Bear Down Wildcats

Cats take a bit of a hit with Florida International transfer small forward Ajea Yoakum out with a knee injury. She averaged 10 ppg last season, which is more than any other incoming transfer, FWIW.

Arizona loses 5 of its top 6 scorers from last season. They return 7, led by PG Jada Williams, 6-4 C Breya Cunningham (61 blocks), SG Skylar Jones, and 6-3 PF Isis Beh. Hopefully, the heralded SF Montaya Dew will be healthy and able to make a big contribution. 6-0 Brooklyn Rhodes rounds out the returnees, along with 6-1 track team javelin thrower Erin Tack, who joined the team last year at mid-season, but suffered a knee injury.

Incoming transfers include 6-3 Jorynn Ross (6.1 ppg at Pepperdine), 5-9 Paulina Paris 5.9 ppg at North Carolina), and 6-0 Sahnya Jah (3.1 ppg at South Carolina.) Freshmen are 5-7 Lauryn Swann and 6-0 Katarina Knezevic.

Scheer just reported on Mike's show that Ajae Yoakum left practice with a knee injury. Hopefully it's not too serious.

Don't know if this has been discussed elsewhere, but love 'em or hate 'em, ESPN has their national pre-season Top 25 out. They also predict that 9 Big XII teams will make the NCAA tournament field. Of note, their pre-season favorite Baylor will have Aaronette Vonleh on their team. She signed with Arizona, then spent last season at Colorado, and now she's in Waco.

9. Baylor
10. Iowa St
14. Kansas St
16. West Virginia
22. Utah
(Votes: Arizona)

Timely update from the Star. I missed one on the roster (since she wasn't/isn't yet listed on the official roster.) But Mailien Rolf, a 5-10 incoming freshman from Germany, led her under 20 Eurobasket team to the semi-finals, losing to France 64-55.