Preview: Arizona
Last Season: Arizona was 22-10 overall and 11-7 in Pac 12 play, under Head Coach Adia Barnes.
The Coaches:
Adia Barnes is the all time leading scorer at Arizona and is in her 8th year the Head Coach. Barnes had been at Washington as an assistant 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 8th year assistant. Coppa is from Italy and has extensive overseas coaching experience.
Bett Shelby is in her first year as an assistant, last season she was special assistant to Barnes. Before Shelby coached at West Virginia.
Anthony Turner is in his first year after 4 years at Weber State
Losses:
Assistant Coaches Ashley Davis and Erin Grant are no longer at Arizona
Lemyah Hylton, would have been a soph and averaged 1 point in 15 games. She transferred to Miami of Florida.
Paris Clark, would have been a Soph and averaged 4 ppg. She transferred to Virginia
Lauren Fields would have been a 5th year and she averaged 4 ppg. She transferred to West Virginia.
Jade Loville, graduated after averaging 10 ppg
Cate Reese graduated after averaging 13 ppg and 6 rebounds per game.
Lauren Ware would have been a SR but missed last season with an injury. The year before she averaged 7 points and 5 rebounds. She transferred to Texas A&M
Shaina Pellington graduated after averaging 13 points.
Madison Conner would have been a Jr after averaging 6 ppg. She transferred to TCU
Additions:
Jada Williams, 5-6 PG from SoCal ranked # 21
Breya Cunningham, 6-4 Post SoCal ranked # 14
Montana Dew, 6-2 Wing NV ranked # 8. *** Sadly Dew suffered a knee injury and is out for the year. ***
Fanta Gassama, 6-1 Wing, JC transfer
Skylar Jones, 5-10 Wing, IL, unranked but some good offers.
Courtney Blakely, 5-8 Jr Guard transferred from Middle Tennessee State where she averaged 7 ppg.
Salimatou Kourouma, 5-11 Sr Wing from Mali transferred from Little Rock University where she averaged 18 ppg in each of the last two seasons. She was the Ohio Valley conference POY.
Isis Beh, 6-3 Jr Post/Forward transfer from West Virginia where she averaged 3 points and 2 rebounds a game.
The Schedule:
Arizona plays Utah and Colorado only at home and only away to play Oregon and Oregon State. Arizona will play in the Bahamas where the toughest teams will be Ole Miss and Michigan. Also there are games against Texas and Gonzaga.
The Team:
 |
| Esmery Martinez |
Helena Pueyo is a 6-0 5th year Guard who averaged 5 points.
Maya Nnaji, 6-4 Soph Post who averaged 4 points and 3 rebounds. She was ranked 9 out of HS.
Kailyn Gilbert, Soph and averaged 5 PPG last season.
Esmery Martinez, 6-2 5th year Forward Martinez averaged 10 points and 9 rebounds.
Predictions:
The Wildcats return only 24 points and only one player averaged more than 5 ppg. Martinez averaged 10 and Nnaji was highly ranked but played behind a very good post last season, Reese who graduated, so Nnaji should be a big part of the team. Great recruits in Cunningham and Williams and maybe a good transfer in Kourouma. It’s not even a rebuilding year as 3 of the projected top 7 players are Srs. It will be hard for the Wildcats to be in the top 6 in the league.
2024 Recruiting: None yet.
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