Pac 12 Preview: Arizona

Preview: Arizona A note Arizona has 7 foreign players. First official practice is Oct 14 for WBB so hope all are able to join the Wildcats and other Pac 12 teams. Last Season: Arizona was 24-7 overall and 12-6 in Pac 12 play, under Head Coach Adia Barnes. Arizona was probably going to host the first 2 rounds of the NCAAs. 

The Coaches: Adia Barnes is the all time leading scorer at Arizona and is in her 5th year the Head Coach. Barnes had been at Washington as an assistant the for four years as the Huskies came from the 2nd division of the Pac 12 to the NCAA Final Four. Barnes played professionally for 12 years including for 4 WNBA Teams. Salvo Coppa, or Mr Barnes is a 5th year assistant. Coppa is from Italy and has extensive overseas coaching experience. Tamisha Augustin is now in her 2nd year. She was at Cincinnati and Minnesota before this season. Jackie Nared is in her 2nd an Assistant after a year at Washington State. She was in support roles at Washington and Oregon before Washington State. A grad of St Mary’s where as a Sr she averaged 21 points per game. 

Losses: Amari Carter who averaged 5 points and 2 rebounds. Carter stared every game. Lucia Alonso who averaged 2 points. Dominque McBryne who averaged 7 points and 3 rebounds. McBryne started most games. Bryce Nixon who didn’t play much and transferred to Santa Clara. Birna Benonysdottir transferred out after playing just 44 minutes. 

Additions: Derin Erdogan, 5-6 Frosh Guard from Turkey. For her team last season averaged 13 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. She has played for Turkey JR teams the past two years. Lauren Ware 6-5 Post North Dakota, ranked # 13. Ware will also play Volleyball at Arizona where she was a highly ranked recruit. Bendu Yeaney, 5-10 Guard from Portland who transferred from Indiana. Bendu averaged 8 points and 4 rebounds starting almost every game in her two years at Indiana. Marta Garcia, 6-3 Frosh Forward from Spain. Has played on several Youth National teams for Spain. Trinity Baptiste, 6-0 Froward Grad Transfer from Virginia Tech. Last season she averaged 9 points and 6 rebounds. Last season she was the ACC 6th Player of the Year. She has one year to play. Two years ago she had 16 rebounds vs Notre Dame. Larkin Gardner, 5-11 Guard from Spokane may be a walk on? 

The Schedule: Unknown

Ari McDonald

The Team: Aari McDonald 5-7 Sr Guard averaged 21 points per game. Aari shot 46% from the floor and averaged 6 rebounds and 4 assists. The downside or watch out she shot just 28 % from three and that was a 1/3 of her total attempts. Fun fact” If McDonald scores as many points as her Soph season she will surpass Coach Barnes and become the Wildcats all time leading scorer, despite having played her Frosh season at Washington. 

Cate Reese 6-2 Jr Post averaged 14 points and 7 rebounds Sam Thomas is a 6-0 Sr Forward who averaged 9 points and 3 rebounds. Helena Pueyo is a 6-0 Soph Guard from Spain who averaged 7 points and made 41 threes at 38% . Pueyo is another player with international experience. Shaina Pellington is a 5-8 Redshirt Jr G who transferred from Oklahoma and sat out out this past season. At Oklahoma Pellington averaged 13 points in two seasons and was the Big 12 Frosh of the Year. Semaj Smith is a 6-6 Jr Post who averaged 3 points and 4 rebounds Tara Manumeleuga is a 5-10 Soph Guard from Australia however plays for New Zealand internationally. Tara averaged just 5 minutes per game. Mara Mote is a 6-0 Soph Guard from Latvia who averaged 2 points. Mote played in the 19U World Cup in 2019 averaging 11 points per game. Sevval Gul, 6-4 Soph Post from Turkey who averaged 2 points and 1 rebound. . Gul has 4 years of international experience and played for the Turkish Club Team Ferenhbace with teammate Kelsey Plum. 

 Predictions: In the first pre-season poll Arizona was predicted to be # 4 in the Country. The Wildcats return 56 points from last season with the great Aari McDonald accounting for 22 and Cate Reese 14 per game. They return another starter in Sam Thomas plus a top frosh in Ware and three very good transfers in Pellington, Baptiste and Yeaney. Yeaney may or may not be eligible although most undergrad transfer appear to be this year. 2021 Recruiting: Madison Conner, 5-11 Guard from Arizona ranked # 56. Anna Gret Asi, 5-10 PG from Estonia. Aaronette Vonleh, 6-3 Post from Oregon ranked # 38.