Tommy Lloyd Loves How Transfer Portal Played Out For Arizona Basketball
The Arizona Wildcats are poised to have another successful season on the hardwood during this upcoming campaign after 2023-24 Pac-12 Player of the Year Caleb Love decided to come back for another season of college basketball.
Two other players, Jaden Bradley and KJ Lewis, also came back to Tucson after testing the NBA draft waters.
It turns out they just wanted to get some feedback from evaluators and never really considered leaving Arizona, signaling they are fully bought into this program entering the year and are ready to take the next step in their careers.
Tommy Lloyd and the Wildcats will have to navigate some high-profile departures, though, namely seeing their star center Oumar Ballo and starting guard Kylan Boswell transfer to Indiana and Illinois respectively, while Pelle Larson declared for the NBA draft.
But like Arizona has done so often since Lloyd took over this program, they were able to bring in some talented players of their own through the transfer portal, adding Oakland wing Trey Townsend, Tennessee forward Tobe Awaka, and Campbell wing Anthony Dell'Orso.
It's safe to say the head coach is happy with how they did in the portal, saying ,"With the three transfers we took, we don't feel like we could have done any better. We love how it ended up and I think they're all going to be really valuable pieces to this roster," per Jason Scheer of 247Sports.
There's a reason why the Wildcats are content with their haul.
Townsend is coming off a season where he averaged 17.3 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 3.1 assists with a 45.5% shooting clip from the field and 37.5% from three across his 36 games where he played 36.4 minutes per contest.
He should be able to slide in to replace the departing production of Larson, and with him being a senior, he also provides more experience to the team.
Dell'Orso also brings a huge scoring boost with him to Tucson.
In 32 games with Campbell, he averaged 19.5 points per contest on 49.2% shooting from the field and 38.0% from three. He also is a proven rebounder with 6.5 boards per game, while also bringing a defensive element with 1.6 steals per contest.
There will be some questions regarding how he adjusts to the higher level of competition, but with multiple years of eligibility remaining, he should be a major piece for this team beyond just this season.
Awaka doesn't jump off the page when looking at his box score, but he's a tough-nosed player who will bring some physicality and grit to this program that has been lacking it a bit when they compete in the NCAA Tournament.
This was a well-rounded group Lloyd and his staff brought in, and all three players are expected to make an impact for the Wildcats during their first season.
