Arizona’s NCAA tournament regional pod capsules

Arizona’s 16-year wait to join The Big Dance is over.

The Wildcats return to March Madness at approximately 11 a.m. on Monday against Stony Brook in their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2005.

If Adia Barnes’ team gets past the Seawolves — Arizona is a 19.5-point favorite according to Bovada Odds — it would face either Rutgers or BYU on Wednesday.

Arizona’s four-team pod in the Mercado Region that includes Stony Brook, Rutgers and BYU features these interesting storylines:

— Barnes is the youngest coach with the least amount of head coaching experience with five years. Barnes and Stony Brook coach Caroline McCombs have never been a head coach in an NCAA tournament game but they have experience in March Madness. Barnes was an assistant at Washington when the Huskies reached the Final Four in 2015-16. McCombs has coached in five NCAA tournament appearances as an assistant at Valparaiso and Pitt. She has also served as an assistant at Northwestern and Auburn.

Feelin’ good and ready to get on the floor tomorrow 🐻⬇️#MadeForIt | #ncaaW pic.twitter.com/Dyn2DUjqlC

— Arizona Women’s Basketball (@ArizonaWBB) March 21, 2021

— Rutgers legendary coach C. Vivian Stringer is in her 50th year as a head coach dating to when she started at Cheyney (Pa.) State in the 1971-72 season. That was five years before Barnes was born. Stringer is 535-290 in her 26th season at Rutgers and 1055-425 overall with her stops at Cheyney State, Iowa and Rutgers. Arizona’s 1998-99 team was eliminated 90-47 by Stringer’s Rutgers team at Piscataway, N.J., in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Angela Lackey was the only Wildcat to reach double digits in scoring with 12 points to go with six rebounds and two steals.

— BYU coach Jeff Judkins is a familiar name to Arizona men’s basketball fans for two reasons: He played for Utah when the Utes were a WAC foe for the Wildcats under Fred Snowden in the 1970’s and he was an assistant at Utah under Rick Majerus when the Utes upset Arizona in the 1998 Sweet 16 a year after the Wildcats won the national title. Judkins is in his 20th season as BYU’s coach. Judkins has coached against Arizona’s women’s program five times and holds a 3-2 record with the last meeting in the 2012-13 season.

— Arizona’s Aari McDonald is the lone All-American with national player of the year aspirations in the pod, but Rutgers senior guard Arella Guirantes is in contention for the Senior CLASS Award given to the top student-athlete senior in the nation. Guirantes, an Associated Press honorable-mention All-American, is the top scorer in the pod at 20.8 points per game and McDonald is at 19.3.

— BYU sophomore guard Shaylee Gonzales is a Gilbert Mesquite graduate who leads the Cougars in scoring with 17.9 points a game. Shaylee’s brother Cohen scored 23 points when Mesquite eliminated Pueblo in the first round of the 4A state playoffs on March 10.

No. 3 Arizona Wildcats

16-5 overall, 13-4 Pac-12

NET ranking: No. 15

Big Wins: Dec. 4 No. 8 UCLA (68-65), Jan. 14 No. 10 Oregon (57-41), Jan. 17 No. 36 Oregon State (67-51), Feb. 8 at No. 10 Oregon (79-59)

Bad Loss: Feb. 28 at No. 95 Arizona State (66-64 OT)

Coach: Adia Barnes (84-62, fifth season)

Probable Starters:

• G Aari McDonald, Sr., 19.3 ppg, 4.5 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 2.7 spg
• G Bendu Yeaney, Jr., 4.0 ppg, 1.1 apg
• F Sam Thomas, Sr., 7.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.7 apg, 2.0 spg, 1.2 bpg
• F Trinity Baptiste, Sr., 8.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg
• F Cate Reese, Jr., 11.3 ppg, 5.2 rpg 

Key Role Players:

• G Helena Pueyo, Soph., 3.5 ppg, 1.4 apg
• F Lauren Ware, Fr., 4.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg
• G Shaina Pellington, Jr., 5.8 ppg 
• G Madi Conner, Fr., 0.6 ppg

By the Numbers:

• Scoring Offense: 67.5 (131st in nation)
• Scoring Defense: 56.0 (24)
• Field-Goal Percentage: 41.2 (126)
• Field-Goal Defense: 36.9 (42)
• Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 5.9 (175)  
• Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 32.5 (103)
• Free-Throw Percentage: 71.5 (132)
• Rebound Margin: 0.3 (159)
• Assists Per Game: 12.1 (216)
• Turnovers Per Game: 12.8 (24)

NCAA tournament appearance: Eighth

Furthest NCAA tournament run: Sweet 16 in 1997-98

No. 14 Stony Brook Seawolves

15-5 overall, 11-3 America East

NET ranking: No. 100

Big Win: March 12 No. 86 Maine (64-60)

Bad Losses: Dec. 27 at No. 192 UMass-Lowell (63-60), Jan. 16 at No. 314 New Hampshire (52-49)

Coach: Caroline McCombs (130-75, seventh season)

Probable Starters:

• G Anastasia Warren, Jr., 11.1 ppg, 2.1 apg, 4.0 rpg
• G Asiah Dingle, Jr., 11.7 ppg, 3.6 apg
• G Earlette Scott, Jr., 6.1 ppg, 2.1 apg, 6.1 rpg
• G Hailey Zeise, Sr., 2.7 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.1 bpg
• F India Pagan, Sr., 9.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg 

Key Role Players:

• F Nairmar Vargas-Reyes, Jr., 3.9 ppg, 3.3 rpg
• F Leighah-Amori Wool, Sr., 6.1 ppg, 3.7 rpg
• G Gigi Gonzalez, Soph., 2.9 ppg 

By the Numbers:

• Scoring Offense: 59.3 (269th in nation)
• Scoring Defense: 49.9 (1)
• Field-Goal Percentage: 40.2 (163)
• Field-Goal Defense: 34.9 (12)
• Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 4.0 (308)  
• Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 25.7 (315)
• Free-Throw Percentage: 67.6 (218)
• Rebound Margin: 6.2 (35)
• Assists Per Game: 12.4 (192)
• Turnovers Per Game: 15.9 (181)

NCAA tournament appearance: First

Furthest NCAA tournament run: First round in 2020-21

History against Arizona: First meeting

No. 6 Rutgers Scarlet Knights

14-4 overall, 10-3 Big Ten

NET ranking: No. 12

Big Wins: Feb. 11 at No. 31 Northwestern (70-54), Feb. 24 at No. 40 Michigan State (63-53), March 5 No. 21 Ohio State (71-63)

Bad Loss: Jan. 3 at No. 72 Nebraska (53-50)

Coach: C. Vivian Stringer (535-290, 26th season at Rutgers; 1055-425, 50th season overall)

Probable Starters:

• G Arella Guirantes, Sr., 20.8 ppg, 5.3 apg, 6.0 rpg, 2.1 spg, 1.9 bpg
• G Diamond Johnson, Fr., 17.9 ppg, 2,5 apg, 4.2 rpg, 2.3 spg
• F/G Tekia Mack, Sr., F/G, 10.9 ppg, 3.3 apg, 5.6 rpg, 3.1 spg
• F Mael Gilles, Sr., 8.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg
• F Tyia Singleton, Soph., 6.9 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 1.6 bpg 

Key Role Players:

• G Zipporah Broughton, Jr., 9.0 ppg, 3.7 apg
• G Liz Martino, Fr., 3.0 ppg
• C Sakima Walker, Fr., Center, 3.4 ppg, 2.1 rpg 

By the Numbers:

• Scoring Offense: 76.4 (27th in nation)
• Scoring Defense: 56.2 (25)
• Field-Goal Percentage: 47.2 (12)
• Field-Goal Defense: 36.6 (35)
• Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 7.1 (83)
• Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 37.3 (20)
• Free-Throw Percentage: 78.0 (15)
• Rebound Margin: 2.9 (90)
• Assists Per Game: 15.4 (50)
• Turnovers Per Game: 13.2 (37)

NCAA tournament appearance: 26th

Furthest NCAA tournament run: National title game in 2006-07

History against Arizona: 2-0, last meeting a 90-47 outcome over Arizona in the NCAA tournament second round on March 14, 1999

No. 11 BYU Cougars

18-5, 13-3 West Coast Conference

NET ranking: No. 50

Big Wins: Nov. 27 No. 61 LSU (67-51), Feb. 18 No. 16 Gonzaga (61-56)

Bad Losses: Nov. 28 No. 85 Washington (77-48), Jan. 4 at No. 122 San Diego (58-56), Feb. 27 at No. 112 San Francisco (86-72)

Coach: Jeff Judkins (403-192, 20th season)

Probable Starters:

• G Maria Albiero, Sr., 5.3 ppg, 3.2 apg
• G Paisley Harding, Sr., 14.0 ppg, 3.3 apg
• G Shaylee Gonzales, Soph., 17.9 ppg, 3.7 apg, 5.1 rpg, 2.0 spg
• F Lauren Gustin, Soph., 11.5 ppg, 12.8 rpg, 2.0 apg
• C Sara Hamson, Sr., 5.3 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 2.6 bpg 

Key Role Players:

• G Tegan Graham, Sr., 8.1 ppg, 2.0 apg
• G Kaylee Smiler, Soph., 3.1 ppg, 1.1 apg 

By the Numbers:

• Scoring Offense: 69.9 (99th in nation)
• Scoring Defense: 60.1 (69)
• Field-Goal Percentage: 44.9 (36)
• Field-Goal Defense: 36.2 (26)
• Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 7.0 (91)
• Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 33.9 (74)
• Free-Throw Percentage: 72.5 (100)
• Rebound Margin: 4.2 (65)
• Assists Per Game: 16.9 (16)
• Turnovers Per Game: 14.4 (82) 

NCAA tournament appearance: 14th

Furthest NCAA tournament run: Sweet 16 in 2000-01 and 2013-14

History against Arizona: 8-5, last meeting on Nov. 13, 2013, when the Cougars beat Arizona 64-56 in Provo, Utah.

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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.

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