SAN JOSE, Calif.—To no one’s surprise, Tommy Lloyd has been mentioned as a top candidate for the opening at North Carolina. So it goes when you’ve won more games in the first five seasons of your coaching career than anyone in NCAA history.
But would Lloyd want to leave Arizona for UNC, considered one of the best jobs in college basketball if not the best?
“I already have one of the best jobs in the country,” Lloyd said Wednesday during his press conference ahead of the UA’s Sweet 16 matchup with Arkansas.
UNC fired Hubert Davis on Tuesday after five seasons, and though he won 125 games and reached the NCAA title game in his first year—with Caleb Love, to boot—he missed the tourney the next season and the last two years have ended with first-round losses. The 6th-seeded Tar Heels were upset by No. 11 VCU last week.
The blue blood program, which has won four national titles, is poised to go outside the Carolina family for a head coach for the first time in more than 60 years. Lloyd is among several high-profile names mentioned as possible candidates.
Many of those are already out of the NCAA Tournament unlike Lloyd, who is trying to get Arizona to the Final Four for the first time since 2001. A win over Arkansas would advance the Wildcats to their first Elite Eight in 11 years.
“One thing we talk about in our program all the time, and I think I’ve gotten better at, and I think our team has been crushing it this year, is just the ability to have full focus and be present in the moment,” Lloyd said. “So I think we have a great team. I think we have a chance to advance in this tournament game by game. But I’m not delusional. I know we could lose tomorrow.
“This team deserves my full focus, so there’s not one thing that is going to knock me off my path. I’m 100 percent focused on Arizona basketball and this program, and I can’t wait until the ball gets thrown up tomorrow, and then can’t wait to try to figure out a way to come out on top.”
