Arizona Basketball: Projected starting lineup and depth chart for 2021-22 season
By Tuck Clarry
One of the most heralded programs in the country is looking for a fresh start. After missing the tournament since 2018 and facing NCAA probes and investigations for a handful of years, Arizona Basketball decided to turn the page and relieve Sean Miller of his duties. School President Robert Robbins and Director of Athletics Dave Heeke went the route of first-time head coach Tommy Lloyd, who served as an assistant coach to Mark Few at Gonzaga for 20 seasons.
It’s common for a coaching change to result in a mass exodus of the roster, but for the most part, Lloyd was able to keep most of the team on board for the upcoming season. The talent that left appeared to be the norm of what the transfer portal has become.
2020-2021 leading scorer James Akinjo tested the NBA waters before deciding to transfer to the defending national champions Baylor. Terrel Brown Jr. (Washington), Jordan Brown (Louisiana), Jemarl Baker (Fresno State), and Ira Lee (George Washington) all announced their new spots before Lloyd received the job in April.
In fact, Lloyd did an outstanding job of having Miller’s players’ buy-in to the program’s potential moving forward. He said at Pac-12 media day:
"The first thing for me, especially in this new era of transfers and everything, was just connecting with the current guys on the roster and doing the best job I could with them and figuring out what their wants and needs were. You can call it re-recruiting, you can call it building a relationship, whatever you want, but to me that that was priority one is making sure that I’m embracing the current guys in the program."
It’s not entirely known what the new Wildcats’ style is going to be. While Lloyd served as an assistant, Few never shied away from the suggestions or ideas Lloyd offered to help Gonzaga become a top 2 offensive ratings in KenPom for 4 of the last 5 years. In fact, a lot of credit also goes to Lloyd in helping Gonzaga turn the corner in becoming a credible defense as well.
Lloyd will no doubt take advantage of the length and athleticism on this roster on both ends of the court. Here is the rotation that will look to start fresh and get back to playing in the NCAA tournament.