SAN ANTONIO — Once a teammate, always a teammate.
If Adia Barnes didn’t know that before, she sure does now.
On Thursday, three of Barnes’ teammates from the Seattle Storm’s 2004 WNBA championship team — Lauren Jackson, Sheri Sam and Tully Bevilaqua — posted a video to Twitter supporting the Wildcats’ coach ahead of the UA’s first-ever Final Four appearance. It concluded with a photo of Barnes hugging Arizona star Aari McDonald following the Wildcats’ Elite Eight win over Indiana.
Bevilaqua told Barnes that “your squad has your back … maybe not so much Sue Bird, but we’ll make up for it.”
Bird, of course, is a UConn grad.
The trio wasn’t the only group supporting the Wildcats’ run. Former UA standouts Reshea Bristol and Dee-Dee Wheeler made the 12-hour drive from Tucson to San Antonio, arriving in time for tipoff.
“Regardless of the length of the drive, what stood at the end of our journey here was what (kept us going) through the hours,” said Wheeler, TUSD’s director of interscholastics.
Bristol was Barnes’ teammate on the 1997-98 Wildcats team that went to the Sweet 16. Until this year, it was the furthest any UA team had ever gone in the big dance.
Added Wheeler, who played from 2001-05: “Adia’s journey with the Arizona women’s program has only begun.”
Aari honoredArizona star Aari McDonald was named a second-team USWBA All-American on Friday, marking the second time in as many years that she’s earned the honor. McDonald was previously named a second-team All-American by the AP.
UConn defeated Baylor in a thriller to move on to the Final Four of the women's NCAA Tournament, but the win did not come without controversy
The USWBA’s six-person first team includes South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston, Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, Louisville’s Dana Evans, Michigan’s Naz Hillman, Kentucky’s Rhyne Howard and UConn’s Paige Bueckers. Bueckers and Clark were named co-freshmen of the year. Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer was named Coach of the Year.
‘Today’ time
Arizona was the focal point of a “Today” show segment on Friday morning.
Reporter Sam Brock’s piece looked at both the men’s and women’s Final Fours. He spoke to two athletes for the piece — Arizona’s Sam Thomas and McDonald. Brock said that UA was enjoying “otherworldly play” from McDonald, its star guard.
Savannah Guthrie, an Amphi High School and UA graduate, hosts the iconic morning how.
Thomas said the Wildcats were “So grateful that she went to Arizona … and it’s always Bear Down!
A house divided
Dr. Spencer Erman is a Wildcat through and through, the owner of both an undergraduate and medical degree from the UA.
There was no questioning his allegiance Friday — even though he works as an assistant clinical professor at UConn and his wife and son attended the Storrs, Connecticut, school.
Erman’s family and co-workers understand that there is no turning this “Wildcat for Life” into a Huskies fan.
“I have been a UA Wildcat fan since the late ’60s,” Erman said. “I was at the last game at Bear Down Gym, and the first game at McKale. I was team photographer for men’s basketball with Fred Snowden up until I graduated. I was also sports editor of the UA yearbook. They know better than to pressure me. I was on the floor at Pauley Pavilion when UA beat UNLV in overtime to make the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tourney in 1976, with Bob Elliott, Jim Rappis, Al Fleming, Phil Taylor and Herman Harris.”
Erman follows the Wildcats Pac-12 Networks and Internet radio, enduring the late East Coast start times. Erman said he loves the Wildcats’ energy, excitement and unselfish play. He said Barnes is a role model “and will go far.”
Sharing the moment
Joan Bonvicini, the woman who first put the UA women’s basketball program on the map, was in the stands Friday night. Bonvicini coached at the UA from 1991-2008; her 1997-98 team, led by Barnes, was her best at the UA.
Barnes said Bonvicini “was there with me through it all.”
“She put me in situations to be successful and I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her and my success with her,” Barnes said. “In the pros, she was with me in my first training camp. She’s been with me through all these huge life things. I think that’s the definition of a mentor. … I’m just lucky that I have her in Tucson.
“(She’s) someone that doesn’t have any stake in anything; (she) just wants me to be successful. I’m fortunate to have her.”
Not a 3-point shooter
During Arizona’s Elite Eight game against Indiana, ESPN broadcasters kept saying that Trinity Baptiste wasn’t a 3-point shooter.
Not quite. Baptiste has connected on 14 of 41 3s this year; when she hits, it’s a spark for the Wildcats.
“I can score, rebound, defend, pass, so I don’t put myself into a category of what my strength is,” she said.
“I’m continuing to get better to get better every single day. That’s just my goal: to be better than I was yesterday. It doesn’t matter if someone says I’m a 3-point shooter or not. I just do whatever I need to do to win and that’s what I will continue to do.”
Baptiste’s mom, Debbie Lindo, always tells her she needs to shoot more 3s. It’s a running joke.
“You know I want to bang,” she tells her mom. “I want to be down in the post.”
Note from a legend
Legendary Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer sent Barnes and South Carolina’s Dawn Staley a note and package to celebrate their place in history. This year marks the first time to that two Black female coaches have made the Final Four in the same year.
The note, which Staley shared on Instagram, said: ”Congratulations, I am so proud of you both for representing Black Women! I dreamed of this day. I am filled with great pride & happiness — I salute you! Continue to inspire all young women! Wishing you the best this weekend!”
Barnes was touched, saying Stringer is “someone who we both really look up to.”
“She’s one of the first that put Black female coaches on map, and she’s done so many things — one of the most successful in the business,” Barnes said. “To receive something like that from her means a lot to me.”
Rim shots
Arizona’s players received gifts for making the Final Four: Suitcases from Wendy’s and Coca-Cola with headphones, a Nintendo Switch, video games and socks inside. Included was a note that read: “You made it.” They also received a duffel bag full of gear from Nike and two new pairs of shoes.
