Nostalgia can be great, but the past can also hold unpleasant memories. Arizona women’s basketball will be looking back on the glory while trying to exorcise some demons on Friday night in McKale Center.
Former Wildcat point guard Aari McDonald
will be honored by the program during and before the game, but Aari McDonald Night will be held during a game that brings up unpleasant memories for the fans.UA will face off against Northern Arizona, a team that beat the Wildcats twice last year, including once in McKale Center. While it’s true that Arizona wasn’t at full strength in either game and NAU was a very good team, it’s also true that fans of Arizona Athletics are not fond of losing to in-state mid-majors and UA did it three times last year.
“I know the fans would love to see us get a win in this one and right the ship a little bit, but NAU is a really good team” said Arizona head coach Becky Burke. “But NAU is a really good team. We’re excited for the opportunity. They’ve got a really, really, really good player, their coaches are getting ’em to play extremely hard. So we know we’ve got a good challenge in front of us.”
A lot of the focus is on what will be happening on the sidelines, though.
McDonald isn’t the first player from the Adia Barnes era to return to McKale since the coaching change. Sam Thomas was at Burke’s introductory press conference. Cate Reese was photographed taking a visit to the office shortly after Burke arrived. Burke thinks those ties to the past are important.
“I feel like they were my players,” Burke said. “That’s how much they’ve wrapped their arms around me and just the constant communication. I talk to Sam all the time. You just see the players that have stopped by the office or reached out or texted or emailed. I mean, it’s really, really incredible. But specifically Sam and Aari and the players that meant so much to this program, it’s not about who the head coach is sitting in that seat. It’s about this place. It’s about about the city of Tucson. It’s about their experience here, and I think they’ll be forever grateful for that. So it’s just the least I can do to just continue to make them feel at home and make them feel welcome.”
The latest return happened because of another alumna. Assistant coach Julie Brase Hairgrove got the ball rolling.
“Coach Julie had the idea to just do something to recognize her and bring her back,” Burke said. “Aari has been such a big supporter since the moment we got this job. I mean, reached out immediately. Her and I go back and forth on social media really, really often, and so she’s just excited for the new direction of this program. She’s excited about obviously this being her alma mater and somebody that meant so much to this program. So the support that she’s shown us from the very beginning since we got here has just been felt.”
McDonald was inducted into the Ring of Honor almost immediately after her career at Arizona was over, so this will be something different. McDonald will talk to the team. Posters will be handed out to early arriving fans. Burke hopes McDonald will speak to the crowd. She will also attend Saturday’s football game, cheering on the program her husband Devon Brewer was a part of when he attended Arizona.
Not only does the night serve to honor the woman who took Arizona to the national championship game, but it helps keep fans engaged with the program. Crowds are still showing up in solid numbers, with average attendance at 5,316 through three games against UC Riverside, UC Irvine, and Grambling State.
“What better way to get a couple thousand more fans in these seats to come back and see Aari and celebrate her and we’ll do the same as a program,” Burke said.
Last season, Arizona did not give attendance numbers for its first home game against UT Arlington, but the Wildcats averaged 7,194 fans through the first three home games that have attendance numbers. Those were against Tarleton State, UNLV, and Grambling State. A bump of a couple thousand more fans would put this year’s numbers closer to what the team drew last season for its early home games.
Burke also believes that just talking to McDonald can help her players, many of whom are smaller guards like McDonald.
“I don’t know that you could put a price tag on it,” Burke said. “She’s arguably the best to ever do it here. She took us to the promised land. That’s where we want to go, and this is somebody that put a team on her back and took them there. So to not take every advantage to pick her brain and figure out how and why and what and all those things. That’s the goal to get back to a Final Four here at Arizona. So to have somebody in the building that’s been there and done it, I think is invaluable. And somebody that’s close in age to them that this place meant so much to, because she embraced Tucson, she embraced the University of Arizona, and we want our players to do the same thing.”
As for the game, both teams look dramatically different than they did last season. Both head coaches moved on to new programs. Both rosters lost almost all their players, with Wildcat-killed Sophie Glancey following her coach to Santa Clara and all but one of Arizona’s players either transferring before she left or following Barnes to SMU. That may make the impact of losing to the Lumberjacks twice last year a bit more remote, but it’s still on Burke’s mind.
“I think you would normally use that as bulletin board material, right?” Burke said. “I mean, they ain’t got anybody left. We ain’t got anybody left. So there’s two returners, I believe they have. One of them played significant minutes this year. And then obviously we have Montaya [Dew], who isn’t playing for us yet. But did I tell our players what happened twice last year? Yes, I did.”
