SAN FRANCISCO – With the No. 2 recruiting class lined up so far for 2018 and an upgraded roster for this season, the Arizona women’s team has a promising future.
But the present may still be a little rough.
The UA women’s team was picked to finish 11th in the Pac-12’s annual women’s basketball coaches poll, ahead of only Washington. UCLA was picked first, while Oregon and Stanford were tied for second, and Oregon State was fourth.
But Barnes, whose team went 5-13 in conference play during her first season in 2016-17, says the roughness of the Pac-12 is actually a big selling point in her recruiting.
“I will always sell if you want to be the best, you've got to play with the best,” Barnes said. “So do you want to go to a conference that is No. 1 but doesn't play a hard game all year?
“Yes, in the Pac-12 you beat each other up all year, but it really showed the results last year that prepared us for the tournament. They were beating each other up every night, and there was no night that was a given win. But then you have success later on when you play in the tournament.”
Here’s the full results of the poll, released at the Pac-12 women’s basketball media day (with total points and first-place votes in parentheses):
1. UCLA (7) 115
2. Oregon (3) 108
3. Stanford (2) 108
4. Oregon State 85
5. California 83
6. ASU 74
7. Washington State 61
8. USC 47
9. Utah 40
10. Colorado 38
11. Arizona 20
12. Washington 13
The clouds over the men’s game were apparent even at the women’s media day, with commissioner Larry Scott saying in his morning address that the federal allegations are “very worrisome” if they prove true and that he would address some steps the conference is taking at Thursday’s men’s media day.
“The idea of wanting to ensure integrity of the competition, protecting our student-athletes and doing what we can as the Pac-12 to advocate or change and reform to ensure those principles cuts across all sports,” Scott said.
Scott said he spoke with the women’s coaches about the topic earlier Wednesday morning and an Associated Press reporter asked many of the coaches involved about those conversations.
“It’s too bad,” Oregon coach Kelly Graves said of the allegations into the men’s game. “As coaches we’re stewards of our games and I think we all want to hold ourselves accountable. Sometimes the drive to win can make people do things that they maybe wouldn’t normally do. Hopefully it doesn’t mushroom even more into something bigger and it stays out of our game.”
The NCAA has assembled a commission to look into a "critical aspects of a system that is clearly not working" after the federal allegations into college basketball.
"While I believe the vast majority of coaches follow the rules, the culture of silence in college basketball enables bad actors, and we need them out of the game," NCAA president Mark Emmert said. "We must take decisive action. This is not a time for half-measures or incremental change."
Former coach Mike Montgomery, who was known to keep a distance from some travel-ball programs during his time at Stanford and Cal, is part of the commission.
