Current players in the transfer portal, incoming players requesting to be let out of National Letters of Intent, oh, and potential NCAA sanctions coming down the road. That's just the start of what new Arizona basketball coach Tommy Lloyd has to deal with as he takes over the top job in Tucson.

Lloyd spent the last two decades helping Mark Few build the top program on the West Coast at Gonzaga, and now he will need to use all that he learned to guide the Wildcats through a difficult time.

While some coaches might shy away from even discussing the challenge ahead, Lloyd faced it head on when he was being introduced as the program's next head coach last week. He isn't going to ignore that the job will have its hurdles, and he also doesn't plan on making excuses through the process.

"Obviously it didn't weigh much because I'm here," Lloyd said when asked during his introductory press conference about how much he weighed the potential NCAA penalties when making his decision. "You can't always script everything in life. For me to have the opportunity to be the head coach at the University of Arizona it probably wasn't gonna be a perfect situation. But, one thing. I don't think you guys are ever gonna hear me complain about NCAA sanctions or anything like that.

"I know what I'm walking into, and I know my job is to lead the program forward. So, that's gonna be 100% of my focus."

While the final decision from the IARP and Arizona's NCAA infractions case might not be known for months, there is a more pressing issue for Lloyd as he takes over the program. He has to build a roster for the first time as a head coach.

Several UA players have already decided to move on with veterans like Ira Lee (George Washington), Terrell Brown Jr. (Washington) and Jemarl BakerJr. (Fresno State) already opting to leave the program this offseason. All-conference guard James Akinjo and freshman guard Kerr Kriisa also recently entered the NCAA Transfer Portal. Freshman big man Daniel Batcho is in there as well looking for another home.

Incoming freshman guard KJ Simpson has reportedly been granted his release from the program after signing a National Letter of Intent with the Wildcats in the fall.

Lloyd's task will be to keep those in the portal from leaving to another program while also making sure the other members of the team don't decide to follow that group. It comes with the territory during a coaching change, so Lloyd is doing his best to be proactive about managing the current players.

"I was able to get on FaceTime with most of them just so they could see me and hear my voice," Lloyd said last week about reaching out to the current members of the team after being hired. "I met with them this morning as a team. The next step is meeting with them individually, because I wanna meet with these guys and give every one of them a chance because I think that's the right thing to do.

"I want to serve them. Ultimately as a coach I've always thought it's about serving the players. I think that's how you create good karma, doing the right thing for those guys. I look forward to meeting with them. I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't have an exact plan how the roster's gonna look. Hopefully a lot of these guys come back because Sean left a really good foundation to build upon. I hope that a lot of those guys decided to stay, but I don't want to make any predictions until I've sat down with those guys one on one."

The transfer portal has changed a lot about how teams go about building a roster. Constant change will be the new norm it seems, and Lloyd has confidence that he can put together a strong group when all is said and done by the time the season is ready to begin.

"Basketball, you don't need 50 guys to be good," he said. "You need a rotation of eight or nine players. I know we got a really good start to that, and I want to meet with those guys. I got some ideas maybe how we can supplement it with some other recruiting things that might be available out there, but I also don't wanna go crazy and make bold predictions because I really wanna honor and respect these guys.

"Having been a guy that has been a lead recruiter for a lot of years, I know how long it takes to recruit a player, how genuine those relationships have to be. To be honest with you, I might have messed with a couple of these guys in recruiting but not to the level where I know the ins and outs of them. I wanna get to know them and I want them to get to know me. I want them to be excited about staying here."

Lloyd made his first significant staff move Monday as Arizona announced the decision to retain associate head coach Jack Murphy who has been with the program since 2019. He will continue to serve as the top assistant to UA's head coach.

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