Rebuilt Arizona women's basketball squad expresses optimism at Big 12 media day

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — New Arizona women’s basketball coach Becky Burke and three equally new Wildcat players crossed the stage behind where a basket normally is at the T-Mobile Center, then sat down in padded black living room chairs as a gigantic video board populated with Block As and Big 12 logos.

Wilbur and Wilma stood to the side, arms locked, listening.

Everyone knew that Burke’s first pass through the Big 12 isn’t expected to be as comfy, including, especially, Burke.

So after explaining to the women’s basketball media day audience again the many reasons why she left Buffalo to take the Arizona job last spring — which included the city of Tucson and Arizona Athletic Director Desireé Reed-Francois — Burke was asked if she considered it a “rebuild or a retool.”

She didn’t hesitate.

“Complete rebuild, from the studs,” Burke said with a laugh. “When you talk about us being hired and walking down from a stage like this at my press conference, we had one player in the locker room, and so this is a complete rebuild.

“We weren’t hired early in the process by any means, as far as the portal goes (but we) hit the ground running 100 miles an hour as soon as my name was called. We’ve done a tremendous job of hiring a staff, building a roster in the timeframe that we had. We’re a no-excuses group, but let’s be real about what it was. It was bare bones, so definitely a complete rebuild.”

That one player returning from Adia Barnes’ last UA team, forward Montaya Dew, remains sidelined after suffering multiple knee injuries, too.

But Burke spent her first summer in Tucson by pulling in nine transfers that included her standout guard at Buffalo last season, Noelani Cornfield. Averaging 10.9 points and 5.9 assists, Cornfield led Buffalo on the court to a 30-win season and WNIT title last season.

Burke brought Cornfield to Kansas City along with two other mid-major stars she picked up in the transfer portal: Guard Mickayla Perdue, the Horizon League’s Player of the Year last season while playing at Cleveland State, and guard Sumayah Sugapong, a first-team all-Big West player last season at San Diego.

All three of those UA attendees at the Big 12 media day are expected to play major roles for the Wildcats, while former Salpointe and Sunnyside center Achol Magot is among the others expected to be big factors.

Burke is scheduled to put the new-look Wildcats in front of the public for the first time Thursday, when they play in an exhibition game against West Texas A&M at McKale Center, and she’s prepared by mixing them together and trying to build things back up during the summer and early fall.

Along with Burke for the ride from Buffalo, Cornfield said the coach has been trying to build a culture around being disciplined and detail-oriented.

“It’s living day-to-day up to her standards,” Cornfield said. “Doing everything that she expects of you.”

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That applies even to Perdue, a prolific scorer who said she’s adjusting from playing mostly in a zone defense last season to a man-to-man under Burke.

“I’m gonna do everything that she asks of me, whether it’s scoring or facilitating,” Perdue said, and defensively, “she’s done good job of pushing me and maybe (saying) I can’t defend.”

The Wildcats likely will need that sort of spirit to compete in a league that has four Top 25 teams: Iowa State (14), Baylor (16), TCU (17) and Oklahoma State (22).

In the Big 12 preseason coaches poll, where TCU was picked to win with Iowa State second and Baylor third, Arizona was picked to finish 14th.

That’s a long way down, a long way to look up, and not just figuratively.

“Literally, what I’m seeing looking around this building today is we’re small, we’re going to be undersized. We’re going to have some things that don’t look to our favor on paper,” Burke said. “But I think what they don’t know about our team is our competitiveness, our attention to detail, our blue-collar mentality, how gritty these guys are.

“You know, we have a really good mix of mid major studs, true freshmen, international players, power five transfers, and every single one of them has such a unique story and such a big chip on their shoulder to come to Arizona and prove people wrong or right, that I think it’s going to be something really, really special to see.”

Burke isn’t alone in her challenge. UCF has even lower expectations, picked to finish last out of the Big 12’s 16 teams and with 11 new players. But coach Sytia Messer said the Knights will be a “gritty defensive team” with speed and a vibe she liked.

“I’m so proud of their positive attitude,” she said. “This is a relentless group. I’m excited about this season and what our future holds.”

The women’s media day began Tuesday with Baylor, where coach Nicki Collen says the Bears treaded carefully through the transfer portal, picking up what they needed while keeping a strong core of returners.

“We’re one of only five power four programs that have their entire 2022 class intact,” she said. “Having four players that came in together and will go together goes a long way towards culture and our new players really understanding what we do, why we do it and when to do it.”

The Big 12 men’s basketball media day is scheduled to occupy the same 7 a.m.-2 p.m. window Wednesday, with UA scheduled for ESPNU interviews from 10-10:10 a.m.