THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Lloyd news — or lack of it — overshadowing other headlines

All things considered, I’d rather write about something besides basketball.

Just for variety, you know?

However, comma…

We are still stuck in the midst of The Tommy Lloyd Watch, which soon will threaten to drag on longer than the COVID-19 pandemic.

It seemed to be a pretty simple and obvious deal, when Lloyd — Gonzaga’s almost magical recruiter and one of the most respected assistant coaches in college hoops — became a finalist for the head coaching gig at Arizona.

Why not?

If a school like UA is willing to consider an assistant from an elite program in the same part of the country, Lloyd has serious credentials.

Gonzaga has a spotless record on the recruiting and academic side of the sport — remember that Arizona is facing five Level 1 misconduct charges from the NCAA — and Lloyd has been the tip of the spear.

Once we knew that Tommy had been interviewed by Arizona administrators, there should have been just two clear issues.

FIRST…

Would they choose him over obvious head coaches like former UA star Damon Stoudamire at Pacific?

Second, if an offer was forthcoming…

Would Lloyd jump at it?

Tommy is making around $1 million per year when you factor in money from Mark Few’s summer camps, and he has a rare kind of contract that guarantees he’ll be named as Few’s successor.

Lloyd has turned down head coaching jobs in the past — but not at Arizona, a national champion in 1997 and regular occupant near the top of everyone’s rankings pretty much every season.

Even an incentive-laden contract would have a guarantee north of $2 million.

So, what’s going on?

Nobody knows.

Arizona fiddled around seemingly forever, deep into an FBI investigation that landed one of its assistant coaches in prison, until finally firing Sean Miller.

The university president gave Miller a rousing vote of confidence four days before booting him.

Huh?

Now Arizona is faffing around with its coaching search.

All the UA has done so far is make some coaches rich.

Eric Musselman got a fat extension at Arkansas when it was rumored that Arizona was sniffing around.

Now the same thing seems to be happening with Josh Pastner at Georgia Tech.

Please, get your act together down there, folks — we need to move on.

Really.

WE OUGHT to touch on some other intriguing basketball items before we finally get around to a few different sports next time.

For instance, there is another wait going on at Gonzaga.

Chet Holmgren, the versatile 7-footer who is the nation’s No. 1 prep recruit, still hasn’t committed — either to a college or to the G-League’s Elite team.

There are rumors that suggest the Zags’ two young post players – Pavel Zakharov and Oumar Ballo – each hit the transfer portal because they’re sure that Drew Timme is staying around and that Holmgren will become a Zag,

That’s the kind of thing that SOUNDS right, but does anyone actually know at this point?

I’ll go with…

Maybe.

What’s really frustrating with all this Tommy Lloyd suspense is that some other great stories aren’t getting proper headlines — like the jackpot won by Washington State coach Kyle Smith.

You’ll recall that the Cougs have an army of exciting young players, but with the departure of senior Isaac Bonton, they apparently were going to be stuck without a proper point guard.

But…

Wow, did Smith ever fill that need?

We’ve got to do a full column on the up-and-coming Wazzu program, but for now it’s enough to say that transfer point guards Michael Flowers (South Alabama) and Tyrell Roberts (UC San Diego) are thrilling additions.

Grad transfer Flowers — who scored 21 points per game last year — seems like a slightly more controlled version of Bonton, while the smaller but zippy Roberts is a deadly 3-point shooter who hit 46 percent on 250 attempts two years ago (averaging 19 points per game).

Roberts opted out of this past season, but he has two years of eligibility, and the best part?

His nickname is “Ghost.”

I hope he doesn’t vanish in the middle of interviews.

Congrats to Washington State, but meanwhile…

Can we please put Tommy Lloyd on a milk carton?

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. “Moments, Memories and Madness,” his reminiscences from several decades as a sports journalist, runs each Sunday.

Steve also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on Gonzaga basketball which is published monthly during the offseason.