(Tucson, AZ) Red Shirt senior guard to be, Aari McDonald will be returning for her final year at Arizona. She announced it today on her Twitter feed and was passed along by coach Adia Barnes and Assistant Coach Salvo Coppa.
McDonald has been stellar since she transferred three years ago from the University of Washington, where she also was coached by Barnes.
She’s already been named to Second Team All Amercan by the United States Basketball Writers Association last week.
McDonald is also a finalist for the Wade Trophy by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association for the nation’s best player. A Wooden Award finalist as well as the Naismith Defensive Player and Ann Meyers Drysdale Award.
When the post season came to a screeching halt after the Pac-12 Tournament earlier this month, there was a lot of speculation if McDonald would come back. She was rated high by WNBA scouts and could have forgone her final year in college in favor of going pro.
Listening to Coach Barnes in her season ending press conference, she said that Aari would have been drafted but that returning for another year, she could set herself up in her opinion to be in the top three picks in the 2021 draft.
There was always a sense of “what if” not only with her but the entire Wildcat team. They had a strong finish to their season and were excited about the NCAA Tournament when the COVID-19 virus shut down everything including all sports on every level.
Arizona should have a monster team next season with McDonald and Shaina Pellington who sat out this past season on transfer rules from Oklahoma in the same backcourt. Starters Cate Reese and Sam Thomas are both back as well. The Wildcats did lose Dominique McBryde and Amari Carter to graduation, and last week, Bryce Nixon entered the transfer portal.
