The 2024-25 season will present a whole bunch of challenges to every team at the University of Arizona, and the women’s basketball program is no different.
Coming off a year where the Wildcats failed to win 20 games under head coach Adia Barnes for the first time since 2017-18, they’re hoping to hit the ground running in the Big 12 conference and establish themselves as the team to beat.
They have failed to win a conference title under Barnes, but there still has been massive success.
Arizona won the WNIT tournament in 2018-19, and two seasons later, finished as runner-ups in the NCAA Tournament. They beat UConn in the Final Four and fell to Stanford 54-53 in the 2021 championship game after Aari McDonald’s heave at the buzzer hit the back rim and didn’t go in.
Since then, they haven’t advanced past the second round of the tournament and were eliminated in the first round last year.
If they want to be competing for national championships again, then the Wildcats have to start recruiting at an elite level.
That’s why it was fantastic news when a four-star in the class of 2025, Aubrey Hall, included them on her updated top schools list as she gets closer to making a decision.
The 6-foot-1 wing/guard from Kansas narrowed her list of schools down to 14 that included Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, and North Carolina. She told Talia Goodman of On3 that she wants to make an impact at her next school and is looking for a place that feels like a second home with teammates who feel like family.
When discussing the Wildcats, she said she’s been talking to head coach Barnes and her staff for about a year, which is one of the reasons why distance in this situation isn’t a big deal for her.
“I know it’s a little bit farther, but I mean, for me, distance isn’t necessarily a big factor. So I still was like, obviously, I’m gonna give them a chance and still get to know them a little bit more,” Hall said.
The four-star has been busy taking visits having already seen Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, UNC, NC State, and Duke while also planning trips to Mississippi State and Kansas State.
When she might get out to see Arizona is unknown at this time, but the Wildcats are in the mix.
