Sean Miller weighs in on Arizona’s hot start under Tommy Lloyd

The Arizona Wildcats are one of nine remaining perfect teams after destroying previously unbeaten Wyoming on Wednesday night, another opportunity for the college basketball world to see what Tommy Lloyd has going on.

Count the coach he replaced as one of his biggest fans.

“I give Tommy Lloyd a lot of credit, he’s implementing his style,” Sean Miller said on The Field of 68 After Dark, a podcast he and brother Archie Miller do with Jeff Dauster. “They’re playing super fast. When you look at how they’re playing, the confidence they have.”

Miller, who was fired in April after 12 seasons, said Arizona is a “hungry” team because its core of returners—all of whom he recruited and coached for at least one season, are trying to make up for not being able to play in the postseason last year.

“When you coach a group like them who wasn’t eligible for last year’s NCAA Tournament, because we self-imposed (a postseason ban), weren’t able to play in the Pac-12 Tournament, and you have an offseason and a lot of guys return, they’re a hungry team, you can see it,” Miller said.

UA starters Kerr Kriisa, Christian Koloko, Bennedict Mathurin, Dalen Terry and Azuolas Tubelis played a combined to play 126 games for Miller in 2019-20 and 2020-21.

“They have some guys … that I believe in,” Miller said. “They all returned from a year ago.