Montaya Dew was the highest-ranked player to ever commit to Arizona women’s basketball, coming in at No. 8 in the 2023 ESPN HoopGurlz rankings. She was part of the highest-ranked class to ever sign with the Wildcats, a group that finished No. 3 in the same rankings. After waiting since January of 2023, Arizona fans will finally get to see what all the fuss was about.
“I’m really excited now,” Dew said. “I’ve been sitting out from playing a basketball game for almost two years now. Last year, with getting injured…I was really bummed, but now being able to actually focus, my mind’s ready to play my first game. I’m super excited.”
Dew is listed as a redshirt sophomore on the Arizona Wildcats’ roster but she has yet take the court for the team. The wing came to Tucson early, leaving her hometown of Las Vegas six months early, but she still has four years of college eligibility.
Dew graduated from basketball powerhouse Centennial High School a semester early. Arizona head coach Adia Barnes had no intentions of playing her that first semester, but it gave the shy young woman some time to integrate into the system so she would be ready for the 2023-24 season. At the time, Barnes also said that it was a family decision made because Dew’s mother was terminally ill and wanted her daughter situated before the inevitable happened.
That first year certainly had its difficulties. Mere weeks after moving to Tucson, Dew’s mother passed. The program and her family helped her through that time. Her brother and sister have been especially important as she navigated both on-court and off-court obstacles.
“They’re two of the most supportive people in my life,” Dew said. “You know, always checking in almost every day. Just making sure my headspace is where it’s supposed to be, making sure I’m still going to the gym on my off time, and just putting in the work to make sure that I’m ready for this upcoming season.”
Despite the grief in her family, Dew still had basketball to focus on. She was working hard to get on the court when her “real” freshman year came in the fall of 2023. Then, the second misfortune struck.
On August 11, 2023, the program announced that she was out for the year after undergoing knee surgery.
Rehabbing and being the best cheerleader she could be for another year became her focus. She wasn’t the only one.
With the number of Arizona players who suffered injuries, everyone had to accept different roles than she might have expected, but it helped the group bond.
“Last year, we were a super close team,” Dew said. “Everybody was there for each other. Everybody just kind of respected each other and helped each other on and off the court.”
She finally got cleared a few months ago, and is 100 percent good to go now.
“It was just before May,” Dew said.
It would be understandable if Dew had concerns about her return. Athletes can sometimes be hampered by fears of re-injury. That’s not the case for her.
“Mentally, there hasn’t been any fear,” Dew said. “I feel like Bart, my trainer, he’s put a lot of time and energy into me, and he’s kind of just made me realize that this kind of thing happens and it’s going to be okay. So I haven’t really felt like any fear or anything like that. I’m pretty confident that everything will be okay.”
In addition to her team and the staff, Dew’s family has been her biggest source of support. This was no different.
“I was really excited,” Dew said. “Had a moment. Called my sister. We both just broke down in tears. It was just a surreal moment, just being able to finally get back to the sport that I love.”
She did a superb job as a cheerleader, but Barnes is thrilled to have her back on the floor. The coach will have her entire 2023 class available for the first time as Dew joins Jada Williams, Breya Cunningham, and Skylar Jones.
“Keeping all of them together was critical, I think, for our success long-term,” Barnes said. “Because if you think, after this year we’re only gonna lose two players again, so we’re really young again. So I think if I can keep this core together for multiple years, we’re gonna be really good.”
The coach is also excited to see Dew paired with sophomore forward Sahnya Jah, who transferred into the program during the offseason.
“ I think the size of Jah and Montaya—they can be a three, four, they can switch, they can do a lot of things defensively—I think it’s gonna be a really good combination,” Barnes said. “It enables us to move Montaya.”
Dew sees similarities between the two that will help them work well together.
“I would say we kind of have the same skill ability,” Dew said. “I think we can be interchangeable. We’re both tall [players] who have guard like skills. And I think us being on the court together, we just open the court…much more.”
Dew has been working a lot with the guards in offseason workouts despite being listed as a forward. Both she and Barnes expect her to play primarily the three position, although at 6-foot-2 she’s tall enough to play the four.
“I see myself playing as a wing, like a three, four, and just being able to expand the court with my length and my ability,” Dew said.
Dew was known as a facilitator in high school. While top 10 players typically have scouting reports that focus on their scoring, Dew made her way into that group by helping others score. That’s something that Barnes has long valued. It’s something that Dew still sees as her primary role.
“My mindset is still like a facilitator, but I’ve also improved in wanting to attack the basket more and shoot more,” Dew said. “But I still think…being a facilitator, getting my teammates open and passing them the ball, let them hit open shots.”
When Dew talks about the improvements she has made since she arrived at Arizona over 18 months ago, she typically mentions mental aspects of the game. Improving her desire to attack the basket is just one example. That goes hand-in-hand with what she considers her biggest improvement.
“When I first came here, my confidence wasn’t as high as it is now,” Dew said. “I think just being able to develop that. Players around me, seeing their confidence on court, just made me want to improve mine.”
There have been physical improvements, though.
“With my injury, I had a lot of off time, so I would just go into a gym, put up a lot of shots,” Dew said. “So I think my shot’s got a lot better than it was when I first came in.”
Off the court, Dew has been focusing on her major in criminal justice. She hopes to become a forensic photographer, so she’s minoring in fine art.
The experience may not have gone as smoothly as she hoped, but Dew feels like her time at Arizona has already helped her as a person.
“My mindset has changed a lot,” Dew said. “Especially coming from high school and being kind of immature and not really having adult responsibilities, and then moving to Tucson and having to move houses and just pay bills, all those types of things. I feel like my mindset is just matured. And then having the people around me, like Adia. She’s just always giving advice and always being a mentor for us.”
That mindset has her ready to go both on the court and off. She’s aiming to be a cog in a successful machine.
“For me, I’d like to accomplish just going out there on the court and doing my role,” Dew said. “Just knowing what my role is, and being able to apply that into a game and just know what I’m supposed to do. And for the team, I want us to be able to work together. Obviously, win games and make it far. Make it to March Madness, the Final Four. I see this team going far.”