2024-25 Season Thread

[AZCatGirl]

I know it's a rivalry game, but a 4 point lead at half is way too close with how bad of a team ASU is. Need a better 2nd half.

[UAEebs86]

Ladies win 66-59!

fuck asu

[AZCatGirl]

ASU kept it close for way too long, but the Cats pull away at the end. They travel to Oklahoma State next on Wednesday. They're #25 in the country, so this will be a very tough test.

[AZCatGirl]

We actually remained closed with OSU until Jada went down. If she's gone for awhile the season is basically over. (Not that there's a lot of hope left at this point anyway.) We'll have to see what happens.

[dirtbags]

if arizona can beat tcu at home, the remaining handful of games look very winnable. would 20-11 entering big 12s be enough to punch their ticket to the big dance? not sure how the rest of the conference would shake out.

unrelated: i saw cal shoot 75% from inside the arc last night against bc. they also chucked up a bunch of bad 3s, but still... 75%. wow

[Merkin]

if arizona can beat tcu at home, the remaining handful of games look very winnable. would 20-11 entering big 12s be enough to punch their ticket to the big dance? not sure how the rest of the conference would shake out.

Forgot the exact number, but historically speaking, if you have an even or better conference record in the B12 your chance of getting in the tourney is something like 90%.

[AZCatGirl]

Today's game against the #11 team in the country could get very ugly...

[AZCatGirl]

Amazingly we kept it close the whole game but it got away from us at the end. Maddie sure had a day for TCU in her McKake return though.

[84Cat]

Ladies up 37-21 at halftime

[84Cat]

Ladies get the win tonight. Final score 65-57

[AZCatGirl]

I'm glad we won but this game never should've been close. Ladies need to get it together to end the year.

[AZCatGirl]

ESPN’s bracketollogy still has us as one of the first four out, so we really need to win every game left plus as many as we can in the Big 12 tournament. Tonight is also senior night, which should always be a win anyway.

[AZCatGirl]

Would've been nice if we put things together before the 4th quarter, but a win is a win. Unfortunately Dew went down and it looked really bad.

[AZCatGirl]

That's a big time hire. Hope we can find a good replacement.

[pc in NM]

Good news regarding Montaya!!!

[AZCatGirl]

Well that's a huge relief! It looked super scary when she went down.

[AZCatGirl]

Thankfully ASU is so bad we shouldn't need her.

[AZCatGirl]

Hopefully Colorado wins, because playing Houston again does us no good.

[dirtbags]

would a win over cu be enough to make the ncaa tournament? i figured the cu/uh game wouldn't move the needle, and that the team would need to beat tcu to lock themselves in to the field of 68

[azgreg]

would a win over cu be enough to make the ncaa tournament? i figured the cu/uh game wouldn't move the needle, and that the team would need to beat tcu to lock themselves in to the field of 68

I'm thinking they're going to need two wins.

[AZCatGirl]

Yeah I agree with two wins, but that's even more true if we get stuck playing Houston again. They're just awful.

[AZCatGirl]

After being up by 10 against the Buffs, the Cats fall 61-58 and are almost assuredly out of the big dance.

I assume a decision will be made about Adia very soon since she only has 1 year remaining on her contract.

[pc in NM]

Sadly, the women totally chumped it vs Colorado - getting outscored 2-10 in fourth quarter.

Probably miss the NCAA's.

I blane that fucking court!!!

[AZCatGirl]

I blame our inability to make shots.

[pc in NM]

I assume a decision will be made about Adia very soon since she only has 1 year remaining on her contract.

They have a young, talented and, cohesive group - that has improved over the year.

Replacing Adia would almost certainly break them up, and rebuilding with a new coach would take at least a few years.

[Merkin]

Adia has been the 10th highest paid coach in NCAA WBB. https://sportsdata.usatoday.com/ncaa/sa ... ball/coach

[AZCatGirl]

I assume a decision will be made about Adia very soon since she only has 1 year remaining on her contract.

They have a young, talented and, cohesive group - that has improved over the year.

Replacing Adia would almost certainly break them up, and rebuilding with a new coach would take at least a few years.

They're already broken. We've plateaued with Adia and keeping her around only ensures more mediocrity. Don't you want better for this program?

[84Cat]

Scheer has hinted that Adia would not be back. If that was any possibility before missing the tournament, she's gone now. No excuse to lose to CU. They're not a good bb team

[azgreg]

I blame our inability to make shots.

I blame that hideous court.

[TheCatInTheHat]

People like to hope for and expect excellence. But, purely from a business standpoint, I can't see replacing Adia. She has built a following that didn't used to exist. (Remember the curtains we used to use?) This year they averaged 6500+ for absolute no-name non-conference teams and 7K+ in our first Big XII season despite low expectations. Over 8K for ASU, and 2/3rds of the crowd at the game in Tempe. I looked at two years with good W/L records, and Bonvicini typically drew maybe 4K for ASU, 3K for Stanford, and 2K for the LA schools. Women's hoops has grown, but you still need to look at a specific market and not trust people will automatically flock to the product. So, if you talk about voting with your pocketbook, the people have spoken. It's true that women's hoops could reach more of its potential, and the last few years have been disappointing. But she's had 7 straight winning seasons, and look what happened when ASU replaced their best coach ever. Not sure if risk vs. reward would be worth it to DRF, particularly with a shaky football situation. Adia may be pricey, but by my math, attendance and concessions cover it. If DRF has an affordable sure bet who won't leave after three years, maybe we'll see, but Scheer's fishing notwithstanding, I'd be a little surprised.

[Irish27]

Scheer has gone on record he would like to see them try and hire Lindy La Rocque at UNLV if Adia is let go. La Rocque has no ties to Arizona. She played college ball at Stanford, which finished 16-14 under first-year coach Kate Paye. I don't know how long Stanford would keep Paye if Stanford does not improve, but I'm sure La Rocque would be considered if the Stanford job opens up again.

[TheCatInTheHat]

Yeah, per your comments, if she's great, I don't see how we'd keep her if her alma mater with deep pockets and one of the best histories in women's college hoops called with an offer. Beyond that, she's never made it out of the first round of the NCAAs after winning the weak MWC, and she lost to Adia's disappointing team this year by 9 points. No entiendo, and it illustrates the difficulty of finding somebody who's clearly better and who's not likely to bolt at the first big opportunity.

[AZCatGirl]

I blame our inability to make shots.

I blame that hideous court.

Can we blame it in advance for when the men lose as well?

[azgreg]

I blame our inability to make shots.

I blame that hideous court.

Can we blame it in advance for when the men lose as well?

We're going on a 10 game win streak.

[dovecanyoncat]

I blame our inability to make shots.

I blame that hideous court.

Can we blame it in advance for when the men lose as well?

We're going on a 10 game win streak.

I hate it when you beat around the bush like that.

[VegasCatFan]

Scheer has gone on record he would like to see them try and hire Lindy La Rocque at UNLV if Adia is let go. La Rocque has no ties to Arizona. She played college ball at Stanford, which finished 16-14 under first-year coach Kate Paye. I don't know how long Stanford would keep Paye if Stanford does not improve, but I'm sure La Rocque would be considered if the Stanford job opens up again.

I can’t see her leaving UNLV for Arizona. She’s born and raised in Las Vegas coaching at a school she grew up with. If she goes anywhere it’ll be for a much bigger school than Arizona, like Stanford.

[TheCatInTheHat]

Hansen did a brief bit on Barnes in which he said Heeke bumped her to $1.2M right after generational talent Aari McDonald carried the team to the national title game, which made Adia the next big thing in the women's coaching ranks. She's way out in front of the next highest paid Big XII coach in the sport (with private school data unavailable.) So it's either have her as a lame duck in her final contract year, or work something out. I'm sure, considering the post-Aari results drop-off, that Adia would be more than happy with an extension. On the other hand, considering the drop-off, it's debatable how many SEC/Big Ten schools with the financial capability would be willing to throw that at her at this point. I'd think one option would be an incentives-based contract that can reach $1.2M, but only with some fairly big, but not horribly unreasonable results (like a conference title, top ten national finish, Elite Eight, etc.) It could be announced as an extension of the existing terms, but modified. Meanwhile, I didn't even realize ASU fired their coach. So now apparently they're looking at the UNLV coach with her eyes on Stanford, the GCU coach being courted by the SEC, and copying Arizona with a former player who's now an assistant NBA G League coach.

[AZCatGirl]

Women don't make the tournament as expected. WNIT field is revealed at 6pm.

[AZCatGirl]

Women are the 2 seed and will host NAU in the WBIT.

Guessing being in this confirms Adia is sticking around.

[AZCatGirl]

Nice they're playing on the opposite day the men are.

[Postmaster]

Hansen did a brief bit on Barnes in which he said Heeke bumped her to $1.2M right after generational talent Aari McDonald carried the team to the national title game, which made Adia the next big thing in the women's coaching ranks. She's way out in front of the next highest paid Big XII coach in the sport (with private school data unavailable.) So it's either have her as a lame duck in her final contract year, or work something out. I'm sure, considering the post-Aari results drop-off, that Adia would be more than happy with an extension. On the other hand, considering the drop-off, it's debatable how many SEC/Big Ten schools with the financial capability would be willing to throw that at her at this point. I'd think one option would be an incentives-based contract that can reach $1.2M, but only with some fairly big, but not horribly unreasonable results (like a conference title, top ten national finish, Elite Eight, etc.) It could be announced as an extension of the existing terms, but modified. Meanwhile, I didn't even realize ASU fired their coach. So now apparently they're looking at the UNLV coach with her eyes on Stanford, the GCU coach being courted by the SEC, and copying Arizona with a former player who's now an assistant NBA G League coach.

Wasn't Heeke also worried that Baylor was going to come after her, so he gave her a big contract?

[TheCatInTheHat]

Don't remember, but Kim Mulkey left Baylor for LSU the same month we played Stanford in the title game in 2021, so you're probably right. Couldn't really see Adia particularly happy in Waco, but with enough money I guess you could tolerate anyplace and just go on vacation a lot.

[UAEebs86]

Waco? I spent a month there one night.

[azgreg]

Waco? I spent a month there one night.

Did you have teh Gaines' remodel your place while you were there?

[UAEebs86]

Waco? I spent a month there one night.

Did you have teh Gaines' remodel your place while you were there?

I was there a LONG time ago (pre Branch Davidian raid)

[AZCatGirl]

Arizona vs. NAU tonight at 6 PDT on ESPN+. Let's get some revenge!

[84Cat]

LFG!

[84Cat]

Ladies in a battle. Down 5 with 2:33 left in the 4th

[AZCatGirl]

We probably win with Jada, but unfortunately we just didn't have enough as we yet again lose to NAU. Not sure what that last play was about as we didn't even get a final shot off down 2.

Best part was having Matt Muehlebach do the game. He needs to do more of our games next year.

[Siempre Verde]

Ugh.