyal Wildcat fans will never forgive Coach Miller for the dark cloud that he has brought over the program through the accusations of the “pay-to-play”. The belief is out there that this will forever stain the program that Lute Olson worked endlessly to build into a national power.

For some Wildcat fans even though the highs were so sweet, some of Wildcat nation will never be able to get over the taste that was left in their mouth left by this investigation or the fact he could not deliver a Final Four.

Secondly, once it was released that Miller was no longer the coach at the University of Arizona, then came the push to hire an alum from the program. All sorts of names were thrown into the pot such as Steve Kerr, Miles Simon, and Damon Stoudamire among others.

There was a strong belief that there is no better way to get the program back to the Lute Olson days than to hire someone who played under him. This was echoed by former Arizona great Gilbert Arenas when he joins fellow Arizona great Richard Jefferson on Instagram live.

Gilbert put it bluntly and harshly when it came to his support of Damon Stoudamire as the next head coach for Arizona. He went as far as to say an “Assistant is just an assistant” and would not even mention or say the name he was referring to with that statement. The love for these former Arizona greats will never fade away so as one can imagine they instantly gained the support of the Wildcat faithful.

Then the news broke that Dave Heeke and President Robbins had other plans when it came to the directions of the program. As stated on an Instagram and Twitter post, they went out and “Got their man” in Lloyd, who was the top assistant coach under Mark Few at Gonzaga.

While Lloyd has no prior head coaching experience at this time, he does offer a laundry list of other qualities that could be beneficial moving forward. It is said that while Gonzaga, Coach Few filled his plate with varying tasks.

Some of those tasks include but are not limited to recruiting both within the states and internationally, player development, and left his fingerprints all over what is now a premier basketball program nationally.

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The roller coaster of emotions is hopefully coming to an end here soon as the final few wild turns along with ups and downs include the sanctions handed down from the NCAA. Along with who will stick around to play for coach Lloyd as we have seen Kerr Krissa and Daniel Batcho enter the transfer portal. Can coach Lloyd pull a Jedd Fisch and keep these players in Tucson? Or will he turn his attention elsewhere? It all systems go and it starts now for Coach Lloyd.

When it does smooth out and the ride is not so wild, hopefully, this sense of calm and stability bring back Arizona basketball to national prominence. As for right now, we are in a holding pattern as we wait for the next shoe to drop within this program. As always Wildcat fans, Bear Down and Go Cats.