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Brad Stevens is No. 1 with 117. .

You can’t ask for much more from Lloyd than an average of 28 victories, a .778 winning percentage, four consecutive NCAA Tournament berths and three Sweet 16 appearances.

Except UA fans can and will. And they have every right to do so.

Making the Sweet 16 is an accomplishment in and of itself. There’s a reason every appearance is . ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s latest appearance comes against Duke on Thursday in Newark, New Jersey.

But when Lloyd gathers the team for its first preseason meeting — like Sean Miller before him, and Lute Olson before him — the Sweet 16 isn’t the ultimate goal.

Olson set a standard here that his successors have strived — and at times struggled — to sustain. ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ reached the Final Four on four occasions from 1988-2001. As you all know, the Wildcats won it all in ‘97.

Olson led the Cats to two more Elite Eights. Miller got them there three times in a five-year span.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ has failed to advance that far in its past six NCAA Tournament appearances, including three on Lloyd’s watch.

All of which begs the question: Does ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ need to beat Duke for Lloyd to completely win over a fan base that remains somewhat skeptical about his coaching chops?

My answer would be no — fully acknowledging that I can’t control how you feel about Lloyd and that the nostalgia you have for the glory days is palpable and powerful.

Lloyd addressed the state of the program — and, by proxy, the job he’s done so far — during a video news conference Tuesday.

“We’re knocking on the door,â€� he said. “We’re right there. The program is right where it needs to be, and the foundation’s getting stronger. ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ basketball’s in a good way.â€�

Some would say good but not great — if the standard is Elite Eights and Final Fours.

Lloyd doesn’t do hypotheticals, he doesn’t look beyond what’s right in front of him and he somehow manages to live mostly offline. (If he’d like to offer some coaching advice on how to do that, I’m all ears.)

But Lloyd has acknowledged what the standard ought to be at ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥. It isn’t championship or bust; that would imply that any season which ends short of a title is a failure. Championship or dissatisfaction is more like it.

Lloyd doesn’t believe reaching the Sweet 16 is good enough. He and his boss, Desireé Reed-Francois, are aligned in that regard.

“I’ve heard Coach Lloyd say it to his team: The ‘Block A’ stands for championship expectations and championship standards,â€� Reed-Francois recently told the Star. “This is the University of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, and that’s always the goal.â€�

That being said, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ isn’t expected to beat Duke on Thursday. The Blue Devils are favored by 9.5 points and beat the Wildcats by 14 at McKale earlier this season.

Not all Sweet 16 appearances are created equal.

The first time ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ made it this far under Lloyd, in 2022, the Wildcats were the 1-seed in their region. They were expected to beat No. 5 seed Houston — even though everyone acknowledged at the time that the Cougars were under-seeded. Houston won handily.

Last year ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ was a heavily favored 2-seed against sixth-seeded Clemson. The Wildcats had program prestige on their side and a virtual homecourt advantage with the game taking place in Los Angeles. Their loss that afternoon is one of the reasons some fans and media members still have doubts about Lloyd.

This year’s dynamic is different. Duke is the 1-seed in the East — the favorite not only to win Thursday but to win it all. ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ is a 4-seed, and if you want to blame Lloyd for not achieving something better — and avoiding the likes of Duke for another round — that’s fair.

Lloyd said Tuesday that the numbers in front of the schools don’t matter at this point.

“You throw all the seeds out the window,� he said.

He added that the pressure on the Wildcats to perform would be the same Thursday as it was Sunday, when they edged fifth-seeded Oregon in the round of 32.

I disagree on that point. The pressure is always greater on the higher seed. When an upset is brewing, a certain feeling permeates the arena. The players can sense it. It’s the angst that makes March Madness the most compelling postseason sporting event in America.

Very few expect ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ to win Thursday. That could work in the Wildcats’ favor. They’re the team with nothing to lose for a change. They should play freely. All the pressure is on the Blue Devils.

If ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ were to pull the upset — against a true college basketball blueblood that UA fans universally despise — Lloyd will be a made man. He will have pushed the Wildcats further than anyone thought they could go, especially after the way the regular season started and ended.

If ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ were to lose, no one in Wildcat Nation — from players to coaches to supporters — will be happy about it. Nor should they be.

It won’t provide any consolation in the moment, but the reality is, Duke might very well be the best team in the country. The Blue Devils have the presumptive No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft in Cooper Flagg, plus two other projected lottery picks. They’re , No. 1 in offensive efficiency and No. 4 in defensive efficiency. They’re a behemoth.

The expected outcome would mean another Sweet 16 ouster for Lloyd. Knocking on the door. Not there quite yet.

Olson didn’t make the NCAA Tournament his first year (also an expected outcome coming off a 4-24 season) and didn’t get past the first round in any of the next three.

He led ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ to the Final Four in Year Five.

Lloyd’s counterpart, Jon Scheyer, faces more pressure than Lloyd Thursday. But it isn’t going away. And it will only intensify the longer the Wildcats remain stuck in the bittersweetness of the Sweet 16.