Cate Reese summed it up in one sentence: “We wouldn’t have made it without them.”
She was referring to Tee Tee Starks, Dominique McBryde and Aari McDonald and the ride that Arizona has been on under coach Adia Barnes.
All three were recruited to the Arizona Wildcats in a five-week span in the summer of 2017.
Starks was first, choosing the UA after playing two years at Iowa State. McBryde, who played two years at Purdue, soon announced her plans to transfer to the UA. A few days later, McDonald — an electric guard at Washington — signed on the dotted line to continue her college basketball career in Tucson.
All three have become cornerstones on an Arizona team that won the WNIT last spring and is pushing to make the NCAA Tournament this year.
“They exceeded (Barnes’) vision — collectively, their impact is even more than anticipated,” said former UA coach Joan Bonvicini, now analyst for Pac-12 Networks. “Having them is no question the best recruiting done by Adia and her staff.”
The class brought big-game — and big-conference — experience to Tucson. All three played in the NCAA Tournament at their previous schools; McDonald went all the way to the Final Four.
They’ re now trying to get back with their new team.
“We would not be the same team with only two of us here,” McDonald said. “I didn’t know we’d become this powerful.”
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McDonald and Starks were both recruited by Barnes when she was an assistant coach at Washington, but they didn’t know each other. McDonald said she had heard about Starks and McBryde, but had to research her new teammates before she arrived at the UA.
It didn’t take long for them to bond. Sitting out a transfer year together will do that.
McDonald, Starks and McBryde worked out together most mornings. When the Wildcats went on the road, the three stayed in Tucson, watched the games on TV and hung out. The three transfers pushed their teammates in practice every day.
It was a grind, but they had each other.
“It’s easy to get down on yourself when you can’t do the things you love to do, but having people to go through it with you — knowing you are not alone. You always have those two people to fall back on,” Starks said.
“You are going through this process together. So it was hard, but having those two definitely made it easier. It made it manageable.”
Said McDonald: “No way I could have gotten through it by myself or even with others. I still would have struggled, but going through this together brought us closer.”
The Wildcats won only six games in the 2017-18 season, and the team’s struggles motivated the three transfers to make an immediate impact.
Arizona surged last season, making a WNIT run that led to a sellout McKale Center crowd and championship game win against Northwestern.
“We weren’t going to settle with how that year turned out and thinking we could be something special the next year,” McBryde said. “We wanted to go to NCAA Tournament. That was our goal, but definitely making postseason and winning the WNIT that was something as a group we wanted — to make that postseason. So, we kept pushing, kept fighting and kept getting stronger, kept getting better. And our coaching staff helped us a lot with that. And we supported each other through that — all three of us together rather than individually. I think along with that first year, last year we wanted something more than we did that previous year.”
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McDonald, Starks and McBryde all bring something different to the team.
“They have all added so many things in so many ways — in three drastically different ways,” Barnes said.
Starks, a coach’s kid, is the heart. Some teammates call her the Mom on the team — she makes sure they’re doing the right thing and calms them down. On the court, Starks is the team’s lockdown defender. Barnes calls her “fierce and not afraid.”
“She finds a way to get the job done,” Barnes said. “Did you know that last year she couldn’t lift her arm over her head? Her arms — both — don’t lift, so that’s why her layups look funny because she can’t lift her arm, but she finds a way. And doesn’t complain or have excuses.”
Starks started last season on the bench, but joined the starting lineup in February after an injury to guard Lucia Alonso.
Starks came through — so much so that Barnes kept her in as starter through the WNIT title game.
“Starks is the X-factor,” Bonvicini said. “When Lucia went out, she just came in and didn’t miss a beat. She was comfortable starting. I like Tee Tee. I like what she brings to the table. She’s a winner and she’s confident.”
If Starks is the Wildcats’ heart, McBryde is their biceps.
“Dominique is always guarding the best post players, All-Americans. And she makes the offense go,” Barnes said. “It’s like having a point-guard mentality in a post. She is deceptive. She plays phenomenal defense, can make a pass to set up a teammate, and makes a cut. … She’s going to make the right decision with the ball. If she’s not around, we are different without her.”
McBryde is an organizer, guiding the freshmen with drills in practice. On the court, she’s strong and powerful but has touch around the rim and superior body control.
Starks calls her “strong but agile.” McBryde’s communication skills are excellent, too.
“She’s really strong and she knows what she needs to do,” Alonso said. “I can trust her. She understands the game and she knows what she needs to do every time. Dominique does everything that doesn’t show in the stat sheet. She does all the work she’s so smart.”
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And McDonald, of course, is the Wildcats’ motor.
The speedy guard smashed the Arizona Wildcats’ single-season scoring mark last season, putting up 890 points and surpassing records held by both Barnes and former men’s player Khalid Reeves.
McDonald became the first player since 2000 to score 800 points, grab 200 rebounds, dish 150 assists and register 90 steals in one season.
Arizona’s Aari McDonald helps Dominque McBryde off the floor after McBride scored and was fouled during a game against Cal last season. McBryde “makes the offense go” with her passing and touch around the basket, says coach Adia Barnes.
It starts with a motor that is running all the time. McDonald doesn’t take a possession off on offense or defense — and that’s quite a feat considering she averaged nearly 36 minutes per game last year.
“She brings the entire pace within a game,” McBryde said. “If she is going as fast as she can all the time, like she usually is, the game is going fast as well.”
Added Starks: “She’s one of those people who brings energy. When she gets back-to-back steals that livens the team up a little bit; livens the bench up a little bit. She brings energy and people with that and they bring energy. We feed off that kind of energy.”
While opponents know what to expect from McDonald, they still can’t stop her.
“She sees things happening — she anticipates them — before they do,” Bonvicini said. “I always say the different between a good player and a great player — and Aari is a great player — is that they make people around them better. Once her teammates got used to playing with her, they got better. They played so hard. She raises the intensity. She’s the kind of player that makes the game fun for everyone else.”
Starks, McBryde and McDonald are all confident in their game yet grateful for the opportunity. And humble about their value to the Wildcats.
“I think what Coach Adia is preaching and what she wants for her culture of the team — I think she would have brought in good players, even if we didn’t come,” Starks said.
“But I definitely think — especially Dominique and Aari — they played a great role in the success of our team last year, and I think they will do the same thing this year along with Sam, Cate, our newcomers, our freshmen.”
