Arizona women’s basketball head coach Becky Burke received no favors by having her hiring announced on Apr. 11, 2025. The portal had been open for weeks and schools–including Arizona under the previous
coaching staff–were already hosting transfers on official visits. Freshman classes were mostly signed, although coaching changes put a few on the market. Even most latecomers from overseas had picked their schools.
Burke got busy building the future. That not only meant recruiting for the 2025-26 season but also beyond. The early signs suggest that the young players–both those currently playing and those about to sign–will have an impact sooner than some might have expected.
Burke put together a team of players who are new to playing at this level. Even if they spent last year on a Power 4 roster, almost all of Arizona’s players lack experience at the highest level of NCAA women’s ‘basketball. The lone exception was Montaya Dew, who is out with a second knee injury in as many years.
Burke brought in three players directly from overseas and three directly from the high school ranks, although one of those was an international player who came to the U.S. during high school. That player left before classes started. Another one of the internationals wasn’t announced until after classes started, so she was late getting used to the demands of her coach and NCAA basketball.
Whatever the difficulties in getting them here, Arizona has had some positive outings from members of its freshman class. The Wildcats have gotten significant contributions from Daniah Trammell and MJ Jurado, in particular.
Burke believes Trammell would have received Power 4 looks if she hadn’t already committed to Buffalo. Trammell has certainly shown herself to be one of the most promising bigs for the Wildcats over the two exhibitions. She has also shown the inconsistency that Burke warned about heading into the first exhibition.
“We got Daniah to commit really early at Buffalo, because I knew she was going to get Power 4 looks,” Burke said. “I knew if she hung around and waited and bet on herself, that she was gonna get some Power 4 looks. She’s dynamic, she’s explosive, she’s super, super, like, uber athletic. If you look at her, you don’t think that’s a true freshman body by any means. So we were lucky to get her to commit to Buffalo early before somebody else could scoop her up at a higher level. So that’s why, when we got this job, I knew it was a no-brainer to bring her along.”
Trammell played just over 15 minutes in the exhibition loss against West Texas A&M, which was the most by any of Arizona’s bigs. She went 4 for 5 from the field for eight points and grabbed three rebounds. She also had three steals. The down side was the four fouls she committed during a relatively short time on the court.
Trammell didn’t score as much or grab as many rebounds in the second game, which she started. Once again, she played between 15-16 minutes. This time she went 1 for 3 from the field and corralled just one rebound. She found open teammates for three assists, but she also committed four turnovers. She was able to draw fouls to the tune of four total; she drew just one in her first outing. She also had one fewer foul of her own despite playing about 30 seconds more.
As for Jurado, her numbers with the Spanish national team don’t jump out of a box score. However, her two exhibition games with Arizona show that she can affect a game without it showing in box score stats and that she can fill traditional box score columns. The young player has a great deal of respect for Wildcat alumna Helena Pueyo, and many of her attributes are ones that made Pueyo effective both on the court and off for Arizona.
Jurado played just over 21 minutes in the first exhibition and had the second-leading +/- on the team with nine. She went 1 for 2 from the field and 3 for 3 from the line to score five points. She also grabbed two rebounds. She drew two fouls but wasn’t whistled for any. Her impact was bigger than her points or rebounds.
“MJ is big, like a bigger guard for us, which we don’t have,” Burke said before the second exhibition. “She’s physical. She’s got a really, a tremendous amount of toughness to her. MJ can make shots. She’s got to shoot the ball tomorrow night, but she’s so coachable. She just does exactly what she’s asked, how she’s asked, when she’s asked. And, ultimately, those are the ones that are going to be on the floor that are doing exactly what we’re asking them to do, how we’re asking them to do when we’re asking them to do it. She’s a great teammate. She doesn’t pout, she doesn’t get down, she doesn’t really get rattled, like I said, She’s physical. She’s not gonna let somebody bully her.”
Burke was right that Jurado was going to do what she was asked to do. She was asked to shoot more against Cal State L.A. and she did. Burke said they needed her to score more and she did that, too.
Jurado went 3 for 7 from the field in the second exhibition. She showed she could hit 3s in the 3-point contest at the Red-Blue game last month. This time, she did it in a game against an opponent, going 2 for 4 from outside against Cal State LA.
Adde Adebanjo has not played much yet after coming to Arizona very late in the process, but those few minutes show her athleticism. If she gets “the IQ piece,” as Burke referred to it, she could be an effective big for the Wildcats. In a small lineup, she could play the five. In a big lineup, she could play the four.
Adebanjo played just under seven minutes in the first exhibition. She blocked a shot and grabbed a rebound, but she took a lot of shots for such a short period of time. She put the ball up four times, missing all of her shots in 6:55 on the court. She also turned the ball over once and committed a foul.
In the second game, Adebanjo played just under two minutes but she was arguably more effective. She didn’t shoot the ball, but she still grabbed a rebound, blocked a shot, and drew a foul. She also committed a turnover and a foul. Her +/- went from -11 in under seven minutes to +2 in under two minutes.
No one knows what will happen from one year to the next in the portal and NIL era, but a positive view of the situation says that the group of five freshmen will provide building blocks for Burke’s program when she signs the first class she recruited to Arizona on a semi-reasonable timeframe.
That group of five also includes guards Molly Ladwig and Kamryn Kitchen. Kitchen has already spent a redshirt year at a Power 4 program after reclassifying, but she was supposed to be a true freshman this year and has four years to play. Sophomore forward Adebanjo, who is in her first year of NCAA basketball, should be part of that core, as well.
Up Next for Arizona Women’s Basketball
UC Riverside Highlanders (0-0) @ Arizona Wildcats (0-0)
When: Thursday, Nov. 6 @ 6 p.m. MST
Where: McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz.
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 1400 AM (KTUC)
Stats: Arizona Live Stats
That group will be joined by a 2026 class that currently consists of four verbal commits. The new group is just two weeks from signing day, although they won’t sign National Letters of Intent like in the past. Instead, they sign financial aid and revenue sharing agreements between Nov. 12-19.
All four are rated as four-star prospects by at least one of the services tracked by this website (i.e. ESPN, 247sports, on3/Rivals, and Prospects Nation). One of them has improved her status from a three-star to a four-star recruit since committing.
While Burke said that Arizona would be recruiting from all over the country and internationally, the known commits are predominantly from the East Coast. One is from Florida. Two are from areas Burke is very familiar with: Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The fourth has lived in the Phoenix area since 2016.
The first of Burke’s 2026 commits is playing in New Jersey now, but she originally hails from the coach’s home state of Pennsylvania. Priyanka Ponnam is rated as a four-star recruit by Prospects Nation. She is not among the site’s top 60-ranked players, but she is included in its Elite 150.
Burke picked up her second recruit at the beginning of August from Australian-born center Callie Hinder, who has been playing prep ball for the PHHoenix Prep National (PHH Prep) team and travel ball for Mountain West Premier. Hinder is currently rated as a four-star recruit by Rivals. Previously, her best rating by any service was as a three-star recruit. Rivals has her as the No. 2 center and No. 2 player from the state of Arizona.
After the 2023 Nike TOC, Prospects Nation noted that Hinder needed to be a more confident shooter, but her length and passing ability gave opponents trouble.
The camp evaluation reads, “Hinder has a dominating presence on the floor altering shots with her length and blocking ability. She showed a solid passing ability including hi-lo’s to the duck in and skips to open shooters against the zone. She keeps the ball high on rebounds and put backs. As she continues to develop confidence in her scoring ability she will make an even greater impact.”
Four-star guard Jasleen Green was the next to give her word to Burke and the staff. She’s the top-ranked member of the class according to ESPN, Rivals, and 247.
ESPN has her as a four-star recruit and the No. 60 player in the class in its latest rankings. She was previously No. 59, so there has not been much movement in her placement with the new rankings.
Green is the only one of the four Arizona recruits rated and ranked by 247sports, making her the only commit to be rated a four-star recruit by all four services.
That service has her as the 50th-ranked player in the class. She’s the No. 8 shooting guard and No. 5 player from Florida according to 247. Despite being the only recruit the service ranks, she’s enough to give Arizona its 26th-ranked class internally and the 28th-ranked class based on a composite of the ranking services..
Rivals has Green as the 80th-ranked player in its internal rankings and No. 74 in its industry rankings, which takes into account rankings from Rivals, 247, and ESPN. She’s the No. 15 combo guard and No. 9 player in Florida internally. The Industry rankings have her as the No. 13 combo guard and No. 8 player in Florida..
Prospects Nation is currently ranking its top 60 players. Green falls outside that group, but she is one of the site’s Elite 150, which includes the top 60 and another group that is not individually ranked.
Makayla Presser-Palmer was already on Burke’s radar when the coach was at Buffalo. She was the fourth of the known recruits to commit to Arizona’s new coach. She’s rated a four-star recruit by three of the four services with only 247 leaving her off.
Rivals has the guard from Pennsylvania as the 80th-ranked player in the country. Its industry ranking has her as the No. 72 player overall, No. 24 shooting guard, and No. 4 player from Pennsylvania. However, that is partially based on an old ranking by ESPN. ESPN has her at No. 63 in its latest rankings, down from No. 55 when Rival’s industry ranking was compiled.
As Burke pointed out several times in her press conference last week, the 2025-26 Wildcats are still officially 0-0 despite the exhibition loss to West Texas A&M. They have time to grow and learn, which is the point of exhibition games. While the transfers received most of the attention in the offseason, early returns suggest some of the freshmen may be just as important in that growth. Along with the 2026 class, those freshmen will definitely have more to say in the long term.
Their first opportunity to show that comes on Thursday, Nov. 6 when Burke’s first team hosts UC Riverside.
