Tommy Lloyd excited for Arizona basketball newcomers like Keshad Johnson, loaded schedule

Himself.

Speaking about how he quickly assembled a group of six newcomers this spring to give the Wildcats a full roster for 2023-24, Lloyd said he told San Diego State transfer Keshad Johnson he would attend his college graduation party on one condition.

“We were kind of going back and forth in his recruitment, and he asked us, `Hey, if we do this would you guys be able to attend my graduation ceremony?’ “ Lloyd said. “We told him the only way we could do it is if he signed. That’s true. He signed, and so we headed that way. It was really cool.”

Lloyd said former UA and Golden State standout Andre Iguodala even “decided to pop in” and help celebrate Johnson becoming the first college graduate in his family.

Johnson has since moved to Tucson to begin a graduate season while playing for the Wildcats, and Lloyd predicted a strong bond will soon develop.

“Keshad’s a great guy,” Lloyd said. “All of our guys are but he just has a real special ability to make teams better and he's an amazing, high character person.

“His family — McKale and Tucson are gonna love them. They’re awesome people and they come with great energy and positive spirits.”

During press conferences at McKale Center on Friday and during the Section 7 event at State Farm Stadium in the Phoenix area's West Valley on Saturday, Lloyd also expressed enthusiasm for the other five players he pulled during the spring: North Carolina transfer guard Caleb Love, Alabama transfer guard Jaden Bradley, Lithuanian 7-footer Motiejus Krivas, Lithuanian forward Paulius Murauskas and Spanish guard Conrad Martinez.

Of particular note:

• Lloyd said it had been an “eventful offseason, as they all seem to be,” but stopped short of saying he anticipated a heavy reload every spring despite the increasingly fluid nature of roster rebuilding in the NIL/transfer portal era.

“I'm going to double down more than ever on recruiting great guys, building great relationships with them, being really invested in the players in our program and doing the best job we can to build a great culture that sustainable. Nothing's gonna veer me off that path.

"This seems easier than two years ago (after UA hired Lloyd). Two years ago, . everybody was new, including me," he added. "There's never any reason to panic. We've got great guys. We've had a really good offseason so far."

• Lloyd and his staff have been evaluating recruits this weekend at the Section 7 event, a showcase of mostly Western-based high school teams who have Division I prospects. It was one of the scholastic events created in the wake of the FBI’s investigation into college basketball, which led to a commission that recommended cutting back on allowing coaches to attend shoe-sponsored club ball events.

“The first couple of years with (newly created) high school events, it was pretty sporadic and nobody had kind of figured it out. Section 7 was one of the first events to really put something together that was substantial. I still don't think we know totally how it's going to feel at work because COVID got in the middle when they were starting the transition … but all in all, I think they've been positive moves.”

• Though he’s only been able to work with a handful of the 2023-24 players so far this summer — Love, Johnson, Alabama transfer Jaden Bradley and incoming freshman KJ Lewis among them — Lloyd said his roster has good complimentary pieces and versatility.

"I don't think we've got a lot of guys with jagged edges. I think we have a team that's going to have the ability to play incredibly hard. We're gonna strive to play incredibly unselfish and very aggressive."

• While Love has drawn considerable attention, having been something of a lightning rod as an inefficient long-range shooter for an underachieving North Carolina team last season, Lloyd said he has been a “joy to be around” and looked forward to integrating him into the Wildcats’ scheme. Lloyd said he didn't yet know how roles will shake out but he knows Bradley well from having tried to sign him out of high school before he initially chose Alabama.

“Jaden is awesome. He's a really good player, a crazy hard worker, a high character person. We're very familiar with him and we're fortunate it worked out this time around. I'm thankful he chose Arizona and hopefully we can help him get what he wants out of this experience.”

• Lloyd said he also hasn’t thought about what role rising senior wing Pelle Larsson would play after starting early last season and finishing as a sixth man who played starter’s minutes. The arrival of Love and Bradley suggests either Bradley or Larsson will likely come off the bench, a role Larsson has become comfortable with.

 “I honestly haven't even thought about that stuff. I want to get our guys together on the court and figure out how we fit together. Pelle is going to be one of the best players in our program. He’s a really good player who's primed to have kind of a breakout, great year.”

• In his two new Lithuanians, Lloyd has distinctly different skillsets: Motiejas Krivas is a 7-2 low-post presence, while Paulius Murauskas is a combo forward who is comfortable shooting 3-pointers.

“Krivas is a big guy with a big body,” Lloyd said. “I think he (can be) a creative player with his passing and ability to read the game and I think he's a guy that impacts the game with great hands and size.

“Murauskas plays facing the basket and he's got good size and good strength. He's very aggressive and he's very physical. He's got a knack for scoring and plays with that chip on his shoulder.”

• On a perimeter that already adds Love, Bradley, Larsson and Lewis to returning sophomores Filip Borovicanin and Kylan Boswell, Spanish freshman guard Conrad Martinez isn’t expected to have an immediate impact. But Lloyd indicated he will ignite the crowds over time.

“I think this fan base is gonna love him,” Lloyd said. “He’s a winner. He plays with fire. I'm sure he's gonna have to get over here and figure it out a little bit, but I think it's gonna be really cool for Tucson to have a native-speaking Spanish player," Lloyd said. "And he plays with some personality and some charisma. I'm excited to see Conrad's relationship with Tucson grow.”

• At Gonzaga, Lloyd became accustomed to scheduling high-level nonconference games because of the weaker competition the Zags faced in West Coast Conference games, so he initially said he would have to consider at UA how best to mix in nonconference opponents with tougher Pac-12 teams. But for next season, he has added five high-major opponents for his third season in 2023-24: Duke, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Purdue and Alabama.

“We want to be one of the best programs in the country, so we want to take some swings in the nonconference. I think it’s great for our team. It's great for our fan base. There’s not a set formula that we have for it but I love our schedule. It's really going to be challenging, and there's a lot of great opportunities in it.”

• Lloyd indicated he’s hoping to build a more resilient team than the one that narrowed down to just a seven-man rotation late last season, then losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Princeton after suffering key injuries to guard Kerr Kriisa and center Oumar Ballo in the Pac-12 Tournament.

“I really loved our team last year and we had a really good season. We just had a tough few minutes at the wrong time, and in college basketball -- that's what makes it so great and so so heartbreaking — it's `season over.' But I appreciated that we kept taking steps forward as a program. We were capable of making a run like any of those other teams but that just didn't happen for us. So now, the challenge is to … maybe increase your margin for error. So if we're in that situation again, the outcome is a little bit different.”