Tuesday morning never looked so good.
The Arizona Wildcats awoke in San Antonio to find that Monday’s landmark win over Indiana was not just a dream. The Wildcats are indeed headed to their first-ever Final Four after taking down Indiana 65-53 at the Alamodome.
As the stakes have gotten higher, the Wildcats have risen to each challenge.
Forward Sam Thomas, who has seen it all — from a six-win season as a freshman to the Final Four as a senior — is almost pinching herself.
“Never in a million years would I ever have thought we’d make it to the Final Four,” Thomas said.
“My goal was (to) make it to the tournament at least one year that I’m here, and now we made it to the Final Four. I’m speechless. This is incredible. I’m so proud of my teammates. We’ve just done great things for this program.”
As the last seconds were ticking off the clock Monday, senior Trinity Baptiste made sure to secure that ball.
“I didn’t want to get a turnover, so I was just looking at the clock,” Baptiste said, laughing. “I was going to throw the ball up, but I’ll save that.”
The team’s third senior, All-American Aari McDonald shared an interesting tactic coach Adia Barnes used before the Wildcats went to San Antonio.
“Before we left … Coach had us visualize what we’re going to accomplish up here and we cut down nets before we left,” she said.
“At first, I was like, ‘This is crazy,’ but now we have actually visualized it and actually now doing, it’s crazy. And it worked.”
McDonald on return: ‘My team needed me’
With 2:35 left in Monday night’s game, McDonald went down with an ankle injury. As soon as it happened, the Alamodome got eerily quiet as McDonald fought back tears.
Not long after walking off the court, she bounced up and down and checked back into the game.
“I was driving on the right side and tried to do a kick up to one of my teammates on the side. As I passed and I stopped my ankle kind of turned and No. 4 (Nicole Cardano-Hillary) put her pressure on my ankle and it hurt pretty bad,” McDonald said.
“I’ll be fine. I’m just going to recover and rest.”
McDonald was quick to add: “I never cry, so that’s how you knew I was in pain. But, I mean, I shook it off. My team needed me, I wanted to get back on the court.”
Representing the WNBA
Barnes is one of two former WNBA players to coach her team in this year’s Final Four. The other: South Carolina’s Dawn Staley, whose team advanced Tuesday with a win over Texas.
Barnes is proud to represent the WNBA, saying her playing career has informed her coaching. She would also like to see more former players enter the coaching world.
“It’s meaningful when you play pro, you walked the walk,” Barnes said. “… It’s not something you read about in a book. It’s something you’ve actually experienced and went through. I’ve been cut. I’ve been a role player. I was an All-American in college. I’ve been a role player trying to make a roster in the league. I’ve been there and done that. … I think women … can handle a lot. I wouldn’t have been able to handle half the stuff I could handle if I didn’t play pro and handled adversity as a pro player. Maybe that made me more resilient, stronger.”
Proving it
Barnes said Arizona’s NCAA Tournament success means a lot — especially in recruiting.
“It’s proof that you’re doing something right and are successful,” she said. “Our players improve. If you look at Cate (Reese) as a freshman, you look at Aari two or three years ago, you look at Sam her freshman year: our players get better. We pride ourselves on player development. We pride ourselves on a lot of little things that I think a lot of programs don’t do. It’s just our philosophy. It had to be our philosophy because we weren’t getting McDonald’s All-Americans. Some programs have a lot, we don’t. We have one, who is Cate Reese.”
Barnes also thinks this run will show recruits see Arizona’s players thrive in her system.
“I think our defense this year has been phenomenal,” Barnes said. “I think our style of play is fun. I think players want to play in an exciting style. We go do that. We don’t sit back in zones, play percentages. We get out and guard you. That’s the way I loved to play as a player. That was fun. Turning people over, going in transition, that’s a fun style. I don’t think it’s fun walking up the court and playing percentages on defense. That’s not what we do.
“I think I’m a player’s coach. Aari, I let her go. She’s one of the best guards in the country. I guide her. They go out and play. I think a good sign for a coach is when your players play hard for you. … They play hard and they believe and they have confidence. … It’s all a credit to them and what they do. I’m just along for the ride.”
Rim shot
- Basketball legend Magic Johnson and women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe were among those who tweeted at the team and Barnes following Monday’s win.
Arizona baseball coach Jay Johnson said Tuesday that he’s been watching the run from afar. The Wildcats play a three-game series at ASU starting Thursday.
“Aari McDonald … wow. I don’t even know what to say,” he said. “To get to that level that they’re playing at right now, you need some players to have special performances and that was amazing. … To get to the top, the pinnacle is pretty special, and we’ll be pulling for them next weekend for sure.”
