Montaya Dew was so excited to play for Arizona that she didn’t want to wait.
She verbally committed to the Wildcats in December, becoming the first member of Arizona’s 2023 recruiting class to do so.
The five-star recruit will enroll at the UA early, too. She’ll graduate from Las Vegas Centennial High School this winter, and will start college in January.
Dew, a 6-foot-2-inch forward, selected Arizona over schools like Stanford, Oregon, UCLA, Louisville and Tennessee, among others. This summer, two others joined her in verbally committing to UA — Breya Cunningham (ESPN’s No. 10) and La Jolla Country Day teammate Jada Williams (ESPN’s No. 20).
Dew was invited to try out for USA Basketball’s U17 team and was selected as ESPN’s best passer/facilitator in her class. Even with that approach of a pass-first teammate, she isn’t afraid to shoot and that is shown by how much her draft stock soared over the past year. She wasn’t even ranked, then went to No. 23 in May of 2021, No. 19 in December (when she committed to UA) and No. 9 this summer by ESPN’s HoopGurlz.
Dew thinks UA coach Adia Barnes saw something in her early one. Dew has worked to improve her her shooting and ball-handling; her basketball IQ is higher now, too.
And then there is the defense. Dew was drawn to the fast-paced defense that Arizona plays.
Asked what her favorite thing to do on the court was, Dew didn’t hesitate.
“Take a charge,” Dew said. “I like the hype right after. It’s amazing.”
If a lot of this sounds familiar to UA fans, it should. Another forward from Las Vegas Centennial liked to put her teammates in position — and liked to take charges, too. Her name: Sam Thomas.
Karen Weitz, the Centennial High school girls basketball coach who has coached both Dew and Thomas, sees some similarities.
“I think both were college-ready for their size,” Weitz said. “They were both very versatile in terms of being able to play in a few different positions. … I think for (Montaya), she’s 6-2 and came play out on the perimeter you don’t see a lot of people like her. She’s more of a facilitator in terms of her play versus being a scorer. She’d rather pass the ball than score the ball. I think when you see a kid like that, they can handle the ball, pass that will and has a high IQ … you don’t see kids like that across the country. …
“On defense, she has versatility because she is so big, she’s going to be able to guard on the perimeter, she’s going to be able to guard in the post. If you are going to switch balls screens and stuff like that, she’s going to be able to do that from the perimeter.”
Both players also have long arms, but use them in different ways.
“Sam uses her arms in terms of figuring out a way to just be so erect,” Weitz said. “Sam had a knack for that and it’s what her dad (Derek) taught them because her sisters (Bailey and Jade) — all of them did it. Montaya is more of a squatter when she blocked shots, as opposed to Sam just being more erected just taking the ball from you.”
Thomas said Dew will “definitely fit in at Arizona.”
Why?
“She loves playing defense and has long arms,” Thomas said with a laugh. “That’s what I think they need is that versatile, tall player that can get those tips and stuff. … I think she’ll do really well. I think for her to watch Cate (Reese) play, I think would be really good for her because I see them having very similar styles of play. I think Montaya can definitely get the 3-point range like Cate and have that confidence in there and obviously bodying down in the post. Being a versatile post player, being able to drive from the free-throw line and really just being more of … not even just the back-to-the-basket type of post player, but a stretch four.”
Rim shots
Dew isn’t the first Wildcat to start college early.
Tara Manumaluega enrolled early in 2019, and Madi Conner came early in 2021. Conner played right away, coming off the bench as the Wildcats made the Final Four. Manumaluega, however, took a greyshirt — which meant that she trained with the team but did play. This is most likely is the route that Dew will take. She will suit up in 2023-24 with her class.
“Whatever Coach Adia has planned for me, I know is best,” Dew said. “If she puts me on the court in the spring, I know she is making he best decisions for me, and I’ll be ready.”
Chloe Kitts, a forward in 2023 recruiting class, is visiting the UA this weekend.
Weitz said she was not surprised by Thomas’ success at Arizona or that she made the Phoenix Mercury’s roster off a training camp contract.
“She’s earned everything that she’s gotten up into this point. And with a smile, even through adversity,” Weitz said. “That’s the nice thing about Sam is that she’s always going to have a smile on her face and be positive, even when things aren’t necessarily going her way. …
“She’s just an all-around fantastic woman and a great player. When she’s on the floor, she just makes it easy for everybody else, and you don’t really understand it till you coach her. And then it’s like, ‘I get it. I get it.’ She just makes everybody around her better. And she’ll do anything that our team needs to win because at the end of the day, that’s really what’s important to her. If you need her to go out and shoot, she’s going to go out and shoot. If you need her to defend the best player, she’s going to defend the best player. You need to rebound that game. She’s going to do that. I just think Sam has that winning mentality that’s contagious to everybody else around her and being a winner is important.”
