Arizona Women’s Basketball: Aari McDonald is already making Pac-12 history

Aari Mcdonald achieves rare feat in Pac-12 history and has shown why she’s going to be special for years to come.

You could see it when she first stepped on the court for Arizona that she was going to be special. Redshirt sophomore guard Aari McDonald wasted no time this year in proving to the country, and Wildcat fans, that she is an elite player. McDonald did things this year that Wildcat fans have not seen from a player within its women’s basketball program for a long time.

McDonald is one of only two players now in Pac-12 history to have scored 750 points and dished 130 assists in one season. The sophmore guard was a floor general as well as a scoring machine for her team this year as she averaged 25 points and four assists per game. As McDonald went, so in many respects did the Arizona Women’s Basketball team. She was a great tone setter and her team fed off of her energetic play throughout the season.

Much of Arizona’s offense was centered off of the effectiveness of McDonald. The sophomore guard had many responsibilities to carry on both sides of the ball this year. She had to be a lockdown defender on defense, and on offense she had to set things up, be able to penetrate and kick to open shooters and be able to drive and finish at the rim herself. Those three things are how Arizona found most of their offense throughout the season.

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While one may look at her assist numbers and wonder what’s great about that, don’t forget that many times she couldn’t pass as often as she would have liked. She had to score for her team as her young teammates struggled to knock down shots consistently.

Now, just imagine McDonalds production when the other young players such as Cate Reese and Bryce Nixon find their game with experience and gain confidence to knock down shots consistently. McDonald’s teamates becoming a consistent threat is only going to open defenses up more allowing her room to drive and score more, or she will draw defenders in and have open shooters on the outside to pass too allowing her more assist opportunies.

This can’t be a pleasant thought for the rest of the Pac-12 conference going forward. This is just the beginning what McDonald and this team are going to become in the future. Their potential as a whole team has hardly been tapped, and that is an awesome thought for Wildcat fans.

At ZonaZealots we are proud of Aari Mcdonald for her outstanding achievments this season, and can’t wait to see what her and the team can accomplish next season. BearDown, Arizona!