Tommy Lloyd and Boswell Apologist Thread

[LeftCoastCats]

Tough losses happen. It's why they play the game.

No need to jump off the deep end. It was a disappointing outcome, but an unhinged response is exactly what we pay Tommy millions not to do.

UConn and Purdue are a tier above the rest - they have bad losses too.

Houston, Kansas and Arizona are in that next tier - bad losses.

Oddsmakers have Arizona as one of the favored teams to win it all - still.

So, it would be asinine to make emotional and unnecessary changes - especially at this point in the season. If those options were viable - this would have been put into action by our coaching staff. I do not believe any of our guys are sitting there and plotting against Arizona's success. To even intimate that somehow a coaching staff at this level is choosing to put themselves at a disadvantage because they "like" certain players is painfully naive and childish.

We're riding and dying with this group. Love it or hate it - doesn't matter.

However, a change that must happen and likely will over the next month are these end of clock/game possessions and by extension out-of-bounds plays. Simply giving it to Love and expecting magic is absurd and is the main reason we struggle in close games. Not the lineup - but the time and situation gameplan. That is something I expect the coaching staff will recognize and fix. Not wholesale roster movements or player debasing.

[mvpreed2]

I am not going to give any excuses here.
Everyone not named Ballo/Love had an off night, but Lloyd has slowly fallen under my radar for not being able to make adjustments, and not going deeper into the bench.
 
This offense came to a halt when WSU went to that zone/man combination.
It chewed about 8-12 seconds off the clock, and by the time they went man, the best we could do was give it to Love, send Ballo up for the high pick, and let Love make a play?
Borovicanin/Muruskas and even one of Anderson/Veesaar offer enough for Lloyd to go a legit 10-deep.
You make plays, play defense, or get subbed out.
Relying on the same eight guys to produce every single night is not going to work come tourney time.

This might be one of the deepest Arizona teams since that 2014-15 team.
Sadly, I do not see this team making much noise in the tourney right now.
Something is off, and a change needs to be made.
#BearDown

[arxpert]

Tough losses happen. It's why they play the game.

Tough losses happen. It's why they play the game

I want to just isolate this comment.

This type of comment is exactly what enables Tommy to fail the fanbase and go down in flames without any recourse for his actions and inactions. Going off the deep end is exactly what Tommy needs right now. He is coasting. He got his money. He does play favorites. He refuses to play with a full tool box. He never has. This is 3 years in a row.

There are adjustments that can and SHOULD be made.

He has gotten away with a lot of wins and people hide behind that as an excuse. Maybe he is the Lamar Jackson of Coaching. He gets it done in the regular season to a level that people get sucked into thinking he is better than he really is. He is still a very novice Head Coach and it shows when we need a play drawn up. Every time.

The adjustments are non-existent. At least not until it is too late.

How many early exits will it take for fans to understand what Tommy is doing is wrong? I am starting to get curious. If he flounders again before the Elite 8 with a 1 or 2 seed, is anyone going to actually say he was a success this year? I know I won't.

If anything, maybe someone would have an excuse if we were a 4 or 5 seed and we lost to a 1 seed. Or a 6 losing to a 3. But being in the driver's seat constantly and getting dominated is unacceptable. I don't care if we lose 57-54 or by 20+. Domination is not always on the scoreboard. Sometimes it is by virtue of letting an opponent dictate how we play. There is never shame in going out on your own terms. There is extreme shame in being beaten by someone else's style like Princeton and Houston or in our case this season we have lost all the games we lost by being slapped around by opponent's imposing their Will on us. The attitude of the team is a direct reflection of the Head Coach.

Adapt or die in College Basketball.

[|ᴘ|ʀ|ʏ|ᴍ|ᴇ|]

A whole lot of TLDR here

[KansasCityCats]

Lloyd is still on pace to have the best record in any head coach's first three seasons. Unless you're Wooden in year 20 at the helm, nobody is going undefeated. So yes, tough losses happen. When you lose to the only other legitimate contender in the Pac-12, there's no shame. Move on and focus on the next opponent without crying (I'm implying that fans are crying, not the team).

[arxpert]

A whole lot of TLDR here

The TLDR is why we lose games. Tommy has coasted and isn't doing the work needed to get the most out of his teams.

[arxpert]

Lloyd is still on pace to have the best record in any head coach's first three seasons. Unless you're Wooden in year 20 at the helm, nobody is going undefeated. So yes, tough losses happen. When you lose to the only other legitimate contender in the Pac-12, there's no shame. Move on and focus on the next opponent without crying (I'm implying that fans are crying, not the team).

The team is crying. Boswell's meltdown today proves there is dissention in the ranks. I am 100% validated in pointing it out all along the way. There's no hiding it. Tommy is finally pissed off about it. Now I do expect to go undefeated. The Wash St loss took us off the 1 Line for good most likely. No, you can't win them all, but you also don't enable bad habits along the way.

Today could mark a big turning point for the program if Tommy does the right thing.

[|ᴘ|ʀ|ʏ|ᴍ|ᴇ|]

A whole lot of TLDR here

The TLDR is why we lose games. Tommy has coasted and isn't doing the work needed to get the most out of his teams.

TLDR aka "Tommy Lloyd didn't read"?
Let's get him to create a BDU account.

[LeftCoastCats]

Lloyd is still on pace to have the best record in any head coach's first three seasons. Unless you're Wooden in year 20 at the helm, nobody is going undefeated. So yes, tough losses happen. When you lose to the only other legitimate contender in the Pac-12, there's no shame. Move on and focus on the next opponent without crying (I'm implying that fans are crying, not the team).

The team is crying. Boswell's meltdown today proves there is dissention in the ranks. I am 100% validated in pointing it out all along the way. There's no hiding it. Tommy is finally pissed off about it. Now I do expect to go undefeated. The Wash St loss took us off the 1 Line for good most likely. No, you can't win them all, but you also don't enable bad habits along the way.

Today could mark a big turning point for the program if Tommy does the right thing.

Does everything in your life run on defcon 5 reactions? Take a breath.

The Boswell stuff is bad, dude looked his age when he was getting disciplined in public. I'm glad Keshad was there to help him through it as much as he could or it could of been much worse.

Boswell's play today confirmed what a lot of critics have been saying. That attitude and mindset on display has no place in a winning program and culture - regardless of skillset. I absolutely agree that Boswell needs some significant coaching right now, which could easily neccisate a move to the bench.

However, to be clear - it's not nearly approaching a Chris Rodgers choking Lute Olsen moment.

Tommy's decision on the issue is magnified.

That said, the reality as I understand it is -our team is at it's best when Boswell is locked in and playing like we know he can. To that end, our national title hopes are highest when Boswell is playing like we expect him to. So, yeah - Bradley could possibly help now. It's the only option right now - but at what cost?We're not nearly the threat for national title contention without Boswell playing at a high level. Regardless of Bradley's play or starting position - we're simply arranging seats on the Titanic.

Simply, we work to get Boswell going or adjust our expectations.

Again, breathe.

[arxpert]

Lloyd is still on pace to have the best record in any head coach's first three seasons. Unless you're Wooden in year 20 at the helm, nobody is going undefeated. So yes, tough losses happen. When you lose to the only other legitimate contender in the Pac-12, there's no shame. Move on and focus on the next opponent without crying (I'm implying that fans are crying, not the team).

The team is crying. Boswell's meltdown today proves there is dissention in the ranks. I am 100% validated in pointing it out all along the way. There's no hiding it. Tommy is finally pissed off about it. Now I do expect to go undefeated. The Wash St loss took us off the 1 Line for good most likely. No, you can't win them all, but you also don't enable bad habits along the way.

Today could mark a big turning point for the program if Tommy does the right thing.

Does everything in your life run on defcon 5 reactions? Take a breath.

The Boswell stuff is bad, dude looked his age when he was getting disciplined in public. I'm glad Keshad was there to help him through it as much as he could or it could of been much worse.

Boswell's play today confirmed what a lot of critics have been saying. That attitude and mindset on display has no place in a winning program and culture - regardless of skillset. I absolutely agree that Boswell needs some significant coaching right now, which could easily neccisate a move to the bench.

However, to be clear - it's not nearly approaching a Chris Rodgers choking Lute Olsen moment.

Tommy's decision on the issue is magnified.

That said, the reality as I understand it is -our team is at it's best when Boswell is locked in and playing like we know he can. To that end, our national title hopes are highest when Boswell is playing like we expect him to. So, yeah - Bradley could possibly help now. It's the only option right now - but at what cost?We're not nearly the threat for national title contention without Boswell playing at a high level. Regardless of Bradley's play or starting position - we're simply arranging seats on the Titanic.

Simply, we work to get Boswell going or adjust our expectations.

Again, breathe.

Simply, we work to get Boswell going or adjust our expectations.

I just disagree. I do not believe our "Title Hopes" are better with Boswell. I think he is toxic to the team.

I think that fans want Boswell to be something he isn't. I think Tommy has become an Enabler of whatever problem there is going on.

You don't need to be the best team to win March Madness. You just need to play good enough basketball. You certainly cannot play bad basketball. Boswell plays bad basketball more than he plays good basketball.

We don't need Bradley nor even Love to be a hero. We just need 5 guys to play the game the right way. Whatever that means since there is no specific right way. For us, there is only "Tommy's way" because he is the Coach so you either play his way or his system doesn't work. It seems to win more often than not, but in terms of the Madness, I do not think it is designed to win 6 games in a row. Tommy is not flexible enough in his early, novice years. Maybe he will learn to be more adaptable and play more players over the course of his Head Coaching career. Maybe he will take the time to work with all of his players during practice eventually.

He took this job and he took an extension. He doesn't get the benefit of the doubt from my POV. He is in the deep end. Sink or Swim. So far he is sinking when it matters most. I've seen this in other sports. Lamar Jackson does the same thing in the NFL. Tons of regular season wins. Tons of individual awards/success. Nothing to show for it in the Postseason and in fact looks Terrible in the postseason. Made to look foolish. Tommy is very similar so far. Only Lamar, Only Tommy can change their own narratives.

Today we witnessed Boswell mentally checked out as I have been saying for months. We saw Tommy have no backbone by putting him back in the game in the 2nd half. I think any other Arizona Coach like Lute or Sean would have benched Boswell. Maybe for good. This is a major "wait and see" now.

For me, the sooner Boswell is taken out of the equation the sooner we can get chemistry back. The enabling needs to stop.