And then there were 12.
That鈥檚 the number of players left on the 蜜柚直播 women鈥檚 basketball roster.
The number stood at 13 until Monday, when five-star signee Valeria Trucco decided to play professional basketball for her hometown team. She鈥檒l join Pallacanestro Torino in Italy.
鈥淰aleria is a great player and she had a lot of choices. She chose to come here,鈥 UA women鈥檚 basketball coach Adia Barnes said. 鈥淣ow, she made a different choice to stay with her father. She is very close to her family and her father (Enrico) was recently diagnosed with cancer and is very ill. She wasn鈥檛 prepared to come here, so far away from home, for four years. To come all this way from Italy and only go home once or twice a year, with this family situation. I respect that and support her.
鈥淎m I sad? Yes, But it鈥檚 life and sometime things are out of our control.鈥
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Trucco, a stretch defender with a deadly three-point shot, was expected to give the Wildcats a presence in the middle. The UA will lean on two other five-star recruits to replace her. The 6-foot-6-inch Semaj Smith was rated the No. 9 high school forward in the country, and McDonald鈥檚 All-American Cate Reese 鈥 at 6-2 鈥 was fourth. They鈥檒l be joined by four-star recruit Shalyse Smith, who is listed at 6-1 put plays much bigger.
鈥淚t鈥檚 so fun coaching this team,鈥 Barnes said. 鈥淭he want and the desire to be great is evident and it鈥檚 a shift in the culture. Wanting to work hard to be the best they can be is fun to see.鈥
Five-star recruit Cate Reese is sticking around to play for what should be a much-improved UA women鈥檚 team.
Trucco wasn鈥檛 the Wildcats鈥 only offseason loss. Sammy Fatkin transferred and Marlee Kyles left the team for personal reasons. A year before that, the UA lost two players 鈥 Bria Rice transferred after one season and signee Mallory Vaughn decided to stay home.
The transfer troubles are not unique to 蜜柚直播. NCAA research shows that 10.9 percent of all women鈥檚 basketball players competing in 2017 were 鈥渇our-to-four鈥 transfers, meaning that they had transferred from one four-year school to another. Those numbers were up from 10 percent in 2016, 9 percent in 2015 and 8 percent in 2012.
Nationally, only sand volleyball (16.5 percent) and track (12.7 percent) contained more transfers last season.
WNBA star Elena Delle Donne transferred from UConn as a freshman in 2008 after only a few days of summer school. UConn鈥檚 entire 2003 class left within a year.
鈥淲ith the nature of college athletics and a lot of rule changes you will see a significant number of more transfers,鈥 Barnes said. 鈥淲hen you are building a program and getting better players and building something special, you are going to have transfers. Not that you want people to transfer, but if Sammy does not like her role here and is happy somewhere else, I support that. It鈥檚 hard.
鈥淢y job always is to improve the program and get better. And that means bringing in better players every year. And, in turn, that may mean that players aren鈥檛 happy with their playing time. I鈥檓 not doing my job if I don鈥檛 keep bringing in better players.鈥
Barnes has also been the beneficiary of transfers. Dom McBryde (Purdue), Tee Tee Starks (Iowa State) and Aarion McDonald (Washington) are expected to be key assets to this year鈥檚 squad.
Starting Oct. 15, it will become even easier to transfer. Players who notify their programs that they want to transfer will be put into a national transfer database. Other coaches can then contact that player. Previously, the players had to get permission from their previous school to contact the other school, and transfers typically happened after the season. The new NCAA rule means players can transfer at any time.
How will this impact UA and other programs? Only time will tell, although some coaches think it will be the Wild Wild West.
鈥淚 think it makes things interesting,鈥 said Barnes. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard because it will cause distractions. I am curious to see how this affects the team chemistry. It鈥檚 hard with all these transfers, but I don鈥檛 know the solution. I understand why they are doing this, but it鈥檚 hard coaching when someone is half-in and half-out. There are a lot of things done to give student-athletes choices and I support that. But, once a name is in that database, it will be interesting to see how teams manage it.鈥
