Arizona Wildcats WBB | The Boneyard

Arizona Wildcats WBB

I would think Cate Reese and Sam Thomas are givens, probably Ariyah Copeland as well.

Then you also have Yeaney, Pellington, Pueyo, Love, Chavez, Ware, and potentially Rogers.

Plus you’ve got freshmen Vonleh (post), Gret Asi (point guard), and Conner (shooting guard).

If Barnes can work out the chemistry (which is not always easy with a large volume of transfers and newcomers), they’ll be very good again.
 
Reese, Love, Thomas, Yeaney, Chavez would be my guess at the moment, if they add Rogers then I think Chavez would be moved to the bench. They actually look like a top Pac12 team on paper.
 
I have no idea, it takes me a while to absorb who "new" players are. I can say that in the zoom Q & A for donors with the 3 major coaches, one of the questions she was asked was point guard and she said Yeaney. All that means, of course, is that's the plan. Things could change. I do agree that Reese and Thomas are locks and I know she is high on Love.

Ware is probably going to start the season playing volleyball, unless something changes. I know she was invited to one of the USA basketball team tryouts, which is great, but she has consistently stated her 2-sport commitment. The decision to play basketball (only) this year was due to the change in Volleyball season and the feeling that, if she was going to play only one, she would benefit most from playing basketball. And Coach Rubio from Women's Volleyball supported the decision.
 
I would think that Reese, Thomas and Yeaney are givens.

Pellington is one of their best players, I hope she starts.
 
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I am wondering how long Ware will continue with volleyball. Adia drops anvils that she thinks Ware would be better off sticking to basketball. I want to see her play volleyball, but I just have a nag in the back of my mind.

If Rogers ends up at Arizona,
I think she will be the starting PG. Otherwise, I think Pellington and Chavez start in the backcourt with Yeaney or Pueyo first off the bench.

Pellington had a coming out party in the tournament after really struggling all season. She played well for Team Canada, so her struggle all regular season surprised me. Hopefully she will be postseason Shaina from the start next year.

Thomas and Reese are foregone conclusions. Copeland will start in the front court.

As for reserves, they are super deep now which is a first. They have had bodies before, but the talent has been lacking.

Adia has said a few times that Anna Gret Asi doesn't want to be a PG in college, so we will see how that goes.

Koi Love will play both the 3 and 4 based on what Adia said this week. Pueyo can play 1 through 3.

Depending on how much Ware plays, Reese may get to play the 4 more this year. It would suit her.

Smith might get some minutes as a reserve if Ware sticks to her volleyball desire. If she doesn't, Smith will join Erdogan as a returner who rarely sees the court.

I am interested in seeing what Vonleh does. Before ESPN switched the company doing their rankings, she was a 5* ranked in the top 30ish. When they switched, she dropped to No. 100 and a 4*. I want to see which is more accurate.
 
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AZgirl said:
I am wondering how long Ware will continue with volleyball. Adia drops anvils that she thinks Ware would be better off sticking to basketball. I want to see her play volleyball, but I just have a nag in the back of my mind.

If Rogers ends up at Arizona,
I think she will be the starting PG. Otherwise, I think Pellington and Chavez start in the backcourt with Yeaney or Pueyo first off the bench.

Pellington had a coming out party in the tournament after really struggling all season. She played well for Team Canada, so her struggle all regular season surprised me. Hopefully she will be postseason Shaina from the start next year.

Thomas and Reese are foregone conclusions. Copeland will start in the front court.

As for reserves, they are super deep now which is a first. They have had bodies before, but the talent has been lacking.

Adia has said a few times that Anna Gret Asi doesn't want to be a PG in college, so we will see how that goes.

Koi Love will play both the 3 and 4 based on what Adia said this week. Pueyo can play 1 through 3.

Depending on how much Ware plays, Reese may get to play the 4 more this year. It would suit her.

Smith might get some minutes as a reserve if Ware sticks to her volleyball desire. If she doesn't, Smith will join Erdogan as a returner who rarely sees the court.

I am interested in seeing what Vonleh does. Before ESPN switched the company doing their rankings, she was a 5* ranked in the top 30ish. When they switched, she dropped to No. 100 and a 4*. I want to see which is more accurate.
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What happened to the rating system? I am curious to know?
 
Drew8 said:
What happened to the rating system? I am curious to know?
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ESPN just started contracting with a different group to provide the HoopGurlz content. Dan Olson of Collegiate Girls Basketball Report used to do the evaluations. Now, they're handled by Premier Basketball. The very first one that was released by the new group was radically different than the previous group's evaluations for the 2021 class.

Both of Arizona’s domestic recruits dropped pretty dramatically and Anna Gret Asi was given a 4.5* rating, although she isn't ranked alongside U.S. players. Don't ask what that half-star thing means. It's peculiar to this new group doing ESPN's rankings.
 
AZgirl said:
ESPN just started contracting with a different group to provide the HoopGurlz content. Dan Olson of Collegiate Girls Basketball Report used to do the evaluations. Now, they're handled by Premier Basketball. The very first one that was released by the new group was radically different than the previous group's evaluations for the 2021 class.

Both of Arizona’s domestic recruits dropped pretty dramatically and Anna Gret Asi was given a 4.5* rating, although she isn't ranked alongside U.S. players. Don't ask what that half-star thing means. It's peculiar to this new group doing ESPN's rankings.
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Do you remember when they released that first one? That way we have a little idea of when we can expect the next big update
 
letsgogirls said:
Do you remember when they released that first one? That way we have a little idea of when we can expect the next big update
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According to Premier's announcement of the partnership, it was scheduled for September 8, 2020. That sounds about right to me because I remember it being a couple of months before signing day because we were looking at how much the Arizona recruits had plummeted.
 
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nwhoopfan said:
Wow. Never once, at any point watching any Arizona game this year, did I think Yeaney should be playing PG. I just don't see it.
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Well - an update. In today's paper, a big mother's day writeup, included the following:

- she is hoping to sign a point guard (I think her Yeaney remark to the donors was to a question of who was going to take over Aari's role on the court, Aari was (often) the point guard so I may have taken her too literally)

- she has been approached for other jobs; she was the lowest paid HC in the PAC when hired and now will be 3rd behind Tara and Kevin Graves. She never-the-less really, really - did I say really - wants to be the Arizona coach. Dawn Staley was singing her praises in the piece.

and she has been making the rounds of quite a few programs on various networks.
 
AZgirl said:
I am wondering how long Ware will continue with volleyball. Adia drops anvils that she thinks Ware would be better off sticking to basketball. I want to see her play volleyball, but I just have a nag in the back of my mind.

If Rogers ends up at Arizona,
I think she will be the starting PG. Otherwise, I think Pellington and Chavez start in the backcourt with Yeaney or Pueyo first off the bench.

Pellington had a coming out party in the tournament after really struggling all season. She played well for Team Canada, so her struggle all regular season surprised me. Hopefully she will be postseason Shaina from the start next year.

Thomas and Reese are foregone conclusions. Copeland will start in the front court.

As for reserves, they are super deep now which is a first. They have had bodies before, but the talent has been lacking.

Adia has said a few times that Anna Gret Asi doesn't want to be a PG in college, so we will see how that goes.

Koi Love will play both the 3 and 4 based on what Adia said this week. Pueyo can play 1 through 3.

Depending on how much Ware plays, Reese may get to play the 4 more this year. It would suit her.

Smith might get some minutes as a reserve if Ware sticks to her volleyball desire. If she doesn't, Smith will join Erdogan as a returner who rarely sees the court.

I am interested in seeing what Vonleh does. Before ESPN switched the company doing their rankings, she was a 5* ranked in the top 30ish. When they switched, she dropped to No. 100 and a 4*. I want to see which is more accurate.
Expand ...

Was really happy to see her have this breakout during the tournament. It hasn't been easy for her considering her challenges at Oklahoma. She's stuck through it and is reaping the benefits.

I'm hoping she makes Team Canada for the Olympics. Playing at that level will be a great experience and she'll bring back what she has learned to the team for the upcoming season.
 
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There have been some coaches who made surprising runs to the Final 4 that didn't really seem to cash in on it. Not the case w/ Adia. She is hot right now, getting both HS players and transfers. It remains to be seen, but I don't think UA is going to fade or go away after McDonald left.
 
Drew8 said:
Eh, we got a 5 star aspiring dr.
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We already had one, but not nearly as highly regarded as the new one. 😉
Semaj Smith came to Arizona for med school, too. Orthopedics from what I remember. She was a borderline 5*/4* depending on the service.
 
AZgirl said:
We already had one, but not nearly as highly regarded as the new one. 😉
Semaj Smith came to Arizona for med school, too. Orthopedics from what I remember. She was a borderline 5*/4* depending on the service.
Expand ...

Choosing a specific college because you want to be an orthopod doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense, but I guess a lot of accepted medical students come in without knowing how all that works.
 
letsgogirls said:
So far for Class of 2022:
  1. Maya Nnaji
  2. Kailyn Gilbert
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I truly coveted Maya. Wish she was gonna be a Gamecoc. I think she has tremendous offensive skills including advanced footwork and capable shooting with either hand. To me, she is the best offensive Post on the board. He other skills are also solid.

You guys have a great class going. I watched Kailyn playing against Janiah Barker's much more talented team. Kailyn carried her team to the near upset. I was quite impressedGreat game if you haven't seen it.

Congrats again! BTW, that's not Barker leaning over Gilbert and taunting her. That's a teammate who had just blocked gibert's shot in the last 30 seconds or so. Barker knocks her teammate down to stop the taunting and avoid the T.
 
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AZgirl said:
We already had one, but not nearly as highly regarded as the new one. 😉
Semaj Smith came to Arizona for med school, too. Orthopedics from what I remember. She was a borderline 5*/4* depending on the service.
Expand ...
It's interesting that Smith was rated so high because she doesn't get any PT
 
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letsgogirls said:
It's interesting that Smith was rated so high because she doesn't get any PT
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She is a walking foul. If you can't play defense without fouling, it is tough to play for Adia. She's also not very... fluid? Graceful? Not sure how to put it, but her footwork just seems stilted.

I think she was one of those players who got by on size in high school and travel ball. She probably could have played elsewhere if she transferred, but she and Adia are very fond of each other. I believe Semaj's godmother has ties to Adia, so there was some familial trust there before she came.

As for choosing a school in order to pursue a medical degree, I believe the reasoning was to go to a school with a strong reputation in the sciences and the expertise to guide her. Who knows how much it really matters.
 
So, Adia was on the podcast of former Arizona men's players Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye. She talks about how dysfunctional Arizona was when she arrived. She has never gone this much into it, but I had heard from people who were around the team during Niya Butts' final year that Butts seemed really checked out.

When I hear that players were at each others' throats to the point of fist fights and didn't seem to understand that it wasn't normal behavior, I am really upset that the AD let the previous staff stay so long.

But it also tells me that Adia and Salvo did a lot to get that group to almost .500 that first season. The second year, after she had shed some players, was the 6-win season, but I think that first year should answer a lot of questions about what kind of coach she is.

It's a good listen if you haven't heard it yet:
 
AZgirl said:
So, Adia was on the podcast of former Arizona men's players Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye. She talks about how dysfunctional Arizona was when she arrived. She has never gone this much into it, but I had heard from people who were around the team during Niya Butts' final year that Butts seemed really checked out.

When I hear that players were at each others' throats to the point of fist fights and didn't seem to understand that it wasn't normal behavior, I am really upset that the AD let the previous staff stay so long.

But it also tells me that Adia and Salvo did a lot to get that group to almost .500 that first season. The second year, after she had shed some players, was the 6-win season, but I think that first year should answer a lot of questions about what kind of coach she is.

It's a good listen if you haven't heard it yet:
Expand ...

I don't have time right now to listen. But to your over-arching point, yes, it is well known that once Niya knew she was nearing the end of her tenure, she stopped recruiting, in fact there was no recruiting info for the next year in the basketball office when Adia took over. There were transfers out that were inexplicable (Adia has had a few leave that I think were, at least in a sense, recruited over, but that is also a bit unavoidable when you are building upward).

Niya's teams (on court) would go through 5 minute stretches where there was no evidence they knew what sport they were playing, never mind that they were playing it poorly. Sort of like my Rutgers football team in a past era.

I knew things were doomed when the Assistant Coach was accused of faxing his privates, whatever it was exactly. Just no.
 
Adia has always said that some players were told to leave after the first year because she felt that the culture couldn't improve if they stayed. She talks a little bit more about that here. Says she had a really tough time with it, especially with one particular player, because she was afraid of the negative impact it might have on that player's life.

I had heard that she had to really scramble with the recruiting because nothing had been done for a while. Had to fall back on Europe and grab Lucia Alonso.

Super happy for Shaina!
 
Here's a Q&A with Maya Nnaji where she specifically talks about the med school thing and what Arizona had to offer there. She talks about being able to get through both pre-med and med school in 7 years even if she gets drafted.

I don't know how common it is at med schools or if it's still a thing at UA, but when I worked at Arizona a decade ago, one of my coworkers who had moved over from that department also told me that the med school is pretty forgiving there. It takes a lot to flunk out is what I was told. There's a lot of handholding to get people through the program.

www.azdesertswarm.com

Maya Nnaji explains why she committed to Arizona, what she will bring to the Wildcats

Your best source for quality Arizona Wildcats news, rumors, analysis, stats and scores from the fan perspective.
www.azdesertswarm.com www.azdesertswarm.com
 
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