Arizona men’s basketball coach Tommy Lloyd and his staff have assembled a top-10 caliber roster for next season. But there’s still work to be done.
Lloyd appeared on Jon Rothstein’s podcast Tuesday, where he addressed Arizona’s offseason roster construction. Lloyd said Arizona is still “maybe trying to add a piece or two” at the power forward position.
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“I’m still trying to figure out exactly how the roster finishes off,” Lloyd said. ”(I want to) kind of lock into maybe a Plan A style of play.“
When asked about how the team’s identity looks, Lloyd added, “The position that always swings that is kind of the four. And that’s the position we’re still trying to finalize right now. I think we have some good options.”
Arizona added multiple big men in the offseason while waiting for Koa Peat to decide whether to stay in the NBA Draft, which he ultimately chose to do.
As of now, the most likely addition to slot at the four is Ugnius Jarusevicius, a 6-foot-11 forward who missed all but one game last season due to an injury. Arizona also brought in Idaho State transfer Evan Otten, a 6-foot-10 center, and Dutch forward Endurance Aiyamenkhue, who checks in at 6-foot-11. Arizona later added Montenegrin big man Maksim Brnović, who is 6-foot-10.
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While the group of newcomers will compete for playing time, none are an immediate successor to Peat. Arizona missed out on a potential replacement in Iowa State transfer Milan Momcilovic, who chose Kentucky over the UA and Louisville.
Arizona theoretically has the rest of the summer to fill its roster. One holdup could be the NCAA’s new eligibility guidance for signing international players. As Sports Illustrated’s Kevin Sweeney laid out, the NCAA wants to limit colleges from adding players who’ve been paid to play professionally overseas.
How aggressively the NCAA plans to enforce this guidance for the upcoming season could affect who Arizona signs.
Lloyd’s comments to Rothstein on Arizona looking to add another player were only one part of a wider conversation that touched on his decision to stay in Tucson over taking the North Carolina job, what has or hasn’t changed since leading Arizona to a Final Four and how next season’s schedule is shaping up.
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Lloyd, as is his tendency, put aside any crazy expectations for the coming year.
“I’m not going to set any limitations on us, I’m not going to make any crazy proclamations,“ Lloyd said. ”Let’s just put our heads down and get to work.“
