WNBA great Betty Lennox: Wildcat pairing of Barnes, Williams a perfect match

When Jada Williams signed on to play at Arizona and for Adia Barnes in August 2022, Betty Lennox knew it was meant to be.

Actually, there were very few — if any — who really understood what this connection could bring, like Lennox.

On one side, Lennox was Williams’ very first basketball coach and trainer, starting when Williams was in the third grade. She taught Williams the fundamentals of the game and advised the youngster as she planned her future. Lennox knew Williams’ dreams, as well as what she was made of.

On the other side, Lennox and Barnes were teammates on the 2004 Seattle Storm WNBA Championship team and are forever bonded. Lennox saw early on that Barnes had the makings of “greatness” in whatever she chose to do after playing. Looking back, Lennox said all the ingredients were there for Barnes to be a successful coach, well before Barnes herself even thought about coaching.

Lennox thought that Williams and Barnes together was a perfect match.

“I was excited that (Williams) made the decision to go (to Arizona),” Lennox said. “She was going to be under somebody who was going to get her in the direction that she needs to go. Somebody that is going to be hard on her. Somebody who is actually going to mold her into the player she wants to be, and (Williams) is becoming that.

“I think Adia was the person to do just that because of where Adia has been and her work ethic to get her there. I think it was a blessing in disguise for those two to meet. I knew it was going to be exactly what Jada needed.”

The Wildcats play close to Williams’ hometown of Kansas City — around 40 minutes to Lawrence — when they take on the Kansas Jayhawks on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse.

Lennox has her pulse on basketball, both as a player and now as a coach. After all, she was one of the best who ever played the game. A 5-8 All-American guard and 2000 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year in her senior year at Louisiana Tech, she led her team to a 31-3 record, 16-0 in conference, averaging 17 points, six rebounds and four assists per game.

She was the sixth overall draft pick by the Minnesota Lynx and went on to play 12 years as a professional in the WNBA and overseas. The accolades add up from Rookie of the Year and the first rookie to play in the All-Star game to MVP of the 2004 Finals.

Both Barnes and Lennox were also honored as members of the Storm’s 25th Anniversary team last June, as well as the All-Decade team.

Never-give-up mentality

Lennox said that she sees the same want and desire in Williams now as she had in the third grade. She wanted to play basketball every day, all day and never backed down, no matter if her opponent was bigger or faster than her.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

“The first thing I saw in Jada was the determination — the determination of when people tell her that you can’t do something, she was that person that made them see that they were wrong,” Lennox said. “Everybody didn’t think that Jada would be the player that she was today. I believed in her since day one, because I saw the work ethic. I put the time in, time in, time in. Not only that, I got to know Jada as a person.

“It’s not all about just training a player, it’s also getting to know them as a person. And she loved to be pushed. She loved to be challenged, and I love that about her.”

Lennox said she was also like that when she played with a mentality that she was going to outwork everyone else.

That singular drive and determination to prove everyone wrong that Williams has also hits closer to home. There was a 5-11 undersized post who played at Arizona and in the pros who did the same thing: Barnes.

“Adia was that teammate that really pushed,” Lennox said. “She was very vocal. She was very instructional. To see her and Jada connect, it’s like two peas in a pod. It goes together. Jada thrives for that instruction, that teaching and that discipline. And Adia loves to give that discipline, that instruction and that teaching.”

Lennox added that as a teammate on the court, Barnes knew where everyone should be and what they should be doing during the possession. Barnes communicated on and off the court and took her teammates under her wing and mentored them.

“She allowed them to grow through her, through her mentorship,” Lennox said. “I didn’t think that she was going to be doing exactly what she’s doing as quickly as she’s doing it (at Arizona), but I did think that (coaching) was definitely deep down in her DNA.”

Williams always had a plan — even at a young age. Like most children, she had big aspirations — play for USA Basketball, Division I basketball and professionally. What stood out to Lennox then and even today is that Williams was talking about the steps to get to each goal. Those are conversations that don’t usually happen in third grade.

“I’ve never seen a young lady that was so determined at such a young age and continue that determination through college,” Lennox said. “Some have that determination to play in the WNBA at a young age, but sometimes that dies off. She never allowed it to die off.”

Williams put in the work and checked off the first goal, playing for Team USA’s U16 & U17 teams, winning gold medals at 2022 FIBA U17 World Cup and the 2021 FIBA Americas U16 Championship – and earned All-Star Five honors at FIBA’s U16 Americas. Along the way to her next big goal of playing DI ball, she was a McDonald’s All-American and part of the inaugural Nike Hoops Summit and was No. 21 in ESPN HoopGurlz Class of 2023 rankings.

That work continues now. In college, she’s been the starting point guard at Arizona for 46 out of 51 games in her career and is averaging 12.2 points and nearly three assists per game. She also has collected 33 steals this season and will soon eclipse the 35 she picked last season.

Lennox said that Williams is right where she is supposed to be as a sophomore. Taking the offseason to improve aspects of her game, put muscle on her frame and eat better.

“The path she’s taken, things she’s done and the work she has put in to get where she’s at, is not a surprise,” Lennox said. “She’s not done yet. … And it’s not a surprise the decision she made because ballers go where ballers need to go. She’s at a place where she’s growing in every perspective on and off the court. I believe in Adia for doing that for Jada.”