Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd is first in the ESPN "Ranking the top 12 men's Coach of the Year contenders at midseason." Former Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said, "Tommy Lloyd, right now, is the best coach in America that gets the least amount of talk" during the TNT pregame show on Saturday.
Arizona set a program record with its 22nd consecutive win to begin the season on Saturday at Arizona State. The Wildcats' win over the Sun Devils was the second game in a doubleheader on TNT on Saturday. Arizona has been the unanimous number one team in the past three weeks.
The 22 consecutive wins have set the Arizona program record to begin a season and tied the standard overall. Arizona and Michigan have been competing to be the two best teams in the metrics this season. Michigan head coach Dusty May is fourth in the ESPN ranking of the coach of the year candidates at midseason.
Lloyd took a chance, having confidence in starting three freshmen with four in the rotation over adding any players of significance through the Transfer Portal. Brayden Burries leads Arizona in scoring and Koa Peat is second for the Wildcats in points per game as freshmen who have made significant impacts.
"1. Tommy Lloyd, ArizonaJeff Borzello, ESPN
Lloyd has guided Arizona to a top-four seed in the NCAA tournament in each of his four seasons in Tucson, including a 1-seed in 2022. Now he has his best roster...One of the final two unbeatens of the season, the Wildcats' 22-0 record includes wins...over UConn, BYU, Florida and Alabama. Arizona lost five of its top eight players from last season, including leading scorer Caleb Love and NBA draft lottery pick Carter Bryant, but are on an eight-week run at No. 1 in the AP poll after debuting at No. 13 in the preseason"
Ivan Kharchenkov is the third freshman starter for Arizona and possibly the best two-way player for the Wildcats. All of the roster moves for Arizona and lineup decisions have impacted the 22-0 start. Tobe Awaka and Anthony Dell'Orso have been key contributors off the bench after starting in 2024-25.
As Jeff Borzello of ESPN mentions above, Arizona has wins over Connecticut, BYU, Florida and Alabama that were all away from home. After hosting Oklahoma State on Saturday, Arizona has another gauntlet on Monday at Kansas, followed by Texas Tech and BYU at home and at Houston.
Arizona hosts Kansas and Iowa State later in the season. If Arizona gets through those games with a maximum of three losses, Lloyd will have a strong case for National Coach of the Year. The Big XII Tournament will arguably be more challenging than the NCAA Tournament.
This might not be the most talented roster Arizona has had under Lloyd. The most talented Arizona roster during the Lloyd era was likely in his first season in 2021-22. After losing 13 games in 2024-25, the most for Arizona since 2018-19, this season is arguably the best coaching job Lloyd has done.