Adia Barnes is authentic and consistent — especially when it comes to recruiting.
Arizona’s women’s basketball coach explains to potential Wildcats why she came to Tucson twice — first as a player and now as a coach. She talks about the school’s strengths, its academic programs and athletic successes. Those who want to know more need only to look at the videotape.
That is, the feed of Arizona’s WNIT championship win at McKale Center, which came in front of a capacity crowd of 14,644 fans. It has become a watershed moment for a program aching to return to basketball’s biggest stage.
Amari Carter watched, and noticed. She was finishing up her senior year at Penn State, and was familiar with Arizona’s WNIT finals opponent, Northwestern. Carter said she was attracted to the UA’s style of play. Carter put her name in the NCAA’s transfer portal soon after; Barnes contacted her within the hour.
Carter is now part of an undefeated Arizona team that will face Montana on Sunday.
“She was persistent,” Carter said of Barnes. “I enjoyed seeing how the team progressed throughout the year when I did the research. That was really cool and that stood out to me.”
Carter, an admitted “East-coast kid,” knew nothing about Arizona before the WNIT final.
“I was recruited after the team took that step,” she said. “I think recruits see a team that is building, is growing, is taking steps forward and progressing. And I think people will want to come in and build upon that. Same as I did.”
Years earlier, it took a bit more faith to believe in Barnes’ vision. Junior Sam Thomas was part of Barnes’ second recruiting class. Thomas jumped on board after a meaningful conversation she had with Barnes one night during the recruiting process.
“She told me what she was trying to do with the program, how she can help me outside of basketball and what she can do for me after basketball and it really just made me feel like, OK, this is where I need to be,” Thomas said. “I think we just had hope. We saw what Coach Adia can do. She got Lucia (Alonso) here and then she started to keep getting better and better players year after year. And I think we really bought into that and had faith in her and trusted her that she can take us somewhere far in life.”
Arizona has gotten more and more exposure this season, seemingly by the week. Last week, the UA defeated then- No. 22 Texas behind Aari McDonald’s program-record 44 points. Arizona was named the women’s basketball team of the week and cracked the coaches poll’s top-25 at No. 24. McDonald won ESPNW, Pac-12 and USBWA player of the week awards.
Those things are good for recruiting.
“There is a buzz; we are on the up,” Barnes said. “Good players want to play with good players. We have an All-American in Aari, a McDonald’s All-American in Cate (Reese) and other good players. And we have added players like (freshmen) Helena (Pueyo) and Sevval (Gul).”
Pac-12 analyst Mary Murphy agreed that having an exciting player like McDonald, who is one of the top guards in the country, certainly helps.
“Who doesn’t want to play with Aari and who doesn’t want to come after her in that program with what she’s done?” she said. “Adia has demonstrated she can coach a superstar and the whole thing feeds on itself.”
Connecting with young women has been a strength of Barnes’ since she began her coaching career as a Washington assistant. Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors, who worked alongside Barnes with the Huskies, joked that the personable young assistant constantly had a line of players outside her office.
Thomas said this is true in Tucson, too.
“You can go up to Coach Adia and tell her all your problems. She’ll take basketball aside and just focus on what you need at the moment and then worry about basketball later,” she said.
“Basketball is always a second for her. She cares about you as a person and wants to make sure you’re healthy and OK, and then basketball comes in. It kind of goes hand-in-hand a little bit. If you’re healthy and you’re in a good mindset, your basketball will be, too. She’s really good about that.”
The authenticity works. Arizona has already added two players for the class of 2020. Lauren Ware is a two-sport star who is ranked as the nation’s No. 22 overall player and No. 3 post player by ESPN. Derin Erdogan is a “strong, powerful guard,” Barnes said, who finishes at the basket.
Arizona competed with national powers for Ware, and believes it has a winner in Erdogan.
“I think I can recruit against anybody,” Barnes said.
“We are doing something special in Tucson. People are recognizing it and they want to be here. We are going to do our best. I’m in the airport and people come up to me and say ‘I love this about Dominique (McBryde),’ or ‘Semaj (Smith) is looking good.’ People follow us and see it. We are doing something special and I love it. I love the challenge, I love the process. We aren’t where we are supposed to be yet, but I love the climb. They see the players we are recruiting and signing, they see the progress. When they see Lauren and Derin they can see the future.”
