Arizona Basketball: Offseason storylines to watch after early NCAA Tournament exit

The 2023 Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament may have just begun, but 16 teams have already been eliminated. One of those teams is Arizona Basketball after suffering a 59-55 loss to the Princeton Tigers. After finishing second in the PAC-12 regular season with a 14-6 record, Tommy Lloyd’s squad finished eighth in the final AP Poll and earned a No. 2 seed in the South Region.

Despite having the seventh-highest scoring average in the country at just under 82 points per game, the Wildcats were outscored by Princeton in the paint, on the boards and off the bench. Now, as Princeton moves on into the tournament, everybody in Tucson is left looking forward to next season and wondering “what’s next”? for their beloved Wildcats.

Coaching Staff

Despite underachieving in the tournament, Head Coach Tommy Lloyd’s job at Arizona is safe. With a combined 61-11 record over two years and multiple Coach of the Year Awards at the culmination of the 2021-22 season, Lloyd will be back to continue the 19-million-dollar contract he has through to 2027.

If anybody was to move on from the Wildcats’ coaching staff it would be Associate Head Coach Jack Murphy. Murphy not only has experience as a head coach at Northern Arizona, he was also Associate Head Coach under Sean Miller. While there is no guarantee an Athletic Director will come calling, nobody should be surprised if one does.