Guru’s March Madness - II: Arizona Sleepwalks to its First Final Four

By Mike Siroky

 

Indiana never showed much spirit in its loss to Arizona, trailed all of the game and became the latest team to not solve 5-6 senior guard Aari McDonald.

 

She hit 5-of-6 3s as part of 33 points in the 66-53 win to earn an initial trip to the Final Four at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

 

Arizona was not exactly burning it up, either, but they had enough.

 

History was assured as neither had made a Final Four before.

 

No. 4 seed Indiana upended top seed North Carolina State to get here. 

 

They finished the season No. 12 in the Associated Press poll to Arizona’s 11. They lost to two SEC teams and did not make their conference tournament finals.

 

No 3 seed Arizona is in their first NCAA tournament in 16 seasons. They finally got to wear the home uniforms as the lower seed.

 

The Hoosiers’ Ali Patberg said, “This is what I dreamed of,” she said. “Playing for a  national championship for Indiana. I am from right down the road (Columbus, Indiana) so this is special to me.” 

 

She is a former Miss Basketball in Indiana, which is a very big deal,

The 5-11 senior started her career at Notre Dame before fleeing that school’s previous coach as did others as the program began to decline.

 

This year, she averaged 13.9 points per game with 26 3s.  

 

Among the other seniors are 5-9 Jaelyn Penn (11.6) , 5-6 Nicole-Cardano Hillary from  Madrid, Spain by way of Georg Mason.

 

 Other starters are 6-3 junior forward Alexsa Gulbe from Latvia (9.1 with 14,3 rebounds), 5-0 junior guard Grace Berger (16.1 with 4.7 assists per game) and 6-3 sophomore forward Mackenzie Holmes (17.7, with 4.7 rebounds and 62 blocks).

 

 Cardano-Hillary was Atlantic 10 All-Conference First Team, Rookie of the year  and Atlantic 10 All-Defensive Team.

 

Coach Terri Moran is an Indiana native, a Purdue grad. She has coached in-state at Butler, the University of Indianapolis and Indiana State.

 

Arizona countered with in-state Texas star, 6-2 junior Cate Reese (24.4 points per game, 10.9 rebounds) and superlative senior guard McDonald (19.8, with 43 3s and 106 assists). 

 

A reserve guard, Bendu Yeaney , is a transfer from Indiana. She started 69 games for Indiana . She started 18 this season for Arizona, averaging 22 with very few 3s.

 

They rained a destructive bomb of 13 3s to eliminate No. 2 seed Texas A&M, McDonald with a season-best 30 points and eight 3s. 

 

She has been in double figures for 90 straight games, yet is most proud of  being the Pac 12 Defensive Player of the Year. 

 

Their coach, Adia Barnes, is contracted through 2026. 

 

It was a very deliberate start, Arizona winning the first five minutes 7-4. McDonald had five with a 3.

 

     One of them had to establish a pattern. IU was just hitting 25 percent from the field.

 

    Arizona finally missed after a 4-for-4 run, IU closed it to 9-7. McDonald hit another 3. Patberg used a third possession on one court down the floor and scored, but missed the free throw.

 

  A shot by Arizona hung on the rim. 

 

Still, with no turnovers they kept it close. Gulbe hit a free throw. Arizona turned it over. Patberg stepped out of bounds. Arizona took a three-point lead at the first stop.

 

 IU had to do what no one else had done, stop McDonald. She had 10 of her team’s 14.

 

The Hoosiers’ Patberg was 2-of-4 from the field, 2-of-3 from the line.

 

Would IU explore the long ball? Would either team try runouts?  Each side had 15 floor attempts. 

 

Indiana hit four and Arizona six. 

 

Still a throwback style of game, rebounds were even, turnovers and steals at a minimum. 

 

The jitters of never having been here before needed to be discarded. Whoever did that first would win.

 

 Patberg made a nice no-look pass underneath. Holmes cut the lead. They replicated it on the next possession and IU led.

 

    Arizona tied it at 17. IU threw it away on the wing. Arizona missed but got the rebound and scored with the second chance. Cardano-Hillary slammed through a defender.

 

  These unforced errors were telling.

 

   Berger tied it up inside. 

 

McDonald’s only score in this half of the  quarter was another bomb, 3-for-3.

 

   As happened in the previous weekend win, it appears no one can defend the 3.

Arizona ran out to  four-point edge, but IU cut it back again. 

 

Again, no great passionate runs were yet manifested. It was actually somewhat boring. This game is setting women’s basketball back a few years.

 

  Holmes had back-to-back layups sandwiched around a McDonald drive. Indiana played for and missed the last shot. Arizona led by four, increasing the lead by one in the quarter.

 

 Holmes had 10, Patberg eight, Indiana 0-for-5 on 3s. McDonald had 17 of Arizona’s 27. They led rebounds by five.

 

  It might be time to unleash the Tigers but apparently there were none. The loser would get a participation pat on the back, the winner would be fed as a favor to UConn.

 

   ESPN spent halftime showing UConn highlights and Geno Auriemma showing more energy than anyone in this game.

 

  They traded baskets in the third. IU still hadn’t bought a 3. McDonald had scored another but that was all for her. Holmes was 7-of-10 and had 16.

 

  Oops. Indiana won a quarter and trailed by two with 10 minutes left in someone’s season.

 

Gulbe tied it at 46. 

 

Arizona’s Trinity Baptiste joined the 3 party – their eighth -- and IU missed two shots before Berger pulled them back to one down. Patberg missed a 3, IU 0-for-7.

 

Arizona showed signs it would win by pulling ahead by seven on – what else – a McDonald 3, the largest lead of the game,  with five minutes left.

 

In years to come, IU will analyze why they had no 3s and couldn’t stop one player.

 

For now, the lack of urgency was killing them. 

 

The last official time out left five minutes to go. 

 

Arizona missed a shot and Patberg took a rebound, fouled by Reece.

 

Another 3, this one by Helena Pueyo who also noticed the lack of perimeter defense.

 

Arizona was drizzling IU’s season away the same they had Texas A&M, hitting 3s and allowing none.

 

There was no last Cream and Crimson run because why should there be one. IU had to make back-to-back-to-back fouls just to force Arizona to the free throw line at the end.

 

IU looked clueless in its sixth defeat. Arizona was overjoyed in its 20^th win at last, 66-53. They scored six of the final nine. IU folded even more at the end.

 

Holmes scored 20 for IU, Berger 15 and Patberg 12.  McDonald scored 33, 5-of-6 3s, with 10 rebounds.

 

IU could hold the participation medals on the long bus ride northeast. Whether Patberg and the other seniors come back is the next discussion. None of then are good enough for the WNBA so they might as well.

 

“It just took team effort,”  coach Barnes said. She played the “nobody believed in us” card which she could keep on playback for the Final Four, considering UConn will be their opponent Friday night. 

 

Certainly, friends and families believe in them and other students on campus believe in them.

 

Oh well. Even a team in its first Final Four has the book of cliches at hand.

 

“Can’t do this can’t do that because I’m too small,” said McDonald. “I’m a dog. There wouldn’t be no Aari McDonald without my coach or teammates.”

 

It took the Arizona group so long to get to the post-game interview that they eliminated the time for Indiana, past midnight EST. 

 

Talk about never having been there before. The NCAA did not apologize. Neither did Arizona. 

 

This may be why there is a lack of belief. For a tournament still thirsty for publicity, this was bad. It would never happen in the men’s game.

 

“Aari had 11 rebounds,” the coach said, appearing more than a half hour after the game ended. 

 

She had taken time to cut down and wearing the net around her neck, No other coach did that all tournament.

 

“She is at another level. It became a reality we could do this a couple of years ago. Last year we had a chance so it is unfortunate we did not have that experience.”

 

“When there was a minute 20 something, we feelt it,” McDonald said. “I was on Facebook yesterday and that’s when I said I was coming back. It’s crazy.

 

“It’s not too often we win the rebound war, but we did today. When you know, you know, you feel it.”