Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd discusses Akron, coaching future NBA players, and more.
[Jason Scheer](https://247sports.com/user/Jason Scheer/)
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SEATTLE, Wash. - * Arizona is set to face Akron on Friday and head coach Tommy Lloyd isn't paying much attention to seedings and favorites.
"Akron's going to present a bunch of challenges," Lloyd said. "They have had a great season and Coach Groce has done a great job. Hey, from my perspective you throw the seeds out the window and you go out there and you put 20 minutes on the clock and the score's going to be 0-0 and let's see what happens."
* Lloyd has won 110 games in his first four years at Arizona and was asked about the basis of that success.
"I feel like we should have won 120," Lloyd said. "I don't know if there's anything special about it to be honest with you. I think it's just a simple approach. I'm pretty much a day-to-day guy. If I say something, I try to do it. I think this day and age with players, I think, you know, I guess hard enough on our guys but I think that I have good enough relationships with them that I can do that.
"I love competing. I love competing. I love the challenge of it. Like this year going to the Big 12 I know was probably going to knock your winning percentage down a little bit, but I tell you, I enjoyed every minute of it. Even the tough minutes, like every day just the challenge that this job brings and you're kind of defined through competition, I mean that's pretty cool. I don't think a lot of people get to experience that.
"Now it makes for maybe a different lifestyle than most people are living because literally your life is ebbing and flowing on a ball going in a basket and you scoring more points than them. Honestly, I don't think anything extra special, I think I ended up in a great place and I'm fortunate."
* Throughout the years, Lloyd has worked closely with future NBA players and he has been able to impact them just as they have been able to impact him.
"Here's the deal, there's probably 50 people that are supposed to be lottery pick, well only 15 can be," Lloyd said. "So what, the other 35 fail? I think learning how to navigate that is the most important thing because at the end of the day what's the objective? Well, the number one objective should always be to have a happy, healthy productive life. I think we put such expectations on these kids that they don't understand that if they're not that lottery pick, you have a 18, 19, 20-year-old kid thinking they failed and then have you the people around them that are associated with their success thinking they failed.
"So what do they do? They push, they prod, and imagine being that 18, 19, 20-year-old kid, I mean that's a lot. I think a lot of times my job is to help them manage that process and have them understand that is a process, it's not an event. Everyone wants it to be an event. You do this, well that's going to come. That's not how it works. It's a lot more complicated than that.
"I think for me it's made me a better coach because I've had to step back and realize that, man, I've got to help them manage not only the ups, but I really have to help them manage the downs and but at the same time I've got to be the most maybe honest person in their life with basketball, like, no, that's not good enough or maybe you're not ready for that yet or maybe that's not the right thing for this team. Then kind of walk 'em through that stuff."
* Instead of drawing on past experiences with other teams, Lloyd believes this time of year is when you have to continue to do what has led to success.
"Well, I think that you have to understand each team's journey is unique and it's their first time as a team, so you have to acknowledge that," Lloyd said. "You can't just say, hey, two years ago this happened and expect that lesson to be learned by everybody. I think that the coolest thing is about this tournament is it's one and done. It's the coolest thing and the worst thing about it all together.
"You have to have your team prepared to come out to play, come out and play consistent basketball. I think you really have to call on the things you've done all year. That's the approach that I take. I'm sure players that have been there, I mean obviously there's probably a little bit of an advantage of having played in a few tournaments and stuff like that, but all in all I don't think it matters because once that ball goes up, like I said the score's 0-0.
"I don't think, you know, if one team hasn't been to the Tournament as much as the other I don't think the team that hasn't been is going to say, well, you have been to the Tournament more than we have, so we're going to take it easy. That's not how it goes. These games are knockdown, drag-out affairs and you got to be prepared to compete like that."
* Arizona players have been consistent in saying it is important to get rid of the outside noise this week.
"I've really become disciplined and learned how to do that," Lloyd said. "All these things, if you don't acknowledge them, this chatter and all this stuff, it's just stuff that's floating out there and it doesn't stick to you. I think it allows you to be maybe the most authentic version of yourself.
"We've talked about that with our guys and hey, I'm not putting limits on their phone, they have to have the discipline to do that themselves and I think it's important. I think it's important to just hunker in on your deal, pour yourself into your teammates. You worked all season for this and come out and try to give it your best effort, because we know you can play good tomorrow and lose, so there is not much room for error."
* Akron head coach John Groce mentioned that he studies Lloyd's offense at Arizona while trying to change his offense to become more up tempo.
"Every coach is a thief," Lloyd said. "You know, a lot of best ideas are things you get watching something on TV or decide to go study another team. That's cool that people do it. I'm doing it all the time. I'm watching his team playing and I'm like oh, that's interesting. I think that's how the coaching mind works.
"Nothing that I'm doing with basketball hasn't probably been done before. I probably learned it from somewhere else, but I know this, John was coaching at Illinois, they came up and played us when we were at Gonzaga and they beat us at a point where I mean we're talking maybe two or three people had ever done that. He was really innovative. He was doing things on the offensive end of the floor that we really hadn't seen much of."