Adia Barnes was a star player the last time the Arizona womenβs basketball team won 11 more games than it had the previous season. That was in 1996.
This season, Barnes is involved in another 11-game turnaround β this time as the Wildcatsβ coach. On Friday night, the UA came oh-so-close to taking another major step. Seventh-ranked Stanford beat Arizona 56-54 when UA star Aari McDonaldβs game-winning 3-point attempt rimmed out. Had it fallen, Arizona wouldβve taken its first win at Maples Pavilion since 2001.
βThis team is relevant now,β former UA coach Joan Bonvicini, now a Pac-12 Networks analyst, said last week. βItβs happened.β
Arizona (17-8, 7-8) will take on Cal (15-11, 6-9 Pac-12) on Sunday afternoon in the final road game of the regular season. Arizona beat the Golden Bears 60-55 on Jan. 11; another victory Sunday would give the UA its first sweep of Cal in 15 years.
Barnes isnβt the only link between the 1996 and 2019 squads. Hereβs a look at what else they have in common:
1. A program-changing player. The 1996 team had Barnes; this yearβs team has McDonald. Both are (or were) small for their positions. Barnes was an undersized post at 5 feet 11 inches, while McDonald β a guard β is listed at 5-7.
Barnes was the spark of the 1996 team, Bonvicini said. She averaged 17.4 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.
βAdia was a hard worker, a good shooter and a good rebounder,β she said. βHer work ethic impacted the team. I knew she was good and I knew she was talented. She just needed to mature, and she did.β
McDonald averages 24.7 points per game, making her the third-leading scorer in the country. The Washington transfer is also her teamβs engine.
Barnes can see the similarities.
βWe both are tremendous competitors who believe we are capable of doing anything,β she said. βWe both play really hard and in games we find a way. We want to take big shots at big moments.β
Adia Barnes, left, and Jacque Clark of the UA battle for an offensive rebound in a womenβs basketball game against Oregon at McKale Center, in 1996.
2. A newfound confidence. The 1996 team ended up going to the WNIT and winning it all, with Barnes grabbing MVP honors. The WNIT title gave the Wildcats a drive they didnβt have before.
βThe next year, we werenβt looking at NIT. It was (NCAA) Tournament or nothing,β she said. βYou have that drive. When the freshman come in itβs like βuh, uh, youβre getting on this page,β because itβs your career. That was a pivotal point in the program when I was playing and that will be a pivotal point here. Whether we make the NIT or NCAA Tournament, which is going to be really hard. But itβs going to change. Because you see that you can play at a certain level and you donβt want anything but that success.β
This yearβs team has experienced something similar. The Wildcatsβ confidence grew during an 11-game winning streak early in the season. When Arizona beat a pair of ranked teams β rival Arizona State and Cal β its swagger grew even more. The Wildcats turned another corner in the last week; they pulled off their first Pac-12 weekend sweep at home in eight seasons, then took Stanford to the wire.
3. A spot on the bubble. Arizonaβs 1996 team went 22-8 overall and posted a 10-8 record in Pac-10 play. Bonvicini told her team that if they beat Cal in the last game of the regular season β and they did β that they were in. She still feels bad about that.
βESPN asked us to do the live selection show. It was our banquet that day so we had 700 people on the floor at McKale,β said Bonvicini. βI was micβd up and we were live with the team. We didnβt get picked. Nancy Lieberman asked me pointed questions on why we didnβt get in and why we didnβt have a stronger nonconference schedule. I was gracious. My players were crying and it was not fun. I knew how I reacted would be important to the team.β
That was the last time ESPN did a live feed like that for a selection show.
βIt was awful. I havenβt thought about that in a long time,β said Barnes. βWe felt we were so close and had a good chance. Going to the WNIT and winning it proved the point that we should have been there.β
This yearβs team is further from an NCAA Tournament bid, but itβs still possible. Bonvicini thinks the UA needs two more regular-season wins, plus a victory in the Pac-12 Tournament to lock up a spot.
Barnes wonβt let herself think that far ahead.
βWe are closing the gaps,β she said. βA month ago, we lost to Stanford by 30 and now we are competing at Stanford. When is that last time that happened? Weβre competing and growing as a program and doing it playing with a short bench and not a lot of experience. β¦
βI think we have a chance. (Stanford) would have been a big win. If we beat Cal, we put ourselves in a good situation.β
