Dana Burkholder, really, had no business going to Arizona.
Burkholder was considered the top setter in the nation as a high school senior in 1998.
Arizona wasn’t at the point in its program where it was, really, supposed to be in the running for recruits like Burkholder. That was reserved for teams like UCLA and Nebraska.
Dave Rubio was entering his seventh year, to that point twice bringing the Wildcats to the Sweet 16. That was the furthest the UA program — then in its 20th year — had ever gone.
But Burkholder liked Rubio’s pitch for her coming to Tucson, and eventually spurned big-time programs to become a Wildcat.