Arizona basketball's Tommy Lloyd receives Naismith Coach of the Year award

While Lloyd thanked the Naismith committee during a brunch for the "incredible honor," he also noted that it might have been sent to Michigan coach Dusty May, whose Wolverines handed the Wildcats a 91-73 defeat in the NCAA semifinals on Saturday night.

"When they send this award, they're shipping it home... I got Dusty's home address on it because he's deserving to be the coach of the year," Lloyd said. "He did an incredible job. That's as good of a well-coached team as I've ever played against yesterday and that's a tribute to him. He's got a great chance to bring it home tomorrow."

As it was, Lloyd and May, along with Duke's Jon Scheyer and Nebraska's Fred Hoiberg, all received national coach of the year honors of some type this season.

While Lloyd was given Naismith and Sporting News coach of the year awards, Hoiberg was named Associated Press Coach of the Year, May was named the Henry Iba coach of the year by the United States Basketball Writers Association and Scheyer won the National Association of Basketball Coach of the Year award. 

Lloyd, Scheyer and May led the three teams that spent most of the season clustered atop the national polls, while the Cornhuskers won 28 games and reached their first NCAA Tournament in 10 years under Hoiberg.

Lloyd's Wildcats were ranked 13th in the Associated Press preseason top 25 poll but spent nine weeks in the No. 1 spot during the season, then won the Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles en route to a 36-3 record that ended Saturday.

While the Naismith brunch was closed to media, Lloyd thanked his players and family during remarks provided on audio by Arizona Athletics.

"This coaching deal is tough, and you've got to have some toughness and some grit to hang with it," Lloyd said. " I always tell our people my media is on my ass, and you've got to be tough enough to take the loss and get back up and learn from it and get your group going in the right direction.

"I can't wait to do that. The only disappointing thing is you've got to wait another year to do it. Obviously, I wish we had another shot at Michigan. I think that's the type of team you have to play twice to get to get a good feel for. I mean, Dusty's done an incredible job."

The Naismith award is one of three that trigger a $20,000 bonus in Lloyd's contract, along with the AP and NABC awards, though that represents only 0.3% of Lloyd's $5.5 school-paid compensation (he will receive $7.19 million next season as part of a new five-year deal).

Lloyd also was recognized by the AP, NABC and USBWA awards after his first season with the Wildcats in 2021-22. That season, Arizona went 33-4 while receiving a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed.