While students have been away and campus has been relatively quiet, Becky Burke and the Wildcats have been hard at work during the last eight weeks gearing up for the 2026-27 season. With practice coming to end and the start of the fall semester around the corner, Burke and returners Sumayah Sugapong and Molly Ladwig caught up with media on Tuesday to recap how summer practice with 10 newcomers has gone for Arizona Women’s Basketball. Check out what they said below.
Becky Burke
Burke on the summer and looking ahead at the 2026-27 season:
“We have had a great off season. Lots has been happening. A lot of positive things, a lot of growth, a lot of movement, a lot of really, really good things for our program going into year two. We feel like we’re in a really good spot right now. So our players have been on campus since about June 17th. We have practiced for about seven weeks now, and we’re entering our eighth week of summer session. So at the end of this week, we will be done with our eight-week summer session, and we will get ready to start school and start our official preseason. And so we’re excited about that.
The growth and chemistry we’ve built and where we are as a team right now through seven weeks of summer session has our staff really, really excited. I think it has our players really excited. But, yeah, we’ve got almost a brand new group. We’ve got players that are returning, we’ve got players that transferred in, we’ve got true freshmen. So we’ve got a mix of it all.
But more than anything, it’s really a group that we brought together for a purpose, that we had time to recruit, that we really, really were selected and picky about. And I think it’s shown through our seven weeks of practice. I’m very grateful for this group. We have chemistry, we have positivity, we have players that are connected, they care about one another, but most importantly, they care about wearing the Block A across their chest, and they prove that every single time they come out, and they practice, and they show it.
This is one of the most coachable groups I’ve had. This is one of the most enjoyable groups that I’ve had. We’ve got really good basketball players, I will say that. But we have great human beings, great students, and young women of great character. We have not had to deal with anything this summer that most coaches have to deal with. We’ve been able to coach basketball. We’ve been able to keep it business, because they take care of their business. I walk into practice every day with a smile on my face.
I think with this group, win, lose, or draw, I’m gonna come in here with a much different attitude than you may have seen me go through some of the wins, losses, or draws last year, because this group is so likable. They’re so coachable. They’re here for the right reasons and it shows, and I just appreciate them so much for that. So I’m a happy coach right now. I’m in a great mood, but so is everybody else in the country because we’re all undefeated right now.
We’re gonna take our bumps, take our bruises, as you guys can see with our non-conference schedule. I’m sure you guys will ask me about that, but we’ve challenged them. We’ve put some teams on our schedule that are gonna really help us find out what we’re made of in a hurry. And so I’m excited. We’ve got we’ve got great returning players. We’ve got really, really impactful freshman class. And we’ve got some impact transfers that have joined us.
So where we are right now is in a much better place than we were last year, and I’m thankful, I’m appreciative, and I’m excited for our fans. I’m excited for you guys to cover our squad and have a lot more fun things to write about. And like I said, we’re looking forward to hopefully having one of the biggest turnarounds in Division One this year. That’s my plan for this group, and I feel like that’s something that could very, very well happen. So, the goal is to make the NCAA tournament, the goal is to be an NCAA tournament team. And, they know that. We know that. We’ve put our schedule together so that that is the result at the end of the season, and put ourselves in the best position to make sure we control what we can to make that happen.
So, yeah, excited, happy, thankful, and could not be more excited to have Molly and Sumayah here – Sumayah was one of the best players in the Big 12 the last month of the season. There’s no question about that. She was hot for the last month. I’m excited for her to pick up where she left off. To come in in year two, for Sumayah to be as comfortable as she is right now, and as confident as she is right now, took a year. It usually does underneath me. And so, she’s ready to have a fantastic senior year.
Molly, just being one of the most loyal, coachable kids that you could ever have in your locker room. These two have led for seven weeks and had a voice and understood what the assignment was, what our culture needed to be, and they’ve not shied away from that. We’re in a great place as a program right now, and I’m really looking forward to a huge step in year two.”
Burke on who has stood out so far through summer practice:
“We have 12 on our roster this year. I think we’re 12 deep – I genuinely can say that. And I don’t think there is one player on our team that is not going to play. I really think we have depth this year, which is something we did not have last year. And traditionally, my teams have not had. This might be the deepest team that I’ve had through seven weeks. And so I’m really, really excited not to be able to just give you one or two names.
Like, I could go down the line if you want to ask me specifics on certain players, but I don’t think there’s anybody I could just say, ‘this one’s standing out more than another one.’ They’re all, we’re doing it as a group right now. We’re celebrating each other. One person has a good day, the next person, the next one has a good day. And I told our group, like, we need to be a scouting report where there’s seven of you guys that are averaging between eight and 12 points. We don’t want to be a group where one person’s averaging 20 and everybody else is three to five.
So if we can be that group, which I think we can, where everybody’s getting theirs, and it’s one person’s night one night, and the next night it’s another person’s night, I think we’re going to be a really, really dangerous team. But, make no mistake about it, we have the best freshman class in the Big 12. It shows in the rankings of that class, and it will show when you see probably three freshmen on the floor at all times for us this year. So we will be young, but that group is, in my opinion, as good as advertised.
They’ve got talent. They really, really do. But they lack experience. They lack a little bit of maturity at times and not in a bad way. It’s just, they’re 18, right? And so, they have to grow up in a hurry. And I think a lot of our success is going to depend on how fast that group of five grows up.
As far as our transfer class, we didn’t bring in any transfers that are not going to be on the floor, and that was the point. We’re not just bringing bodies. I only signed 12 because those 12 are going to impact our team in a certain way. And so I think we did a great job with Molly and Sumayah returning, having our freshman class be kind of the foundation of what we want to build around for the coming years, and then supplementing with a few transfers around them that are going to help lead them, guide them, have some power four experience, minutes played, and production.
We did not have that last year. We didn’t have power four production and now we have that this year. You know, in Puff, who had a tremendous freshman year at Cal, and Bre Williams, who played at a top 10 program in the country, and Gerda. Bre started games at Maryland. Gerda started half of USC’s games last year. There’s a reason for that, it’s because she’s really good. So I’m excited about that piece. But like I said, I can’t just sit here and say there’s one or two I’m excited about. I’m really excited about the whole group.”
Burke on the idea her first season in Tucson was a Year 0:
“I have said that a few times, yes. I have said year zero. To me, it does give a little bit of like cop out excuse, and I don’t love that. But when you go through what we went through last year and you step into what we stepped into, it truly was a year zero because this is year one with the staff that needs to be here, with the players that need to be here. Everything has been so easy through seven weeks compared to what it was last year because you just have to go through it to figure out the bumps and the bruises, and what needs to happen, and what changes need to be made in order to get it right. That’s what we had to do last year.”
Burke on the new “five-for-five” rule:
Yeah, I think the 5-for-5 rule is great. I mean, it gives them five years to play college basketball. If I could go back and get my fifth, I would take it this year. We would play together. But, it’s amazing. I think it’s awesome. I think it’s going to put a lot of programs in a really sticky situation that have a senior class of six or seven this year, right? We have a couple that are seniors that we’re going to hope to hold onto if that’s something they’re interested in. But it doesn’t put us in a situation where we can’t sign freshmen or we’re in a situation where we have to pull offers from kids, because we don’t have a senior class of seven or eight that we want to keep, that we want to hold onto.
And that’s okay because it’s just where we’re at right now, but I think it’s a great opportunity for women’s college basketball players across the board to capitalize on their brand, on their NIL, on their rev share for another season. But, more so than the business side of it, they to get to play college basketball for another year. Like, I’d give anything to do that. So I’m excited for them.
I also think it makes it less messy too. You get five years. No more of this injury, waiver stuff, no more eligibility, like five. Boom, get it done. Like I like that one.”
Burke on her biggest learnings from her first season in Tucson:
“I think I learned a lot through last year, and last year it wasn’t anything significantly harder or different than how it’s been year one anywhere else. But you don’t quite remember how hard it is ’til you’re in it. My wife actually tells me all the time I take new jobs because I’ve done it like a 100 times. She’s like, ‘you want to do year one again?” And I’m like, ‘yeah, it’s not that bad.’ And then halfway through year one, she’s like, ‘I told you.’ So it’s hard, it’s difficult. To sit here and try to tell you everything I learned, I mean, I’d be talking for two hours.
What I think it’s done more than anything is make me appreciate this group. And I think they feel it, and I think, especially Sumayah and Molly, can feel the shift and energy from me and from our staff because we are so grateful for this group, and who they are, and what they value, and how they come out, and their approach every single day. Like, it’s made me more joyful at practice. It’s probably made me more enjoyable to be around that practice, but I want to reciprocate that gratitude and show them that I appreciate them and everything they’re bringing every single day because of what we may or may not have had last year. So, I think that’s probably the biggest difference.”
Burke on establishing her culture last season:
“I think anybody we talk to, any fans, any donors, anybody that we run into in town or anybody in this building just appreciated how hard we played. I mean, there is a standard here at Arizona in the way that we practice and the way that we play. Everybody in the building and everybody on our staff, and probably on our team, knew that our talent was never better than anybody else’s last year – even a few times in our non-conference. Our talent was not better than other people’s talent, but our ability to play harder was better almost every night, you know?
And so if we keep that, when we keep that, which is our identity, we are a blue collar team that plays our butts off. Um, and now we’ve added that talent, you’ll see those close games turned into wins. And that’s always what happens. And so, I think people learned that we are a team that plays our butts off. You’re never gonna get shortchanged for our effort and what you’re gonna get for the price of admission for us.
I mean, you look at the seven games we lost in the Big 12 by single digits. We didn’t belong in six of those. Seven, probably. You know, and we’re in basketball games late in the fourth quarter. We’re up two at TCU, [ranked] number 10 in the country, at TCU, at halftime. Nobody led at TCU this year, except for us. You know, we’re down four in the last media time out against Baylor at Baylor. Like, there are games that we put ourselves in a position to be in, and I don’t do the moral victory thing, but the writing is on the wall. We just had a little bit of a ceiling last season, and so, we’re excited to, like I said, just close that gap a little bit.
Hopefully, those close games turn into wins for us, and we know we have a long way to go before that happens. So I think people appreciate it. The effort, I think people saw the energy that we’re gonna play with, them hopefully taking a little bit of my personality on the court. I hope people appreciated how hard I coach, how well our teams were prepared. I hope people feel like I did my job, because I go to sleep every night, knowing that I bring it every day, and I empty my tank, and I take pride in that as a coach.”
Burke on high school prospects waiting to commit to programs:
“I don’t care when they come in. I like it when they do, so if they do early, great. If they don’t, then I’m not happy. I think the later commitments have to do with the fact that you can take as many visits as you want now. And I think there’s a lot of negotiating and a lot of business aspect to go back and forth on, which wasn’t what we had to deal with in the past. So figuring out numbers and negotiating those types of things usually takes a little bit longer.
But what you will see with this freshman class, now that the 5-for-5 rule is in play, is that those guys are panic committing, which I’m okay with. Panic commit. Like, come on. So, they just know these schools, now that the five-for-five passed, are not gonna have roster spots for them, which, obviously, we will.”
Burke on new team slogans and mottos for the season:
“Yeah, we have a couple cool t-shirts this year, and it’s just kind of what we’re about, that blue collar mentality, and like, genuinely, we’re ‘Not For Everybody’. Like, our program is not for everybody to come play in. We’re super transparent about that in the process. Our program is for the 12 that are here, and they are built for it, and they’ve proven that for seven weeks, and they want the challenge. But this program is not for softies, that don’t want to be coached, that don’t want to be told the truth, that don’t want to work hard. And that’s just real. So we put it on shirts to remind them.
We have a ‘Tucson Tough’ shirt. Like, this city is a blue collar place that isn’t about the shiny bells and whistles. They’re about getting the results, doing whatever it takes to get it done, a fanbase that values hard work and what we bring every single day. So just little reminders on their shirts to take pride in who you are, take pride in what our identity is, take pride in being that blue collar, rough and tough mentality. We’re gonna get it done one way or another.”
Sumayah Sugapong
Sugapong on what she learned in her first year playing for Becky Burke:
“She mentioned it earlier, just getting to play under her for a full year. Everyone sees that she’s a tough coach to play for, so just to be familiarized with her coaching style, what she expects every day from you gives me more confidence going into this year, for myself, but also being able to help my teammates and take more of a leadership role, I think. But, yeah, I’m excited for this year and this new group.”
Sugapong on Arizona’s non-conference schedule this season:
“I’m really excited about this new schedule. First game of the season we have Stanford, and I just think it’s gonna be really – we’re all so confident in our team right now. We have a lot of just good feelings going into it. You know, the summer, everybody’s just excited for the year, and so to start off with that caliber team, and just see right off the bat how we deal with competition at that level, I think it’d be so good to do that and carry that through the rest of our non-conference.
I just think it’ll prepare us better for the Big 12 once we get to conference play. So I’m really excited. And then UCLA also, coming off a national championship, like, those are teams you want to play, and that’s the kind of competition you get and expect when you come to Arizona, so, yeah. I’m excited.”
Sugapong on playing Vanderbilt in the Jacksonville Classic:
“I think it’ll be cool. Me personally, I’ve never played in one of those, like, Thanksgiving tournaments or nothing like that, so to be able to travel and play a couple teams during that span, I think it’ll be really interesting and [to] have a quick turnaround. I mean, Vanderbilt is [a] top program in the country with some big names on the team, so, again, it’ll just, try to see what we’re made of, and it’ll be a good challenge for us.”
Sugapong on her decision to return to Arizona:
For me, it was a pretty challenging season as a team, and individually, but I felt good towards the end of the season, and then the five-for-five hadn’t passed yet, so I was like, okay, my senior year, I just want to be comfortable. I know Coach Burke. I know her system. And I wanted to sort of be part of something – it’s hard to rebuild the program when you have your whole team transfer out again. So, just sort of building off of what we did last year, and I was just comfortable here.”
Sugapong on which newcomer has stood out during summer practice:
”It is hard to pick because there’s so many of them, and they’ve all been so good this summer. But if I were to pick one, I’m really excited to play with Puff this year. I think with losing Lani as our point guard, she did a lot for us, and I think Puff is gonna do a lot, just taking the pressure off [of me] being a primary ball handler, and I just think she’s a very high-IQ player who’s gonna help us a lot on the floor, so I’m excited to play with her.”
Sugapong on her expectations for the upcoming season:
“I mean, the same goal is last year, we want to win a Big 12 championship, and I think we’re a lot more confident going into this year. And, just win more games in general. I think a lot of stuff Coach Burke hit on earlier about us being in really close games last year – I think with our new squad and the talent level of these girls, we’re gonna be able to put ourselves in much better positions in these close games.”
Sugapong on what new coaches Todd Starkey and Devan Newman have brought to the program:
“I’ve really enjoyed them coaching us. I think Coach Dev is just such a – I mean she’s just like Coach Burke, very passionate about basketball. Every single day. She’ll do a lot of the skill development splits in the beginning of practice. She’s just intense in everything she does and she’s a constant voice at the sidelines. And then Coach Starkey just brings this great energy every day. I mean, I wouldn’t say he’s as intense as Coach Burke, but they kind of balanced each other out, so I’ve really enjoyed learning from both of them and I’m excited for them this year.”
Molly Ladwig
Ladwig on what she learned in her first year playing for Becky Burke:
“I think my answer is easy, just being a freshman, like, everything was new and I learned kind of everything. [Coach] Burke, obviously, everything about her and her playing style and everything like that. And then the level of basketball, Big 12, all of that. So, yeah, I learned a lot.”
Ladwig on being emerging as a leader despite being a young player:
“Yeah, I feel like it was a big jump. Last year I was bottom of the barrel, learning from everyone else. Everyone else was leading. And then this year, obviously only us two staying. We kind of have to be the biggest leaders, just because we know a lot more about Burke than anyone else. So, that was kind of a big jump just to this year. I’ve been trying my best this summer just to help everyone – try to get everyone tips, how to do things the way she likes it and how to keep her happy, ways to make us win and stuff like that. So it’s definitely a big jump, but I feel like it’s been good.”
Ladwig on Arizona’s non-conference schedule this season:
“Yeah, I agree. I just think those are gonna be cool experiences, too, just for us to go into big learning lessons at the beginning of the season, so I think it’ll prepare us well for the long road.”
Ladwig on her decision to return to Arizona:
I thought it was a good freshman season for me. I learned a lot, and I really liked my year with Burke. And I really didn’t have any complaints, and I’m not one to shy away from hard things. So, I think a lot of other people had, not excuses to leave, but different kind of things, and I just wanted to stick it out. Transferring is a big deal. A lot of new things, so I thought there were too many positives here, so why would I leave?”
Ladwig on 2026 early enrollee Callie Hinder:
“I feel like Callie’s definitely, like, she’s gonna be good this year. Like, she’s six-foot-seven. The things we see out of her in open gym and everything, like, she’s got a good little game, so I’m excited to see her.”
Ladwig on which newcomer has stood out during summer practice:
“It is hard. I’m in between, like, three people. I don’t know. I’m excited to play with ‘Jazz’ [Jasleen Green]. I think she just works hard – I guard her a lot in open gym, and it’s tough, so, yeah, I’m just excited to play with her this year and see how her freshman year goes.”
Ladwig on her expectations for the upcoming season:
“Making the tournament at the end of the year. Obviously, our very beginning of the season is gonna be hard, so just, leading up the whole season into the end, and hopefully, we can make it at the end of the tournament.”
Ladwig on what new coaches Todd Starkey and Devan Newman have brought to the program:
“Yeah, I love them both so far. Yeah, just the experience they both bring. It’s easy to be coached by them because [of] all the experience and wisdom they have. So, yeah, it’s been good.”