Before she could walk, talk or read,
Aari McDonald fell in love with basketball.
No, really.
She couldn't say mama or dada yet, but she knew she loved when that orange ball swished through the net.
"I've been in love with the game since before I could walk," McDonald said. "There were times when my family was playing games in the driveway, and I'm just chilling in my rocker, watching them."
And that's how it began. That's where one of the most dynamic players in women's college basketball first found her love of the game.
A native of Fresno, California, and the daughter of Andrea and Aaron McDonald, Aari learned two very important lessons about the game of basketball before she turned 8.
First, toughness is a must. The youngest child in the house with two older brothers, Trevon and Anthony, Aari knew if she wanted to play with her brothers, she couldn't go crying to mom and dad if things didn't go her way. If she got knocked down, she'd get up.
Second, basketball isn't an individual sport. Sure, she loved seeing that ball go through the hoop for two or three points, but Andrea was always there to remind her daughter that even though she always wanted the ball, you have to pass the ball and use your teammates. Selfishness wasn't an option.
"I was like 7, but my mom was harder on me than everyone," Aari said.
And Aari loved it.
The toughness her older brothers helped instill in her suited her game and personality well. She wasn't going to be the biggest player on the court, and more often than not, she may be the smallest. But she learned how to use her quickness, ball handling skills, intelligence and that good ol' toughness to make a mark on the court.
"Toughness separates the good from the great," Wildcats coach
Adia Barnes said. "Diana Taurasi is tough, Elena Della Donne is tough,
Aari McDonald is tough. They're wired differently and they just compete differently. When you're tough minded and resilient, you are able to handle adversity really well, and you don't see that as much anymore."
But with No. 2 on the Arizona Wildcats, you sure see it. A lot.
In fact, it's that toughness that has helped her already become one of the best players in program history. Consider: last year, McDonald scored 890 points, establishing a new Arizona single-season scoring record. She was named All-Pac-12 and All-Pac-12 Defense and was a three-time Pac-12 Player of the Week.
Fast forward a year, and her second season as a Wildcat has been an impressive as the first. She has started all 19 games for the 12th ranked Wildcats and is averaging better than 20 points per game for the second straight season. She has scored in double figures in 60 straight games, which leads the country. The next closest in the Pac-12? Washington State's Borislava Hristova and Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu at 18 games.
She also scored 44 points on 18 shots at Texas in November, which broke the program's single-game scoring record.
"I'm really happy here," a smiling McDonald said. "I'm in a great position. I'm playing against great players. I'm at a school where the community really supports me and the team. I'm excited and blessed to be here."
And what about the fact she may just be on her way to carving out one of the best careers in Arizona history?
"Little ol' me?" a humble McDonald asked. "It's very cool to be mentioned with all these great players ahead of me. It's honestly hard to believe."
It's easier to believe knowing more about her upbringing in Fresno.
When Trevon and Anthony would rough up their little sister, she liked it. She fought back. She'd play with her older brothers and much as she could and preferred playing with boys over girls. In the summer before fifth grade, she played on her uncle's team full of high schoolers against other high school aged girls.
By sixth and seventh grade, she was playing on boys teams totally unfazed by what was supposed to be tougher, more physical competition.
"With my size, they thought they could bully me, but I'm like, 'no, I'm not backing down, I'm tough. I'm going right back at you,'" McDonald said. "I just knew I was made for this. I knew I could create my own path, just by doing the hustle work and playing defense."
McDonald played her freshman season of high school at Bullard High School in Fresno. The competition wasn't exactly the level she was hoping for. She eventually transferred to Brookside Christian in Stockton for her final three years of high school ball.
Unsurprisingly, she began receiving recruiting interest from Division I schools and eventually committed to Washington, where Barnes was serving as an assistant. McDonald was named to the 2017 Pac-12 All-Freshmen Team and was two-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week for the Huskies.
But just like high school, she decided to change things up after her freshman year and transferred to Arizona to play for Barnes, who had been named head coach a year earlier.
"I knew the coaches at Arizona, and I remember thinking 'this is the place to be,'" McDonald said.
She sat out the 2017-18 season, before her re-breakout season last year where she was named an Associated Press honorable mention All-American.
If last season was her re-breakout season, this year it's the full team's re-breakout year. McDonald has the Cats ranked No. 12, coming off its first road win over a top 10 team in program history. Arizona is 19-4 this season, ticketed for its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 15 years.
McDonald, who leads the team in points, minutes played, assists and steals, while being second in rebounds, is a huge reason why the Wildcats are back in the national spotlight.
"I didn't think we'd be this good this early," McDonald said. "I knew we would be good and would have some game-changing players. I didn't think we would be this good."
But they have. And now, toddlers in rockers all over Tucson have a player to look up to and learn from.
"She is a program-changing player, and she has become a much better player since coming here," Barnes said. "She has worked very hard at her craft, and she's one of the best players in the country."
Best
and toughest, that is.
