It's Time We All Start To Have A Discussion About Tommy Lloyd Being A Choke Artist In March

I saw this tweet last night and immediately decided to think about it more. Then I heard Titus talk about it on the show and confirmed what I - and probably everyone else in the world - was thinking. The hell is going on with Tommy Lloyd? 

Don't get me wrong, I think Tommy Lloyd is a hell of a coach. You don't constantly win 30 games and get these high seeds if you can't coach. The regular season still matters to a degree. But something is happening in March. The losses are to a 5 seed Houston, a 15 seed Princeton and a 6 seed Clemson. I could maybe understand the Houston one simply because Kelvin Sampson fucking rules and that program has figured it out. But Princeton and Clemson? That can't happen. 

Last night there are plenty of ways to put the blame. Caleb Love had one of the worst games you'll ever see. 

Not shown? This shot, which I still go back and watch just to laugh. No idea what the hell he was thinking here. 

Mind you this is when Arizona desperately needed a bucket to calm down and just get a break in the game. A one-legged runner from 20 feet isn't exactly the go-to move here. Kylan Boswell was awful but overshadowed because Love is the All-American. Ballo was fine, but we were on him airballing a free throw watch. Larson wasn't great, Johnson played well for the most part but gave us some brutal looks, specifically to Joe Girard when he just went flying by him trying to block shots from three. It was a failure from everyone involved outside of maybe Lewis and Bradley who I thought played well off the bench. 

The problem though was Lloyd leaving Love and Boswell in the game together for too long. Shit, the bigger problem was when Clemson went zone it looked like Tommy Lloyd hit the John Calipari scouting tape and never saw a zone before. Arizona had no idea what to do. They made their comeback and took the lead in the second half by driving to the rim and getting a million foul calls. They had everyone in Clemson's frontcourt in foul trouble. Yeah, I'm aware a 2-3 zone is designed to take away the ISO drives. But there was no movement, no nothing. Just guys chucking threes which is exactly what Clemson wanted them to do. 

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This is the game though. People don't necessarily care about what you do in the regular season if you aren't making a Final Four or winning a title. Ask Rick Barnes or Mark Few or Matt Painter. Now I say it's time to start having the discussion because it's only been three years. We're not talking about a lifer here constantly losing in the Sweet 16. We've seen Tony Bennett and Scott Drew change their careers and the story by winning a title. 

Let me make it clear, we're not on fraud watch. We're on choke artist watch. Lloyd needs a run past the Sweet 16 as a top-2 seed at some point. Not to mention this game was in LA. You couldn't have asked for a better draw than going to LA and then Phoenix if you made the Final Four.