Wildcat freshman Lauryn Swann 'completely transformed herself' to overcome injury, join Arizona hoops program (2024)

Sure, Lauryn Swann made the decision herself to come play for Adia Barnes and become an Arizona Wildcat. But her mom, Marlena, gets at least a little bit of the credit.

When things weren’t going her way the past few years as she battled an ongoing string of injuries — she dislocated her shoulder multiple times in addition to tearing her labrum — Swann made sure to remember what her mom told her as she knuckled down and ground through her recovery.

“Just stay patient and trust God’s timing,” Swann remembers her mom telling her — even as the hurdles stood in the way of her getting noticed by top college coaches for quite some time into the recruiting cycle.

Swann heeded her mom’s advice. She was patient — and determined, with both paying off when Barnes became one of the coaches who did notice her and offered her an opportunity to join a team looking to make an NCAA Tournament appearance for the fifth straight season in 2024-25.

“Lauren has always had this underdog kind of, ‘I gotta prove something’ chip on her shoulder, and I absolutely love her,” Barnes said. “She’s tough. She’s resilient. She’s a great kid — comes from a great family. She really aligns with our program. And she can play.

“She’s not afraid she can really shoot the ball,” Barnes added. “She was just a late bloomer. And what I love about her and respect is she bet on herself. She could’ve signed with a really small school really early. She bet on herself. She waited. She wanted to go Power Five, and she ended up getting exactly what she wanted, and I love kids like that.”

Swann, who was first in the UA’s 2024 class to commit to play for Arizona, is also the first rookie already in Tucson to start school and summer training. She arrived last Saturday. The others in her class — Mailien Rolf (from Germany) and Katarina Knezevic (from Serbia) — will come to the Arizona campus at a later time.

It was not an easy road for Swann to fulfill her dreams of playing for a power conference program.

“She completely transformed herself,” Barnes said. “She got in shape; she got healthy. She was really determined to get what she wanted and she did it. I love those things. I love players with that fearless mentality and the chip on their shoulder. Someone who’s not afraid to fail and not afraid to bet on themselves.”

Grinding it out

Swann’s original injury came when she was 15 years old chasing down a fast break on defense. She went to swipe the ball and her shoulder popped out. Her coach at the time didn’t want to try to put it back into place, so they went to a doctor and “the roads in New York are horrible, so as we were driving, (on) one of our so many bumps it just put it right back in for me.”

The shoulder popped back out a few more times and the final time before surgery it never got back into place; it stayed out for nearly two weeks. When she returned to the court in her junior year, it was time to get some notice.

With these setbacks, the 5-7 shooting guard wasn’t ranked in ESPN’s HoopGurlz Top 100 until this spring, when she landed at No. 81. The day Swann verbally committed to Arizona, she put up 38 points and picked seven steals in a 117-33 win over Brooklyn Law & Tech.

“For the longest time the longest I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t getting any phone calls from schools — this, that, the third,” she said. “But I feel like it all happens for a reason.

“I definitely have a huge chip on my shoulder to prove people wrong,” she added, “and to just show coach Adia why she was right to pick me and thank her for taking a chance on me.”

She got started in basketball by tagging along when her older siblings, Brandon and Amanda, were at the gym. Brandon, also a guard, taught her the fundamentals; Amanda, who played in the post, gave her advice about shooting and other parts of her game.

Swann describes her game as “New York guard style of play,” which she said means, “flashy, quick and bring swag.” She also expects to be “a battery pack” — meaning she’ll bring the energy for the Wildcats.

She transferred to Long Island Lutheran for the final two years of high school career.

If that school sounds familiar to Arizona fans, that’s where her former teammate, former Wildcat Paris Clark, also played. The two were close friends and despite Clark transferring to Virginia after her freshman season, Swann just knew Arizona was the right place for her.

Finding her fit

Swann narrowed down her choices to Marquette, Clemson and Arizona. She liked so much about Arizona it ended up being an easy decision after she visited the January weekend when Arizona took No. 5 Colorado to the wire at McKale Center. Swann said she liked the energy of the coaches, the beauty of Tucson and especially McKale Center during the game — as well as how the fans interacted with the Wildcats.

That didn’t happen at the other schools, she said, adding that she also liked how Barnes coaches and develops her players.

Barnes said Swann could play in either guard position; she will get “opportunities because she wants to be good,” Barnes said, adding that “(Swann) always has to prove herself so she works hard and I don’t even think she’s scratched the surface of how good she can be.”

“She’s never had this type of strength and conditioning; she’s never been totally healthy. We were doing all these measurements. Some of the kids have these imbalances and that’s why they got hurt. They have one leg stronger — like 30% stronger. Or one leg way more flexible and those are high school things. We have the resources here to correct a lot of these imbalances and they just flourish,” Barnes added. “Look at Sky (Jones). She came here really frail, skinny, long athlete and now she’s more explosive. She’s stronger she’s gained like 10-15 pounds of muscle and look at her. We have the resources to really build you up and make you better.”

Rim Shots

Registration is now open for the 2024 Adia Barnes Basketball Academy, serving girls in second through 12th grades, and boys in second through eighth grades.

This year’s five-day camp runs June 17-21 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in McKale Center. Fees are $395 per camper; to register, contact Lauren Flaum at lflaum@arizona.edu.

Cydnee Bryant, sister of men’s basketball freshman Carter Bryant, took an unofficial visit to Arizona over the weekend. She is No. 34 in HoopGurlz Super 60 for the Class of 2026.

Arizona gave an offer to Noelle Guiamatsia in the same class. She is a 6-4 forward out of Xavier College Preparatory and is No. 43 by HoopGurlz. Guiamatsia is a legacy player as her mom and aunt – the Bofia twins, Suzy and Beatrice, who were both 6-7 inches tall – played at Arizona from 2006-2008.