Biggest Takeaways from the Arizona Basketball Media Day

The 2022-23 Arizona Basketball season is nearly here, and Tommy Lloyd and the Wildcats took to McKale Center for its annual media day. 

It has been a long off-season without Arizona Basketball, but luckily as the temperature drops in Tucson, so do the number of days until the start of the 2022-23 season.

Returning to action in their annual media day on Tuesday, head coach Tommy Lloyd fielded several questions from the media where he ultimately discussed everything from what he learned in year one, the team preview in 2022-23, and some players to keep an eye on.

So with the Arizona Basketball season just around the corner, here are the biggest takeaways from the media event.

Arizona will look to be more Physical

Arizona was a tough team last season for everyone, but as we learned last year in the NCAA Tournament, once the Wildcats faced TCU and Houston, Arizona was not prepared.

Well, this season, it appears Tommy and the Cats are doing their best to become a more physical team. Practicing drills where guys are being more physical in the paint, this is an approach that needs to happen if the Cats hope to advance deep into the tourney.

Arizona lost a lot of production but should be a tough matchup in ’22-’23

Losing one player to the NBA Draft can be tough. Losing three players is a big deal. Luckily, even with the production the Wildcats lost, Arizona should still be well-equipped to compete this coming season.

With returners like Pelle Larsson, Azuolas Tubelis, Kerr Kriisa, Oumar Ballo, and several key additions, Arizona should be in a position to compete at a high level.

Granted, I don’t see Arizona being quite the team they were last year; however, look for Arizona to still be a tough matchup for several teams this season.

Look for Pelle Larsson to make a big jump

We saw at times last season that Pelle was right there to flip the switch, and we even got glimpses of brilliance in the basketball action he did play.

Returning for his second season in Tucson, Larsson begins the year healthy, and with a year of experience in Lloyd’s system, Pelle should make a sizable jump.

We all saw his production in the FIBA Qualifiers this Summer, and there is no reason to believe that he won’t make a jump this season. I feel like this is the year for Pelle, and he should be one of Arizona’s best players.

Courtney Ramey could become a fan favorite

Arizona always has one or two of these players each year and heading into 2022-23, according to Lloyd, Wildcat fans will have one in Texas transfer Courtney Ramey.

A fifth-year senior, Courtney impacts the game on so many levels and he brings so many intangibles that should be incredibly valuable to Arizona this season.

His work ethic, skill, and leadership are seemingly infectious, and his presence is going to be felt in a big way this year.

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