Arizona Wildcats guard Shaina Pellington (1) and head coach Adia Barnes try to figure out if she has two or four fouls after it was announced she had four following a call late in the game against the Oregon Ducks at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 4, 2022.

 Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star

Arizona's Adia Barnes has been named to the Naismith Women's Coach of the Year watch list, moving one step closer to college basketball's top coaching award.

The Atlanta Tipoff Club announced the list on Wednesday. The 15-person list includes, among others, national champion Tara VanDerveer of Stanford; South Carolina's Dawn Staley; Kim Mulkey of LSU โ€” and Kelly Rae Finley, a former UA assistant coach under Barnes who's now the acting boss at Florida.

Barnes has been a regular on the Naismith lists in recent years; in 2020, she was named a finalist for the prestigious award. Last year, she was named a semifinalist for the award, which went to VanDerveer.

Barnes and the Wildcats are 18-4 heading into this weekend's games, good for No. 8 in the national polls. National recognition has been pouring in: Cate Reese has been named to the Naismith Trophy Womenโ€™s Player of the Year Midseason Team, while Sam Thomas is a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award.

The Wildcats will play at Washington on Friday and at Washington State on Sunday.

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