SAN ANTONIO — For years, it was simple to fill out a bracket for the NCAA Tournament. Take the favorite.
Louisiana Tech. USC. Tennessee. Stanford. UConn. All dominant, established programs.
Now the scales have tipped and there is more parity in women’s college basketball.
Consider Arizona, which — as a No. 3 seed — has toppled No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 seeds on the way to Sunday’s NCAA title game.
Arizona (21-5) can become the most unlikely champion in the history of the NCAA Tournament by beating another No. 1 seed, Stanford (30-2), at 3 p.m.
Sunday’s final marks the first time since the NCAA Tournament began that two Pac-12 teams will square off for the trophy. Nobody from “The Conference of Champions” has won an NCAA title since 1992, when Stanford brought it home.
UA coach Adia Barnes said the parity is good for women’s basketball.
“You want to see different people in the Final Four,” she said. “You want to see different people winning championships.”
The Wildcats are entering yet another tournament game where the odds are against them.
Aari McDonald isn’t worried about that. The UA took down top-seeded UConn 69-59 on Friday, eliminating one of the sport’s blue bloods in a game in which the Wildcats never trailed. Arizona has played Stanford twice this season, losing both times.
“We’re the underdog,” McDonald said. “We kind of felt that way all season. That boosts our confidence and makes us play harder — that nobody thinks we can beat these top teams or even just accomplish the things we’ve accomplished …
“Hey, we’re made for it, like Coach says.”
Wildcats forward Cate Reese eyes the basket over UConn Huskies guard Nika Muhl (10) and UConn Huskies guard Christyn Williams (13) in the second half during the NCAA Tournament Final Four game at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas on April 2, 2021. Arizona won 69-59 and is headed to the National Championship game.
The Wildcats are hungry, fearless, playing loose and having fun — the embodiment of the “dog mentality” that Barnes preaches.
“I think that when you find those people that play with that chip, they don’t care, that aren’t afraid,” she said.
“It’s not always going to be perfect. We aren’t going to win every game. But we fight. … the things that you aren’t going to question about Arizona (are that) we’re going to make it tough for you. We’re not afraid. We don’t care who you are, what you did, what’s it says on paper. We’re going to do our job to the best of our ability. Now, if we win or lose, we walk away and we’re OK. But I feel like when we do those things, everything else takes care of itself.”
It’s not easy to keep winning in a tournament like this, where a different, talented team awaits you on a few days’ notice. Even Barnes admitted that the Wildcats “aren’t the best team.”
“But we are playing good basketball. We are hungry,” she said. “We’re fighters and we have momentum.”
The momentum started building five years ago this month, when Barnes — a former UA star as a player — replaced Niya Butts as the Wildcats’ coach. When she arrived, Arizona had only one winning season and one postseason game in the previous eight years.
Four years ago, the Wildcats won just six games. The season was difficult for forward Sam Thomas, who was a freshman then — and particularly tough on the three transfers who had to sit out and watch.
One of those transfers was McDonald, who vowed that things were going to change — and quickly.
The next season, Arizona came from out of nowhere to win the WNIT Championship. Last year, Arizona beat a few top ranked teams in Oregon State and Stanford, and was headed to the NCAA Tournament before the pandemic canceled all live sports.
The Wildcats opened this season ranked No. 6 nationally and spent the rest of the season no lower than 12th. They beat Oregon twice, swept the Los Angeles schools in McKale Center, finished second in the Pac-12 standings, advanced to the conference tournament semifinals and earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Still, recognition can be hard to come by — especially in a sport dominated by a few major programs.
The NCAA’s own Final Four hype video left Arizona out, with Thomas calling it “like a dagger” given how well the Wildcats are playing.
“Now we’re just we’re in it for ourselves. We’re doing this for ourselves,” she said. “If people want to support us, we love it. We love the support. If people want to hate us, I mean, we’re in the national championship, so what more can you say?”
Nobody has been more slighted than McDonald, who — despite being named Pac-12 Player of the Year and Co-Defensive Player of the Year — was shut out of many national honors. Following Friday’s win, she explained to a national audience how to pronounce her first name.
“Air-y, not Aw-reee,” the star point guard said.
Barnes said it’s not just McDonald who is being passed over; the entire Pac-12 gets “zero respect.”
“It shows with Aari being second team All-American, it shows (with) Aari not being Defensive Player of the Year, it’s continuously and it’s always happening in the Pac-12,” Barnes said.
“Now, I’m hoping that with both of us in the championship game, that the Pac-12 will get more respect, and the East Coast bias will stop. It’s not going to stop overnight. But I think that you need to respect the Pac-12 a lot more, you need to watch.
“It’s very evident that a lot of writers don’t even watch the Pac-12, because half the time the writing isn’t accurate, or they’re not familiar with people. Start watching the West Coast, start paying attention to the Pac-12. It is the best conference in the country.”
All the bulletin-board material will be carried into the Alamodome Sunday on the Wildcats’ collective shoulders. Maybe another favorite will fall.
“I’m just glad that it happened to us. I’m glad that we got momentum when we needed it,” Barnes said. “And we’re playing some good basketball. I think we’re very lucky and fortunate to be here.”
