Current and former Arizona Wildcats are making news. We’ve got views.
News: UA football officially announces the addition of 16 transfers.
Michael Lev is a senior writer/columnist for the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson.com and The Wildcaster.
Views: Brent Brennan and his staff are not getting enough credit for the work they’ve done in the transfer portal.
With a smaller pool of players to pick from than the staffs that had access to the portal in December, Brennan and his crew replenished the roster and filled almost every hole created by the coaching carousel’s frenetic spin through late January.
Led by General Manager Gaizka Crowley and Director of Scouting Fletcher Kelly, Arizona quietly and methodically put together a stellar transfer class. 247Sports ranks Arizona’s class as the 38th best in the nation and No. 8 in the 16-team Big 12. (Colorado is No. 8 nationally and No. 1 in the Big 12, but that’s a whole different discussion.)
First-year Arizona coach Brent Brennan and his staff quietly and methodically put together a stellar class of transfers this spring.
The position-by-position breakdown of the post-spring additions shows how the UA front office addressed the team’s biggest needs. The newcomers include four defensive linemen, three offensive linemen, two quarterbacks, two running backs and two wide receivers.
The Wildcats will enter training camp with improved depth and competition at all of those positions. And they did it with relatively little fanfare until last week’s Signing Day-esque rollout on social media.
The only drama involved tailback Jacory Croskey-Merritt, who bounced from New Mexico to Arizona to Ole Miss back to Arizona amid questions about his eligibility. Croskey-Merritt didn’t do anything wrong; it was just unclear whether his eligibility clock had expired. Apparently it hasn’t, and he’ll join a rebuilt RB room on the heels of a 1,190-yard, 17-touchdown rushing campaign.
Among the 16 signees, Croskey-Merritt is one of only four with just one year of eligibility remaining. So not only did Brennan, Crowley, Fletcher and Co. improve the roster for 2024, they at least partially restocked future classes that had been depleted.
Arizona-bound running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt, shown vs. Texas A&M on Sept. 2, 2023, rushed for 1,190 yards and 17 touchdowns this past season.
News: UA women’s basketball officially announces seven additions.
Views: As with football, we knew who all the players were as the news trickled out during the winter and spring. But when you see it all put together, you get an idea of what Adia Barnes and her staff were able to accomplish.
Any discussion of personnel these days has to start with retention. Arizona was able to keep the promising class of 2023 intact while also cajoling one final year out of veteran Isis Beh. It’s not inconceivable that those five — Breya Cunningham, Montaya Dew, Skylar Jones, Jada Williams and Beh — will comprise the starting lineup on opening night.
That quintet is forward-heavy, so a guard might have to emerge. Besides Jones and Williams, the only two players listed as guards on the current roster are incoming freshman Lauryn Swann and transfer Paulina Paris.
The two have something in common: They both cracked ESPNW’s top 100 in their respective classes. (Swann was No. 81 in the class of ’24, Paris No. 27 in the class of ’22.) So did South Carolina transfer Sahnya Jah (No. 40 in ’23).
Guard Paulina Paris and North Carolina play against St. John’s in the second round of the 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament in Columbus, Ohio, on March 18, 2023.
Taking chances on talented players is always good business. With transfers, sometimes a new situation is all they need to blossom.
The other interesting element of this class is that it includes two European players: Katarina Kneževic (Serbia) and Mailien Rolf (Germany). I’m an unwavering advocate of tapping into the European market, and not just because Arizona had such great success with Helena Pueyo (Spain).
In general, European players come to college with a superior grasp of team concepts. They also are less inclined to transfer the first time something doesn’t go their way.
News: The UA men’s basketball roster takes shape with the NBA Draft declaration deadline having passed.
Views: Everything basically played out as expected, with a handful of minor twists.
Arizona’s Caleb Love screams in celebration after a dunk during the rout of a ranked Wisconsin team at McKale Center on Dec. 9, 2023. Love would go on to win Pac-12 Player of the Year honors for the conference-champion Wildcats.
When the 2023-24 season ended, I can’t say I anticipated Caleb Love coming back. His return is a boon. How often nowadays — if ever — does a conference player of the year return with four years of experience on his résumé?
Love’s first season with Arizona ended strangely; his shot abandoned him over the final six games. Despite that poor stretch, Love improved in almost every metric under Tommy Lloyd’s tutelage. If Love takes another leap in 2024-25, look out.
The idea of Love playing extensive minutes alongside KJ Lewis and Jaden Bradley is intriguing to say the least. The latter two are bound to improve and expand their games offensively. They’re already elite defenders, and that trio has the potential to cause all sorts of headaches for opposing perimeter players. It’s not going to be fun to face Arizona next season.
With the addition of transfers Trey Townsend, Tobe Awaka and Anthony Dell’Orso, the Wildcats will have a veteran core and an appealing mix of “stars” and role players. Where sophomore 7-footer Motiejus Krivas fits on that scale remains to be seen, although it’s mostly up to him and how much he puts into his development this offseason. The talent is undeniable.
Similar to how Lewis was able to find his way last year, highly rated incoming freshman Carter Bryant enters into a situation that’s relatively pressure-free. Whether he starts or comes off the bench, Bryant doesn’t have to be Arizona’s No. 1 scoring option or its top lockdown defender. He can develop at a realistic pace. That’s an ideal scenario.
News: The UA baseball and softball teams grapple with the spring-sports transfer-portal window.
Views: Thus far, neither program has suffered significant damage.
As of Monday afternoon, three UA baseball players had entered the portal, per D1Baseball’s indispensable tracker: outfielder Brandon Rogers, infielder Nico Newhan and catcher/utility player Kade Huff. Only Rogers had a major role this past season, when he showed excellent speed and defensive skill as an extra outfielder but struggled to make contact at the plate (30 strikeouts in 65 at-bats; .185 average).
Arizona’s Olivia DiNardo reacts to being struck out during the third inning of a Super Regional softball game between Oklahoma State and Arizona at Cowgirl Stadium on May 25, 2024, in Stillwater, Okla.
The softball team stands to lose a big-time talent in catcher/DH Olivia DiNardo. A former top-10 national recruit, DiNardo batted .382 as a freshman in 2023. Although her average fell to .295 in ’24, she hit a career-high 13 home runs. Also, for her career, she has walked more times (41) than she has struck out (40).
No transfer news comes as a surprise in today’s world. If you’re expecting 100% retention for any UA program, you’re not living in reality.
More losses could be coming as the portal remains open through June 17 for softball and July 2 for baseball. The bigger question is what the respective programs might be able to add.
Chip Hale lamented some swings and misses in last year’s portal cycle, although it’s not as if Arizona went oh-fer. The Wildcats got Clark Candiotti, Adonys Guzman, Blake McDonald and Kyler Heyne. They wouldn’t have made it as far as they did without them.
The baseball team needs at least one quality starting pitcher out of the portal, maybe two. A right-handed power bat would help as well.
Pitching remains the No. 1 need for the softball team, although elite players at that position are hard to come by — and even harder to procure when other programs have, uh, greater resources. Besides, the biggest improvement in the circle might come from within via offseason development (Brooke Mannon, Aissa Silva) and post-injury recovery (Devyn Netz, Ryan Maddox, Sydney Somerndike).
Of course, that’s assuming those players stick around. These days, you never know.
Michael Lev is a sports columnist and reporter for the Arizona Daily Star. He started his career at Pro Football Weekly, then moved to the Orange County Register before starting at the Arizona Daily Star in 2015. Michael has covered University of Arizona football, baseball and other local sports. David and Michael talk about their love of sports, the importance of column writing and how the Tucson community impacts the local sport scene.
