Aari McDonald considered second-best player in Nation for 2020-21

Coming back for a potentially huge senior season, Arizona Women’s Basketball star Aari McDonald is expected to once again be among Nation’s best.

I know it wasn’t too surprising to see just how dominant Aari McDonald was this past season. Initially breaking out in 2018-19, she’s been a consistently great player for some time now.

To recap from last year, she led the Pac-12 in scoring, was the conferences’ top defender and one of the Nation’s best players overall.

Arizona Wildcats

Helping lead the Wildcats to a 24-7 (12-6) record, she was poised to have a big March as Arizona was all set to play in the NCAA Tournament. However, that got derailed by the Corona Virus Pandemic, as the season was abruptly cancelled.

Well, leaving her future up in the air, I know there was some uncertainty as to whether she would come back for her senior season.

I mean, she already proved how good she can be on the court, as she was projected as a likely Top 10 pick in the WNBA Draft, and on top of that, she got engaged last season, so what else is there for her to accomplish?

Well, luckily for us, Aari felt like there was some unfinished business as she will be coming back for her senior season. And with good timing too! Just as Sabrina Ionescu heads to the WNBA, now it’s Aari’s time to shine.

Already, the hype is there! Looking ahead to next season, and ESPN’s Graham Hays has Aari as the No. 2 overall player in the country, only behind Kentucky’s Rhyne Howard.

Those are quite the accolades, and it’s certainly great to see the Cats get some deserved praise this early!

Aari is a tremendous talent, and so long as she and the rest of the Wildcats are healthy, big things are in store for 2020-21.

Here’s just some of what she did last season!

At Zona Zealots, we can’t wait for next year already and hope the Cats can put together another remarkable run! As always, Bear Down, Arizona!