Arizona Wildcats Head Coach Adia Barnes explains the next play during Arizona Women’s Basketball open practice at McKale Center 1721 E Enke Dr, Tucson, Ariz., on October 2nd, 2019. Arizona Women’s Basketball’s season begins October 27th with an exhibition game against Eastern New Mexico at 4pm.

 Rebecca Sasnett / Arizona Daily Star

Adia Barnes will make history on Friday in more ways than one.

When she takes the Arizona Wildcats to their first-ever Final Four, Barnes will have the distinction of being one of a record two Black coaches to make the national semifinals in the same year. South Carolina’s Dawn Staley is the other.

Barnes was unaware of the fact until she saw the media attention about it following Tuesday night’s win by the Gamecocks.

“It’s incredible to be representing Black female coaches in the biggest stage,” Barnes said.

Hear what the Arizona Wildcats had to say as they head into the program's first-ever Final Four. The No. 3-seed UA will face top-seeded UConn Huskies on Friday at 6:30 p.m. in San Antonio.

It means even more to share the spotlight with Staley, a legend in the game, Barnes said.

“Dawn Staley is incredible. She’s our Olympic coach. She’s a proven winner who’s done amazing things for women’s basketball,” Barnes said. “To even be in that conversation with someone that great I think it’s an honor. Just me and her representing things for so many women, especially this year with everything that’s going on in the world and all the inequalities we see with women. The disparity even at the NCAA, I think it’s amazing to represent a small minority. For us to have the opportunity that we had, because without our opportunities, we would not be successful.”

Having two Black female coaches on the biggest stage means a lot to UA senior forward Trinity Baptiste, too.

“It just gives hope to people in my community, especially younger girls growing up if you don’t see someone doing what you dream about doing sometimes you may think that it’s not possible,” Baptiste said. “Words can’t explain the way it feels to see someone of color and female doing something like that.”

Road trip

The Wildcats have been in a bubble for more than two weeks in San Antonio. Players, coaches and support staffers leave their single hotel rooms only for practices, games, testing, working out, film sessions and hanging out in an assigned conference room.

Wednesday night, the Wildcats were treated to a zoo trip. The plan was to feed the giraffes.

“I’ve done that, and I love giraffes,” Barnes said earlier Wednesday. “(For) Trinity, giraffes are her favorite animal. Aari (McDonald) hasn’t been to the zoo since she was little. I think they’re really excited. We’re trying to do something special. … It’s been very hard on the players. I’m happy they get to do something fun.”

Regulations are as strict as ever with the UA in the Final Four. Still, Barnes said it isn’t as bad as it sounds.

“We walk across the street for testing. That gets you out; you walk a couple blocks. Then you come back, then you walk to practice,” she said. “It’s not like you’re stuck in the hotel room all day,” Barnes said.

Pac-12 leads the way

Seven Pac-12 teams have appeared in the Final Four since 2013: Stanford, California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington and now Arizona. It’s the most teams out of any conference during that span. Stanford is making its third Final Four appearance in the last eight years.

For the second time in Pac-12 history, two teams — Arizona and Stanford — have made the Final Four in the same year. The first time happened five years ago, when Washington — with Barnes on staff as an assistant — made the tournament alongside Oregon State.

Having two teams still standing “speaks volumes for the conference,” Barnes said.

Barnes said having the league’s elite coaches “separates us” from the competition. The Pac-12 has a cumulative .705 winning mark in the NCAA Tournament over the last five years, tops among any league.

Said Barnes: “You have coaches like (Stanford’s) Tara VanDerveer, one of the best in the world, who is always good, just really tough to play against. Then you have Oregon State. Scott Rueck is a phenomenal coach that has won a lot of different levels. Then you have (Oregon’s) Kelly Graves. You have (UCLA’s) Cori Close. We just have a tremendous amount of good coaches.

“Every game is really hard, top to bottom, one through 12. There’s no guaranteed win. I think other conferences, you could beat the bottom two or three teams. In our conference, you can’t.”

Rim shots

  • The Wildcats took time away from Tuesday’s practice to send a video supporting the UA’s gymnastics team, which is participating in the NCAA Regionals.
  • UA freshman Lauren Ware, a two-sport standout, is the first UA volleyball player to ever play in a basketball Final Four. It’s been done before, however: Stanford’s Kristin Folkl played in two basketball Final Fours and four volleyball Final Fours during her college career.
  • Former UA player and current Maryland coach Brenda Frese was named AP’s women’s basketball coach of the year Tuesday morning. Frese learned of the honor during a team meeting; her parents, Bill and Donna, surprised her with the news on a Zoom call. Only three other coaches have won the AP award more than once: UConn’s Geno Auriemma, former Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw and Baylor’s Kim Mulkey.

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