This summer, Adia Barnes will bring a little UofA to Team USA.

Barnes, the UA women's basketball team's rising-star coach, has been named an assistant coach for Team USA's upcoming AmeriCup tournament. Ten nations from the Americas and Caribbean will meet June 11-19 in Puerto Rico, with the top four advancing to 2022 FIBA World Cup qualifying tournaments.

Barnes will coach under Dawn Staley, who — alongside Barnes — made this year's Final Four. It marked the first time in the history of women's college basketball that two Black women made the national semifinals in the same year. 

"I am incredibly honored to represent the United States and assist coach Dawn Staley and USA Basketball for the 2021 AmeriCup," Barnes said in a news release. "This has been a basketball dream of mine and I can't wait to represent my country."

Team USA's AmeriCup team will be selected later this month following tryouts at the University of South Carolina, where Staley is the head coach.

Staley said Barnes, who led the Wildcats to their first Final Four and an upset of powerhouse UConn last week, "has quickly proven herself to be one of the top coaches in our country," also praising fellow assistant Jen Rizzotti, the former head coach at George Washington.


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