Ex-UA assistant has different perspective for signature win; why the Wildcats believe they'll host NCAAs

Morgan Valley stood on the McKale Center court last spring and took it all in as Arizona celebrated winning the WNIT title. There were balloons and confetti, hugs all around and cheers from a capacity crowd.

Valley returned to McKale on Friday night, and was in the stands when Arizona beat a Top 5 team — No. 4 Stanford — for the first time in program history.

Her vantage point, however, was a little different. The former UA assistant watched from the stands as the head coach at Hartford.

“It’s a different experience when you’re sitting on the bench — things look different when you’re in the stands,” Valley said. “It’s kind of like a big sister, (I’m) really proud of how hard they played, the toughness that they showed — especially down the stretch against a team that does a really good job of closing things out. It was impressive.”

Valley had an impressive moment of her own last week. After not winning a game all season, her Hawks defeated American East Conference champion Stony Brook, 70-67.

“It was amazing, so exciting and very special. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it,” Valley said. “They never quit (all season). We kept encouraging them. If you work hard, good things will happen. You might not see it right away. We saw the daily progress and they never quit.

“I think our staff did a really good job. Everybody has been in tough situations as assistants or head coaches. I think everyone knows that there’s a process to things, it doesn’t just happen right away. It was good to have other people who’ve been in those situations. We just kept plugging away one day at a time. That’s all we thought about — what are we gonna do in our practice today to get us better for tomorrow? So that’s how we looked at it.”

The losing was a change for Valley, who won three national championships as a player at UConn and was on the Washington staff when the Huskies made the Final Four five years ago. Valley’s first UA team won just six games, but “you know, six is more than one, so that was a little different,” Valley joked. “We’re going to do great things; it’s just a matter of time.”

The game plan for beating Stanford

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Before Friday night’s matchup against Stanford, UA assistant Salvo Coppa held the final “Chalk Talk” for season ticket holders in the Jim Click Hall of Champions.

In front of a packed room, Coppa analyzed Stanford. To win, he said, the Wildcats had to “do what they do best defensively — playing team defense and applying a lot of pressure.”

There were a few other things.

“Dominique McBryde needs to rebound, we have to do a good job not to turn the ball over and take good shots,” he added.

Well, Arizona shot 40% from beyond the arc and hit nearly 92% of its free throws. Check. The Wildcats turned the ball over 12 times, one shy of their per-game average. Check. And McBryde grabbed 10, eight of them off the defensive glass. Check.

Wildcats still on pace to host

Despite Arizona’s uneven finish to the regular season, the Wildcats appear on track to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Monday night, the NCAA selection committee revealed that if the season ended today, Arizona would be a No. 4 seed — and hosting.

The importance of hosting is clear. The Wildcats play better at home, feeding off their fans. Pac-12 Networks analyst Joan Bonvicini says hosting would allow Tucson to show the women’s basketball world what’s happening here.

“I think for them to host will be the first time really that the country gets to see Arizona and Aari McDonald — and they are going to be shocked,” Bonvicini said. “They are going to be shocked of how quick she is, how good she is, how good this Arizona team is and how dangerous they are to play.”