Final Four loss gives Cats rough end to great season

Zoom in: The Cats' greatest strength this season has been their ability to overpower opponents in the paint, and the Wolverines took it away, limiting UofA to 37% shooting from 2-point range.

Yes, but: Wildcat fans got some good news over Final Four weekend — head coach Tommy Lloyd, who was reportedly a top candidate to take over the North Carolina Tar Heels, announced Friday that he's staying at UofA.

• His new five-year deal will give him an average annual salary of $7.5 million, making him one of the five highest-paid coaches in college basketball.

The intrigue: Lloyd's team will look a lot different next season.

• Freshman stars Brayden Burries and Koa Peat are almost certainly going to the NBA Draft, and seniors Jaden Bradley, Tobe Awaka and Anthony Dell'Orso won't be back.

What we're watching: Junior center Motiejus Krivas will hopefully return, and freshman forward Ivan Karchenkov should be back in the starting lineup next year.

• Shooting guard Caleb Holt, a top-five recruit in the class of 2026, committed to UofA.
• And Lloyd predicted during a pre-Final Four press conference that Bryce James — NBA superstar Lebron James' son, who redshirted this season — is "going to develop into a good enough player to play at Arizona."

The bottom line: What Cats fans will remember most about this season is the team reaching the Final Four for the first time in 25 years, not the drubbing Michigan handed them.

• Lloyd showed his commitment to staying in Tucson and looks like he's re-establishing UofA as an elite program.