NCAA South Region: Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd leads Wildcats’ rapid rise to a No. 1 seed
Tommy Lloyd has quickly returned Arizona to national prominence.
This new group of Wildcats – working to remove the stain of corruption that led to the firing of former coach Sean Miller – heads into the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed, topping the field in the South Region in Lloyd’s first season.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to go continue to make a mark,” Lloyd said Sunday night. “So we’re going to attack it. We’re not defending anything. We’re going for it. We’re going to come out and play with a bunch of energy and hopefully a bunch of swag, and have some fun.”
Arizona (31-3) will open play Friday in San Diego against the Wright State-Bryant winner.
It’s part of a quick rise for a program that was unranked in the AP Top 25 to start the season and was picked to finish no better than fourth in the Pac-12.
Lloyd, 47, helped Mark Few build a national power at Gonzaga after a long run as a Zags assistant, then took over at Arizona last April after the school had fired Miller amid the fallout from NCAA charges in 2020 tied to a federal corruption investigation into college basketball.
Arizona imposed a postseason ban last season and last played in the NCAA Tournament in 2018. But with Lloyd providing stability and a fresh start, the Wildcats could accomplish milestones not recently seen around Tucson.
It’s the seventh No. 1 seed for Arizona, which will try to return to the Final Four for the first time since 2001. A title run would mark the first Pac-12 team to cut down the nets since Arizona won its only other title in 1997 under late Hall of Famer Lute Olson.
Top challengers
Villanova is the No. 2 seed, with coach Jay Wright pursuing a third national title in six tournaments. The Wildcats (26-7) open against 15th-seeded Delaware on Friday in Pittsburgh after winning another Big East title.
“When you go through that experience at Madison Square Garden and you’re in that excitement and then you come down from that, and people are hyping you up, you’ve got to get yourself refocused,” Wright said. “It concerns me.”
First-timers
The bracket includes a pair of first-time tournament programs in Bryant and Longwood.
Entering the play-in game, the Bulldogs (22-9) – who won the Northeast Conference Tournament – have the nation’s leading scorer in senior guard Peter Kiss, who is averaging 25.1 points and 5.8 rebounds.
The Lancers (26-6) are the 14-seed after winning the Big South Conference Tournament and will face Tennessee on Thursday in Indianapolis.
Intriguing matchups
Eighth-seeded Seton Hall meets ninth-seeded TCU in the first round with the winner likely to face Arizona.
The bracket also features No. 5 seed Houston meeting 12th-seeded UAB as the Cougars look to follow up their first Final Four trip since 1984, as well as No. 4 seed Illinois meeting 13th-seeded Chattanooga.
At the bottom of the bracket, Sister Jean’s Loyola Chicago team is back in the field as a No. 10 seed with a first-round matchup against seventh-seeded Ohio State.