As season opener nears, Tommy Lloyd still has 'no idea' if RJ Godfrey will be eligible

But even as Texas judge Ryan Luna said Thursday that athletes who jumped into a Texas five-or-five case would not receive a preliminary injunction, Lloyd remained optimistic.

It is possible a ruling to grant an injunction might still involve all plaintiffs and the Texas Trial Group filed the Texas lawsuit is arguing that the new plaintiffs such as Godfrey "had the unilateral right to refile in Texas."

"You're speculating about things that are so many degrees removed right now, and I know that's your job, but I'm focused just on the task at hand," Lloyd said, when asked about contingency plans if he can't start Godfrey at power forward. "Let's see. If we get good news today, maybe that changes everything."

Godfrey was initially a plaintiff in a Georgia five-for-five lawsuit, which resulted in an injunction that could have cleared Godfrey -- until the NCAA received a stay on that order last month. With oral arguments for aan appeal not scheduled until January, so Godfrey jumped in the Texas case, as did other athletes who had reached roadblocks elsewhere.

"I don't have all the stats. ... but somebody told me there's something like 80 guys currently eligible, and there's like 20 currently not eligible," Lloyd said. "What's funny is (Godfrey) was the lead plaintiff in the first case, and they won. And he's... it's just, it's, whatever.

"There's so many things that go into it. We could go down that rabbit hole, but (Godfrey's) family's been great. They're great people, they have high character, and they've done everything the right way. I'm hopeful that they'll be rewarded because R.J. is deserving."

During his press conference Friday in advance of UA's season opener against UCLA on Monday, Lloyd discussed how he's shifted small forward Ivan Kharchenkov to power forward without Godfrey around, and also the move of freshman wing Maksim Brnovic into that spot.

But Lloyd also said he felt better about those solutions as a short-term fix, clearly hoping Godfrey at some point is able to provide the true power forward the Wildcats might need.

"We know some things are up in the air and some decisions are going to be made," Lloyd said. "We have no idea which direction they're going to go, and like I said, hopefully we'll get a positive resolution at some point. Then we can kind of move forward and figure out what this team can be all about. "