On Tommy Lloyd’s big-man plan, Becky Burke’s recruiting, men’s tennis’ moment | Michael Lev

News: The Arizona men’s basketball team adds two big men.

Views: Tommy Lloyd and his staff are covering all bases as they methodically assemble the 2026-27 roster.

Last week, the UA announced the signing of 6-foot-11 Dutch center Endurance Aiyamenkhue. On Monday, Arizona received a commitment from another 6-11 Euro, Ugnius Jaruševičius of Lithuania, who’s been playing in the U.S. since 2022.

Neither of them is Koa Peat. But both can be added to the Koa Peat insurance portfolio.

Peat’s final decision about staying in or withdrawing from the 2026 NBA Draft is the pivot point for the ’26-27 Wildcats. It’s the difference between them being one of the best teams in their conference or the country.

Peat hadn’t made any definitive declarations as of Tuesday morning, when this column was put to bed. Yes, he has entered the draft (and is among four Wildcats participating in the NBA Scouting Combine this week). Yes, he still can come back to Arizona. No, we have no idea what he and his camp are thinking.

A scan of some of the post-Lottery NBA mocks shows Peat generally landing in the 20s in a loaded draft — although Sam Vecenie of The Athletic has him going 16th to Memphis. The 16th pick last year made about $3.7 million as a rookie. Pick 24 (ESPN’s mock) made about $2.6 million. Pick 29 (Yahoo) made about $2.3 million.

It’s not far-fetched for a top-tier big man to make that much in college nowadays. Not that money necessarily will be the biggest factor for Peat. We discussed all the variables on last week’s Wildcast podcast. It’s a multilayered decision.

Meanwhile, Arizona is stockpiling big men and giving itself options. Aiyamenkhue fits into that high-ceiling, developmental profile. Jaruševičius, who had a huge year in 2024-25 at Central Michigan, should be a plug-and-play rotation piece assuming he’s fully healthy after missing most of last season at Nebraska.

If Peat comes back, the Wildcats again will have excellent depth up front. If he doesn’t, they have alternatives. And it wouldn’t surprise me if Lloyd has another international player on standby just in case.

News: UA women’s basketball’s 2026 recruiting class is ranked 17th by ESPN.

Views: Considering the transitional state of the program when she took over and the lack of on-court success in 2025-26, this might be Becky Burke’s most impressive accomplishment to date.

Arizona had higher-ranked classes under Adia Barnes, but those came together amid or after the Wildcats’ Final Four run in 2021. Burke’s work here is more akin to Jedd Fisch’s transformational football haul in 2022 — landing talented prospects while on the front edge of a rebuilding project.

Of course, we have no idea how these players will pan out. Or whether they’ll be Wildcats four years from now.

Guards Arynn Finley, Jasleen Green and Makayla Presser-Palmer are ranked in ESPN’s top 65. Bigs Priyanka Ponnam and Callie Hinder are considered three-star prospects.

If three of the five end up as long-term contributors, consider that a win.

Arizona happened to be the visitor for Baylor’s Senior Night on Feb. 21. Two of the four players honored that evening spent their entire careers in Waco. Another was in her fourth year at Baylor after transferring. That’s the model to which Burke should aspire.

It’s easier said than done, of course, in the NIL/transfer-portal era. Player retention is a massive challenge for programs that don’t have deep pockets. I wouldn’t put Arizona women’s basketball in that category.

As such, Burke must bank on culture and development. She has to find players who not only have talent but also the disposition to play for her.

We learned in Burke’s first season that she will coach her players hard and will be brutally honest with them. Some players thrive in that type of environment. Some don’t.

Which category the Class of 2026 falls into remains to be seen.

News: UA men’s tennis advances to the Elite Eight for the first time in program history.

Views: It’s been less than a week, but missing Arizona’s Sweet 16 rally over Oklahoma already is one of my biggest professional regrets.

(I had a personal obligation to attend to that day. Life, amirite?)

From all accounts, it was a scene last Saturday afternoon at the LaNelle Robson Tennis Center. Packed house. Dramatic comeback. Clinching win by Arizona’s all-time winningest player, Jay Friend.

The Wildcats lost the doubles point, and two of the first three singles finishes went the Sooners’ way. That meant Arizona had to win every other match to advance.

When I wrote about Friend last week, both he and UA coach Clancy Shields lauded the team’s depth. That revealed itself big time against OU. Arizona prevailed on Courts 3, 5 and 6 (one via tiebreaks, another in three sets).

It came down to Friend vs. OU’s Luis Alvarez. The first two sets were as tight as possible — 7-6 (8-6) for Friend, 7-5 for Alvarez. Friend then broke him in every way in the third, winning 6-0 and making history in the process.

Has there been a better UA sports moment in Tucson in the past five years? Maybe football reclaiming the Territorial Cup in 2022. Or baseball’s clinching moments in 2021 and ’24. Or Caleb Love’s halfcourt heave vs. Iowa State.

Now, men’s tennis heads to Athens, Georgia, for the Elite Eight. Arizona faces No. 1 seed Wake Forest, the defending national champion. It’s all house money from this point forward, as Shields told reporters Saturday.

“Now we’re really dangerous,” he said. “This is a team that has accomplished their main goal, and now they’re hunting for something else, and they’re playing free, and we’re gonna play free down there in Athens. I think our team’s gonna have the most fun, and they’re playing with the least amount of pressure. And that’s a dangerous squad.”

News: The UA softball team is placed in the Durham Regional hosted by Duke and will face Marshall on Friday.

Views: First of all, was I the only one thrown off by the new seeding system?

I know I wasn’t because I heard from people who were confused by it or flat-out hated it.

To summarize before we move on: The NCAA divided the top 32 teams into groups of four. The “1-seeds” are the top four, the “2-seeds” are Nos. 5-8, etc.

Arizona is one of four “6-seeds,” paired with a “3-seed” (Duke). That means that the selection committee placed the Wildcats somewhere between No. 21 and No. 24.

Considering that Arizona is No. 20 in RPI — and lost to No. 21 ASU in the Big 12 Tournament — that’s probably fair.

The Wildcats aren’t entering the NCAA Tournament with a ton of momentum, having lost three in a row, but that 2-1 setback to the Sun Devils in the Big 12 quarterfinals doesn’t look so bad in retrospect, does it?

ASU went on to knock off Big 12 No. 2 seed Oklahoma State and No. 1 seed Texas Tech — both regional hosts — to win the conference tournament. The Sun Devils hit some rough patches during the regular season, but have gotten hot at the right time and have a legit ace in Kenzie Brown.

Jalen Adams nearly matched her in Oklahoma City, and if the Wildcats can get pitching like that in Durham, I like their chances of advancing. The offense has been oddly unproductive lately, but it’s been Arizona’s strength all season. I don’t expect this slump to last.

Marshall is 28th in RPI but 52nd on MasseyRatings.com because of a 73rd-ranked strength of schedule. Duke is 12th in RPI and 15th in Massey’s system.

While the Blue Devils are near the top of the ACC in many offensive categories, they’re eighth in ERA. None of their pitchers has an ERA below 4.32 (although none is higher than 4.92). Adams enters the regional at 3.32.

News: The UA baseball team concludes the regular season at No. 21 Oklahoma State.

Views: As outlined in my latest baseball notebook, it isn’t impossible for the Wildcats to make the Big 12 Tournament — but it’s highly improbable.

And although Chip Hale’s teams have a great track record in conference tourneys, the odds of Arizona winning five in a row in Surprise to make the NCAA Tournament are even slimmer.

One could make the argument that Arizona would be better off missing the Big 12 Tournament and moving on to a critical offseason ASAP. Hale never would make that argument. Nor should he.

Playing hard, regardless of the circumstances, is one of the foundational principles of Hale’s program. It helps when that’s accompanied by “playing well,” which unfortunately hasn’t been the case nearly enough this season.

Injuries have been the primary culprit, depleting the lineup and decimating the bullpen. Hale has been evaluating the healthy players to determine who’s worth keeping and building around.

He faces some difficult decisions regarding personnel and staffing. Those decisions will determine whether this nightmarish season was an aberration or the start of a trend. I would bet on the former.