Arizona women’s basketball had several players still in the portal when Becky Burke was hired as the new coach. At her introductory press conference, she said that she would be reaching out to them because Arizona was “their home.” One by one, they have chosen new homes with forward Katarina Knežević becoming the latest as she announced her commitment to VCU early Monday morning.
Knežević might have been the most promising of the young Arizona players in the portal. She has size, the ability to shoot the 3, and a great deal of untapped potential. Despite the flux in playing time over her freshman season, she also brought more on-court Power 4 experience than most of Arizona’s 2025-26 roster.
Over the course of the season, Knežević averaged 2.8 points and 1.9 rebounds in 11.5 minutes per game. However, she played at least 20 minutes in six games with a career high of 30 against Arizona State to end the regular season. She also played 23 in Arizona’s Big 12 tournament loss against Colorado but then played just two in the WBIT loss to NAU despite a short bench.
Knežević came to the game of basketball late after playing soccer when she was younger. She played alongside WNBA players in Spain before coming to Arizona. Early on, her inexperience showed in turnovers and fouls. Late in the season, she cut on those issues, but there were still times when both her teammates and her coaches were providing a lot of guidance when she was on the floor.
That guidance seemed to be paying off, although fouls and turnovers were still a problem for her. Her per-40-minute stats show both her potential and the areas she needs to improve. She averaged 9.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.6 steals per 40 minutes. However, she also averaged 3.5 turnovers and 3.3 fouls.
Knežević shot 50 percent from beyond the arc, hitting 13 of her 26 shots from outside. She was less efficient inside the arc, hitting just 27.9 percent of her 2-point shots. She also made just 50 percent of her free throws.
Former head coach Adia Barnes brought Knežević to Arizona to develop. The player seemed to be progressing on that front, but she was anxious to play in games for 20-plus minutes, saying it was what she “deserved.”
She will try to get those minutes with the Rams. VCU went 12-19 overall last season and 6-12 in the A10. Their season ended with a loss to LaSalle in the opening round of the A10 tournament.
With Knežević committing to VCU, that leaves only Jorynn Ross and Isis Beh in the portal from last year’s team.
Ross will be a junior and making her second transfer in as many years. She came to Arizona after a freshman season that ended with WCC All-Freshman honors in 2023-24.
Like Knežević, Ross was brought in with the intention of developing her. At local media day, she said it was the reason she came to Arizona. Her development was done in practice, though, as she appeared in just 6.2 mpg in 18 games.
Beh is technically out of eligibility but is applying for a waiver for another year based on the junior college waiver granted to most players whose eligibility was supposed to be up this year. Beh was left out of that waiver because her only year in juco was the 2020-21 season and she redshirted that year.