Adia Barnes’ offseason has flown by.
That’s what happens when you play on the very last day of the season for a national championship.
The Arizona Wildcats’ new season come with many new faces and decisions to make, from who is in the starting lineup to which reserves to deploy — and how.
Barnes will use Thursday night’s exhibition game against Eastern New Mexico as a chance to get some answers. The game will air on 1400-AM, but won’t be televised or streamed.
“I can’t believe the season’s already here,” Barnes said Wednesday. “I’m so excited because last year, it didn’t really feel like a season till the very end. I just can’t wait to feel McKale tomorrow. I know it’s not going to be like a regular game, but just (to have) the fans there for our players. …”
Because of the coronavirus, the Wildcats haven’t played in front of their fans since a March 1, 2020 loss to Cal. Last season’s home games were played in front of cardboard cutouts of fans, making McKale almost eerily quiet. The Wildcats often said the games felt like practices.
“I’m just excited for Tucson,” Barnes said. “I mean, we’re almost at 6,000 season tickets sold. I can’t wait to see McKale at 10-15,000 people. It’s going to be so much fun. And I think everybody’s going to really love our team.”
Senior Bendu Yeaney said she’s “just excited for that energy.”
“I’m the type of player that feeds off the energy,” she said. “I think I play better with a crowd.”
Yeaney and fellow senior Shaina Pellington both arrived at the UA last year as transfers. They’ve yet to play inside a packed McKale Center. Neither have Lauren Ware or Derin Erdogan, who played their freshman seasons in empty arenas.
“You can’t really put it into words; I think they have to experience it,” Barnes said. “But we just talked about how much more energized you are — you feed off the crowd.”
Arizona’s returnees, along with freshmen Netty Vonleh, Anna Gret Asi and Madi Conner and transfers Koi Love, Ariyah Copeland and Taylor Chavez, will feel it for themselves soon enough.
Here are three other things to expect Thursday.
1. Masks in McKale. The UA athletic department requires that masks be worn at all times while in McKale Center, with exceptions made for fans who are eating or drinking in their seats. And as with all games, UA is asking that fans either be vaccinated or have a negative COVID-19 test 72 hours prior to attending. The Wildcats are 100% vaccinated as a team.
2. A new line. The women’s 3-point line has moved back to 22 feet 1.75 inches after years at 20-9. It will now be the same distance as the men’s line, the WNBA line and international line. The men moved their line back for the 2019-20 season.
Cate Reese said she felt the adjustment in her legs when they first started practicing longer 3s.
Yeaney had a different experience.
“I think it’s better for me because I shoot with a lot of arm,” Yeaney said. “My shots are always hard and I think that since we’re farther back, it just is better for me because I can I can get it there.”
Sam Thomas, who often shoots from long range, said the move isn’t a big deal.
“Some of the times we’d be shooting from that (men’s) line anyways because when you’re playing in a game, you’re not focused on if I’m shooting on the inside line or outside line,” she said. “We usually stand outside of that (old) line, anyways. It’s not too much of a difference.”
3. Shifting lineups. Barnes is still working to figure out her different lineups. It’ll be another few weeks before she has a clear vision.
For the first time, Barnes has real depth on the team. As junior forward Koi Love told Barnes, “No one sucks on the team.”
Barnes could play all 15 players — and likely will in Thursday’s exhibition.
“That’s why I like the two exhibition games,” Barnes said. “I think just getting the rotation and seeing how people perform together on the court and an actual game is good, but we have lineups to play really solid defense and press. We have lineups that can really spread the floor and we can put four shooters on the floor. And we have a lineup so we can play really big and pound the ball inside.
“We never had that before. We’ve never had so much depth and talent and like on this team this year. There’s going to be three or four players coming off this bench that could start.”
Barnes will likely substitute in groups of five during Thursday’s game. Don’t expect her to do it when games start counting, though.
Rim shots
Thomas was named to the Cheryl Miller small forward award watch list. The only other Pac-12 nominee is Stanford’s Haley Jones.
“I think it took us going to the national championship game for people to recognize (Thomas),” Barnes said. “I think it’s about time, it took five years for people to respect her. But I think it’s long overdue. Sam is great. She’s one of the best defenders in the country, extremely underrated. She does a lot of other things well.”
Thomas is the second Wildcat in two days that were named to national lists. Taylor Chavez was named to the Ann Meyers Drysdale watch list for best shooting guard in the nation on Tuesday.
Last weekend, the UA hosted five-star recruits Maya Nnaji and Sammy Wagner on campus. Nnaji, a 2022 recruit and the sister of former UA men’s player Zeke Nnaji, has already committed. Wagner, a 2023 wing out of San Antonio, has Arizona listed in her top eight alongside includes LSU, Texas A&M, USC, Texas, TCU, Stanford and Oregon. She is one of ESPN’s Top 10 recruits for her class.
