The 2020-21 Women’s tournament dwarfed everything the men’s tournament gave fans. And its greatest gift to us all was the Arizona Wildcats’ head coach, Adia Barnes.
There were bigger names, like Geno Auriemma and Dawn Staley. There were bigger programs, like Baylor and Stanford. But in the end, there was no bigger winner than Adia Barnes.
Most fans outside of the Pac-12 were probably unfamiliar with the Wildcats’ coach before this tournament, but real basketball fans know her resume and pedigree.
Barnes graduated from Arizona in 1998 and was a star player for the Wildcats. Her senior year she was voted the Pac-10 player of the year and was named a USBWA first-team All-American. She finished her career as the university’s all-time leading scorer and the conference’s ninth all-time leading scorer with 2,237 points. She had a 12-year pro career, playing both internationally and in the WNBA, winning a championship with the Seattle Storm in 2004. Barnes then transitioned into broadcasting before entering the coaching ranks as an assistant coach with the Washington Huskies.
After five years with the Huskies, she returned to her alma mater and built the program that had the entire country jumping on the bandwagon this March.
In her five-year tenure in Tucson, Barnes revamped a program that had not made the tournament since 2005. It was something they would have accomplished last season had Covid not shut down the world. She is the fastest coach in program history to reach 75 wins and is already the third-winningest coach in school history.
But in this tournament, Barnes firmly cemented her place in the hearts and minds of all basketball fans.
Arizona was a no. 3 seed in this tournament. Most slept on their title chances as Paige Bueckers and the mighty UConn Huskies were in their bracket. It was basically assumed that the No.1 ranked Huskies would make another appearance in the Finals, their toughest challenge on paper being Baylor. That materialized, thanks to a no-call and they advanced to the Final Four.
Yet most overlooked what coach Barnes and star guard Aari McDonald were doing. They handled their business and finally faced UConn in the Final Four. After being slighted by NCAA producers who omitted them from the Final Four video, Barnes had her team fired up and took it to the Huskies, winning 69-59.
In the postgame celebration, she let her team know what she thought of the doubters.
“I did not cuss out the NCAA,” said Barnes after the game. “I did say a cuss word. The cuss word is basically, forget everybody, more of a chosen word. Forget everybody if they don’t believe in us, because we believe in us. That is my team. I believe in them. I will run through a wall for them. I’m just so proud because they do whatever I ask. They believe. That’s all I can ask for of the team. They played hard for me. So I give it my all.”
Barnes didn’t just motivate her team. She captured the hearts of fans who rallied around and cheered for the charismatic and passionate woman adorned in red, white, or blue.
It was her passion, excitement, smile and fiery nature. It was what she represented.
A baller. A coach. An underdog. A mom. A Black woman.
“I love it. I’ve been an underdog all my life. Too small to do this, too this to do that, too inexperienced to do this.”
It was all of those things that drew us to Adia Barnes. She’s real and talented. She’s fearless, wears her emotions on her sleeve, and stands unapologetic for what she does out of love. And how could you not love and respect a woman who had to pump breast milk during halftime of the biggest game in her coaching career?
Adia Barnes is the answer to questions Dawn Staley posed three years ago.
“How do we get more black people — especially women — in head coaching positions? How can our sport reflect back to young black girls what they see in the mirror?”
You show them coaches….women….Black women, like Adia Barnes. You send players and young coaches to learn from Adia Barnes.
In the championship game on Saturday night, the Wildcats mounted a ferocious comeback against No.1 seed Stanford and it came down to a final play. Unfortunately, McDonald’s shot bounced off the back of the rim and Arizona fell one basket short of a miraculous dream season, losing 53-54. Yet despite their loss, their coach gave us something we didn’t know we needed.
Now we need more Adia Barnes.
