Arizona St (16) @ Arizona (18) - 1/24/20

[azfan]

Hope you enjoyed. I made the game, I was next to Joan Bonvicini, in fact I had to slide over so she could get out to do interviews. I love our floor seats (my wife wasn't well enough to attend).

Great excitement, one of the best games I have been to in years.

Yep! While the Devil's lost, I thoroughly enjoyed the game. Tucson fans were completely into the game, the noise was thunderous at key moments.

"The UA mall was opened up for free parking two hours before tip Friday night. At that time people were already in lines waiting to get into the arena."

Arizona Wildcats finish sweep of ASU in front of over 10,000 fans at raucous McKale Center

No. 18-ranked UA (16-3, 5-3 Pac-12) wins 59-53 over No. 16 Sun Devils.

tucson.com

This was big time WBB in the desert. UCLA better be ready next Friday.

 

[azfan]

Arizona hosted Minnesota transfer Destiny Pitts during ASU game

Adia Barnes credited the 10,000-plus fans in McKale Center for helping them sweep ASU for the first time since 2000, and maybe the packed house will help in other ways too. "We have a big recruit...

www.azdesertswarm.com

This is interesting. I couldn't help reflect leaving McKale last night what a tremendous recruiting opportunity it is to have a young lady recruit be in that environment and consider being a part of a growing program with what appears to be an amazing fan base. Barnes does seem to instill loyalty in her players. McDonald is a bit of a prima donna. Maybe Barnes would be able to mentor and guide Pitts. If they add her they'll be something next year.

 

[EricLA]

Boy - while ASU had a great weekend over Oregon and OSU, it's now clear that some people were over the top with "ASU should be to 5 or top 10". Unranked teams just don't jump that high even after 2 great wins. Now they have what - 4 losses? And one was to a pretty average Minnesota team...

 

[ochoopsfan]

Arizona hosted Minnesota transfer Destiny Pitts during ASU game

Adia Barnes credited the 10,000-plus fans in McKale Center for helping them sweep ASU for the first time since 2000, and maybe the packed house will help in other ways too. "We have a big recruit...

www.azdesertswarm.com

This is interesting. I couldn't help reflect leaving McKale last night what a tremendous recruiting opportunity it is to have a young lady recruit be in that environment and consider being a part of a growing program with what appears to be an amazing fan base. Barnes does seem to instill loyalty in her players. McDonald is a bit of a prima donna. Maybe Barnes would be able to mentor and guide Pitts. If they add her they'll be something next year.

A couple of years ago UA had a tall French girl, who I think never played. Any idea what the story is/was with her?

 

[Plebe]

Arizona hosted Minnesota transfer Destiny Pitts during ASU game

Adia Barnes credited the 10,000-plus fans in McKale Center for helping them sweep ASU for the first time since 2000, and maybe the packed house will help in other ways too. "We have a big recruit...

www.azdesertswarm.com

This is interesting. I couldn't help reflect leaving McKale last night what a tremendous recruiting opportunity it is to have a young lady recruit be in that environment and consider being a part of a growing program with what appears to be an amazing fan base. Barnes does seem to instill loyalty in her players. McDonald is a bit of a prima donna. Maybe Barnes would be able to mentor and guide Pitts. If they add her they'll be something next year.

Arizona is becoming a bit of a Transfer U: McDonald, McBryde, Pellington, and now possibly Pitts.

 

[alphasigko]

The refs' incompetence reminded me of the refs in the AAC. ASU got jobbled throughout the contest.

 

[nwhoopfan]

The refs' incompetence reminded me of the refs in the AAC. ASU got jobbled throughout the contest.

What are you talking about?

 

[nwhoopfan]

Arizona is becoming a bit of a Transfer U: McDonald, McBryde, Pellington, and now possibly Pitts.

also Carter and Starks

Before Barnes had a chance to get her recruiting going she really stocked up on transfers.

 

[azfan]

My guess is that the Wildcats weren't on any of these players' radar initially but that Barnes' charisma, program-building, and results are attracting new recruits. It'll be interesting to see if that continues in a few years if the program keeps moving up the PAC-12 food chain. Among other things, it's really hard to see how ASU will stay competitive with a relatively bare recruiting cupboard and the losses of Ryan, Richards, and Tapley.

Russell and Ruden and also graduate. Solid incoming freshman class and Van Hefte and Imbulito and Walker will be a nucleus to build around. Agreed next year rebuilding.

 

[DefenseBB]

I liked Bonvicini's color commentary. You could tell from listening that she was proud of what has happened to the Arizona program, and proud of Adia Barnes.

YOU LIKE BONVICINI’s color commentary??? No, just no. I have listened to her call 4 games now and the only positive I can say is she’s better than the women who called the Oregon State vs. Oregon game as they were downright AWFUL.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Russell and Ruden and also graduate. Solid incoming freshman class and Van Hefte and Imbulito and Walker will be a nucleus to build around. Agreed next year rebuilding.

I'll believe ASU is having a rebuilding year when I see it. A few years ago they lost pretty much all their back court and then all their front court in consecutive years. A big drop off never happened. They lost most of their front court from last year, again no drop off. CTT just keeps rolling along.

edit--w/out grad transfer Tapley they might be in some trouble this year, but the whole grad transfer market is a total wildcard

 

[Plebe]

YOU LIKE BONVICINI’s color commentary??? No, just no. I have listened to her call 4 games now and the only positive I can say is she’s better than the women who called the Oregon State vs. Oregon game as they were downright AWFUL.

Bonvicini has some good comments to make but I can't help but feel like I'm listening to my great aunt who always had a little too much to drink.

And yeah, I'm not even sure she tries to stay objective when she's calling an Arizona game. Her former team coached by her greatest former player.

 

[alphasigko]

What are you talking about?

The "intentional" foulncall in the 1st Qtr? The many questionable foul calls on McDonald whonwas driving out of control into the paint? The many missed traveling calls on UofA? Did you actually watch the game?

 

[nwhoopfan]

The "intentional" foulncall in the 1st Qtr? The many questionable foul calls on McDonald whonwas driving out of control into the paint? The many missed traveling calls on UofA? Did you actually watch the game?

Yeah I watched the game. Refs let almost everything go in the first half, then started calling almost everything in the 2nd half. Against both teams.

 

[qthorne13]

My guess is that the Wildcats weren't on any of these players' radar initially but that Barnes' charisma, program-building, and results are attracting new recruits. It'll be interesting to see if that continues in a few years if the program keeps moving up the PAC-12 food chain. Among other things, it's really hard to see how ASU will stay competitive with a relatively bare recruiting cupboard and the losses of Ryan, Richards, and Tapley.

I disagree - CTT is great at getting hidden gems that were underscored in hs - plus besselink is the #2 player from canada in her class, and #36 in her class according to ASGR - Jaddan Simmons was nominated for McDonald’s all-American game & top 100 on a lot of sites - levings was a top 50 recruit on ESPN but dropped, still highly ranked on Prospects Nation - Burton played on multiple US teams & hasn’t gotten as much attention because of an injury - and finally erikstrup is a tough pac 12 guard who probably would’ve went to Oregon st if Charli didn’t snag her...
(I will remind you that her starting 5 in her elite 8 year (Sophie Brunner, Quinn dornstauder, Katie hempen, lili davis, Kelsey moos) were all unranked recruits coming out of high school with few D1 offers)..... ASU truly doesn’t have rebuild years...

 

[domerduck]

Yeah I watched the game. Refs let almost everything go in the first half, then started calling almost everything in the 2nd half. Against both teams.

I agree. That game was almost as bad as the Stanford game in Corvallis where the refs lack of calls resulted in Haley Jones getting hurt..and that intentional call was garbage.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

The "intentional" foulncall in the 1st Qtr? The many questionable foul calls on McDonald whonwas driving out of control into the paint? The many missed traveling calls on UofA? Did you actually watch the game?

Pac 12 ref calls are "different", I have said so repetitively. I thought the 2nd half was a little oddly called, the first half where almost anything goes was more typical.

My wife likes to say that all mugging is allowed, however, don't touch a shooter's arm.

And McDonald typically looks more out of control than she is, although ASU's stellar defense I thought made her look bad, yet she still got hers. As I was walking out of the arena, I heard someone say "McDonald is worth the price of admission".

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

A couple of years ago UA had a tall French girl, who I think never played. Any idea what the story is/was with her?

Simonet-Keller - Very nice young lady, she had leg issues and was not medically able to play (I think she was in a game or 2 when she first arrived, but I could be wrong).

UA is very, very good to "players" that cannot play. They kept Taryn Griffey around after she could no longer play, I think till she graduated, and it is fairly clear they knew Tee Tee Sparks would be a "no-go" this year, but she is none-the-less on the team (high fived her last night), she finally had shoulder surgery about a month ago.

As to other's comments - yes, Adia chose to go the transfer and foreign player route, as others have said, who of the better recruits would want to go to Arizona before she transformed the program. We have a petty decent recruit coming next year, I believe.

And McDonald was recruited by Adia at Washington, of course. As was one of the other transfers, I forget which one.