New Arizona guard paulina paris he knows what he wants. At the top of his agenda is reaching his full potential and having a long professional career. Finding a place where he could do that was the goal when she decided to move from North Carolina. She believes Arizona is that place.
It wasn’t easy to get to this point. During the time Paris and her high school class were supposed to be visiting, they were forced to do most of their recruiting on Zoom. He originally committed to Penn State during that time. Later, recruiting visits began again and she broke free and eventually landed at UNC.
“It was quite difficult,” he said. “My class was really talented and I feel like if the summer after COVID hadn’t happened, I would be in a really different position than I am now. But COVID was difficult. I mean, my whole junior year it was closed and that’s usually when the coaches start talking to you. So I mean, yeah, there were a couple of bumps in the road. But I mean, I’m here where I am right now and I’m happy to be here.”
Paris politely declined to talk about his time in North Carolina.
“Honestly, I don’t like talking about UNC,” he said.
That part of the past is already gone. She is looking towards her future.
To build that future, he first needed to rebuild his body. He missed much of his senior season at UNC with what was described as a “lower body injury.” She has been working to recover from that and the subsequent surgery for the past few months, regularly posting videos of his workouts on Instagram.
“I would definitely say surgery is not fun,” he said. “But what happened happened. The last six months… have been difficult, but I’m trying to get back to where I was before and I feel like I’m close to getting there. Obviously, the people here, the training staff, have been great. I’ve been cleared to play, so it’s amazing. Like me again, which is great. I’m excited. “I’ve been lifting a lot of weight, training a lot, but it’s nice to finally feel good and feel like myself.”
Despite having a rigorous medical major and an idea of what he wants to do with it when the time comes, Paris doesn’t really want to think about a future outside of basketball.
“I’ll be completely honest, I hope basketball takes me a lot further so I don’t have to talk about it right away,” Paris said. “So I hope to get drafted. But obviously the ball does stop bouncing. So I would say I’m more interested in physical therapy. I’ve done it a lot. “I’m intrigued to see what they do, but I hope basketball takes me much further.”
That’s understandable. She fell in love with basketball early and has been dedicated to it for most of her life. That part of his past is inspiring his future.
Bryan, Paris’s father, was born in Puerto Rico and the family lived there until she was about five years old. She played basketball at the college and professional level at home before the family moved to New York. Later, her passion for basketball was instilled in her children, including coaching Paris in the baseball club.
“Having a family that really cared about my basketball life and really cared about me being successful was a big help,” Paris said. “I mean, like any other kid who has someone who really cares about him and pushes him to be the best, I feel like it gives you all the tools you need to be great. And I feel like he did a lot for me while he was growing up. He still does a lot for me now. And I’m really grateful that I had someone who cared about me as much as he did because I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him.”
Her father may have guided her time at the basketball club, but that’s not the only way he still influences her. She is a well-known freshman teammate and also a New Yorker. Laura Swann during years. She also knows about peer transfer. Sahnya Jah.
“Lauryn is great,” Paris said. “I’m very close to his brother because he trained with my dad on one of the AAU teams he used to play on. I know his mother. Her family is great. She’s great. And it’s comforting that Lauryn and Jah are here because they’re two girls I met before I came across the country. So I feel like it made the move a little easier.”
The adaptation to the state of Arizona began a little later for Paris. She eventually visited the school, but became engaged before setting foot on campus. The last time North Carolina played McKale was the year before she was on the team, so she had never been to Tucson or seen what a McKale crowd looks like in women’s basketball.
The coaches made the difference. Paris had a history with the second coach Betsy Shelby when he was an assistant at West Virginia. He quickly established a good relationship with the head coach. Adia Barnesalso.
“Adia was the first coach that approached me when I entered the transfer portal,” Paris said. “And it wasn’t just Adia, it was also Bett. She had been trying to get me to West Virginia those years before and she was in constant communication with me. When she saw that I was at the portal, she was also the first. I went on a Zoom call with them literally a day later because they were really interested. They are convinced of me. They are simply honest. And that’s all I can ask of a coaching staff: to be honest with me, because all I want to do is be the best player I can be. And I feel like they trust me, they believe in me and I’m excited to play here because that’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
The focus on player development in Arizona was also important to Paris because her dream is a long career in the WNBA.
“I feel like I’m going to become a better player and a better person here,” Paris said. “So I feel like they just knew they wanted to get out of me.”
For Barnes, getting Paris was important because he wanted to improve Arizona’s perimeter shooting. While her best outside shooting year in college was her freshman season, when she made 31.5 percent of her 3-pointers, Paris was known as an outside threat when she landed at North Carolina as the No. 1 recruit. 27 in the class of 2022.
In its two seasons at Saddle River Day SchoolParis averaged 23.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 2.6 steals in 40 games. He averaged 3.0 3-pointers per game during his junior and senior seasons. As a senior, he averaged 22.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 2.7 steals in 27 games. He made 2.9 3-pointers per game. He made at least four 3-pointers in nine of his 27 games in his senior season.
He has been quite effective in distributing the ball in college. Her turnovers have placed her in the 77th percentile or better in taking care of the ball in both seasons in college.
Paris is happy whether it plays with the ball or not. She said she doesn’t have a preference for one over the other because she couldn’t be the player she is if she didn’t do both.
“With the ball I can control the pace of the game,” he said. “Without the ball, I can score, I can facilitate. I feel like they both really have their positive aspects. “I just like being able to do what I can.”
That “do what you can” attitude causes Barnes to compare Paris to the indispensable guard who just left campus.
“Paulina is a tremendous shooter,” Barnes said. “She is intelligent. She is cunning. She reminds me a lot in some ways of Helena (Pueyo). Different but simply intelligent in the use of her speed and body.”
But this is Arizona. Defense matters, as Pueyo showed during his five years in Tucson. Paris is also a promising defender.
His hoops stats give Paris a defensive rating of 85.5 or higher in both years at university. That’s in the 86th percentile. He also has higher defensive than offensive winning percentages in both seasons. In his first year, he had 2.3 steals every 40 minutes. That ranked in the 88th percentile.
“I’m ready to show the world that I am a very talented basketball player and that if they put me in the right position at the right program, I can really show the type of player and person I can be,” Paris said. “I’m excited for the opportunity to be myself. I would say that the team’s goal, obviously, is to win. Win a tournament championship, win a conference, everything. And I feel like we have the team and the talent to do it. So I’m excited to see what this team does and what all of us have to show.”
Keynote USA
For the Latest Local News, Follow Keynote USA Local on Twitter.