USA Basketball made it official Thursday that Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd will return to coach the organization’s top youth team in the U19 World Cup next summer in Switzerland.
USA qualified for the event when the Lloyd-coached USA team won gold in the U18 FIBA AmeriCup and it has long been USA’s style to preserve staffs for two-year rotations with a similar cohort of prospects.
Lloyd will have the same two assistants he had in Argentina last summer: Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland and Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry.
In Argentina, Lloyd was also joined two other UA staffers: Trainer Justin Kokoskie and assistant coach Rem Bakamus. Kokoskie served as USA's athletic trainer, and Bakamus was a staff assistant.
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd directs USA during its 110-70 win over Argentina in the championship game of the FIBA U18 AmeriCup tournament in Buenos Aires.
“I’m taking a two-year approach to this,” Lloyd said during the U18 training camp last summer. “I’m hoping a lot of these kids will be with us next year, so we’ll have a little bit of continuity. I think we’re organized and we’ll have a purpose when we’re playing. That’s what I wanted it to be.
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“I didn’t want it to turn into an open gym, rat-ball scenario. I’m coaching ’em like I would be coaching them at Arizona.”
The FIBA U19 World Cup is scheduled for June 28-July 6 in Lausanne, Switzerland, meaning the USA Training camp will probably begin in mid-June.
"It's always an honor to serve USA Basketball," Lloyd said in a USA Basketball statement Thursday. "I have always been a fan of FIBA basketball and will embrace the opportunity to lead a very talented group of young men this summer. I look forward to working with coach McCasland and coach Shrewsberry again as we try to bring home gold from the World Cup."
USA has won eight gold medals in the history of the FIBA U19 World Cup, including the 2019 and 2021 events, though the Americans finished fourth in the 2023 event behind gold medalist Spain, France (silver) and Turkey (bronze).
UA center Tobe Awaka was USA's leading rebounder (10.6) and second-leading scorer (11.6) in the 2023 U19 World Cup, when Colorado coach Tad Boyle led the America staff.
