Arizona women's basketball notes: Dew close, but UA won't burn redshirt; more accolades; MADD partnership

Just as the Arizona women's basketball team set off for Las Vegas for the Pac-12 Tournament this week, Arizona freshman forward Montaya Dew, who tore her ACL and had season-ending surgery in August, is that much closer to being cleared for full contact in practice.

Dew, a freshman who started school a semester early as a grayshirt, was projected to start this season. Barnes said that Dew was a quick study and picked up the UA system quickly.

A player like that sounds like a perfect candidate to suit up and get on the court during the Wildcats postseason run.

Yet, while that would definitely help the shorthanded Wildcats, UA coach Adia Barnes isn’t going in that direction because it’s not in Dew’s best interest; not burning a season leaves her a full four years remaining to play college ball.

Barnes said last week the team and Dew are taking things slowly as there is no need to rush her into action.

Montaya Dew | Oct. 2, 2023 (copy) — Montaya Dew, rehabbing from ACL surgery just weeks earlier, does some individual drills while the rest of the UA women’s basketball team practices at McKale Center on Oct. 2.
Grace Trejo, Arizona Daily Star

“Maybe at the most she would play six-seven games and then she loses a year. I don't think that's worth it,” Barnes said. “She's not in, like, basketball shape so I'm not going to go play her 30 minutes. For her to play like 5-10 minutes ... selfishly could it help our team? Yeah, but for her I don't think that's a good situation.”

In football, someone could play up to four games and still redshirt. College basketball is different; players can’t come back at the end of the season and play while still using the year as a redshirt.

Barnes, Cats 1st college team to partner with MADD

It's near the end of the season, and Barnes' Wildcats are fighting for wins and a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

So it would have been understandable if she chose to focus on what's on the court, and pushed off another opportunity to help her community.

But that's wasn't ever something the Wildcats' head coach considered an option.

It was announced Tuesday night at a team “Meet and Greet” with fans in Las Vegas ahead of the Wildcats' first-round matchup against Washington at the Pac-12 Tournament that Arizona is partnering with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) in a new initiative — MADD Sports — aimed at raising awareness to reduce incidents of impaired driving.

“I thought it was the perfect relationship, important messaging and something that's impactful,” Barnes said of partnering with MADD, which said in a press release that the UA is the first team in the country to partner with the organization.

“We all know someone who has been impacted. It touches everybody. I remember (UA assistant) Bett (Shelby) told me that her first year as a college coach she got hit by a drunk driver, her car flipped and she could have been killed. She was pulled out her car in New Orleans. I’m sure everybody has something that’s happened to them.”

Committing herself or her team for a worthy cause isn't new for Barnes. In the past, she's asked fans at the last minute to donate boxes of tissues for patients in the hospital as a request for a friend, Lino Cordova, who was battling leukemia; she's spoken out for women and working moms; she's also started The Adia Barnes Academy of Sports and Leadership.

Over the years MADD has helped pass new legislation including setting the .08 as the standard limit for blood alcohol content. MADD was also instrumental in the implementation of the Zero Tolerance law that made it illegal for anyone under 21 to drive with any measurable amount of alcohol, as well as the federal law to make 21 the minimum age to drink.

“This issue is something that really affects a lot of college kids; it affects a lot of people,” MADD CEO Stacey D. Stewart said. “We thought what better voices to engage in this issue than athletes and teams who care about their health, who people look up to their role models, typically for a lot of young people, but for people of all ages. And they were very willing to step up and really lend their voice and their time.”

During the offseason and into next year, the Wildcats will be using their social media platforms and speaking on campus to get the word out.

Why did Stewart select the Wildcats and Barnes to roll out MADD Sports? Barnes and Stewart have been friends for a while and the initial talks started a few months ago. Just a few weeks ago Stewart was in Tucson and the plan took off. Stewart knew that Barnes was the right choice to be first.

“Adia is not shy about speaking out about the things that she cares about,” Stewart said. “She's very concerned about the community. She's a mother, so she cares about the safety of a lot of people's kids. Her own children at some point down the road when they're driving, they are on the road. She’s just that kind of person who not only is excellent at what she does, and she's very, very focused on doing her part and she understands the platform she has to make a difference.”

Arizona Washington Basketball (copy) (copy) — Arizona’s Esmery Martinez, left, and Helena Pueyo, right, collapse on a driving Jayda Noble of Washington during the Wildcats’ matchup with the Huskies on Jan. 19 in Seattle.
Lindsey Wasson, Associated Press

More accolades for Pueyo, Martinez, Williams

The media selections for All-Pac-12 teams were announced by the league on Wednesday. Esmery Martinez made the all-conference team. Helena Pueyo was all-conference and all-defensive team and Jada Williams was on the all-freshmen team.

Leaving Las Vegas

Erika Barnes, the UA's executive senior associate director of athletics, has watched the Wildcats play in the Pac-12 Tournament many times throughout the years. She’s back in Las Vegas as the UA takes part in one last Pac-12 dance.

Barnes said it is sad for her and her counterparts across the league that this is the final Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournament, with 10 of 12 teams going to different conferences next season.

She’s seen up close how Adia Barnes and her team have faced adversity this season “with such high energy and physical toughness” and a never-give-up-mentality.

This year’s shorthanded squad is a little familiar to Barnes.

“It reminds me of some of the national championship teams in softball that have been some of the smallest rosters,” Barnes said. “When we won in 2001 there were only 16 of us. In 1997 they were down a pitcher going into the College World Series. I think there is something about coming together, knowing that ‘Hey, you got what you got, and you're gonna put it all in and you know that the rotation is gonna be limited. I think to go out with that strategy and just kind of pour it all out there and I think it's gonna work for them.”