Adia Barnes thinks Pac-12 Tournament win over UW was "imperative" for NCAA berth

For the last few weeks, Arizona coach Adia Barnes has said that her Wildcats control their own destiny when it comes to making the NCAA Tournament.

In January, Barnes wasn’t so sure that Arizona could even entertain thoughts about making the dance for the fourth consecutive year. The Wildcats lost five of six games during one stretch, though four of those losses were by a combined eight points.

That all changed when UA went on a four-game winning streak including beating then-No. 3 Stanford and finishing a sweep of the Bay Area schools for the first time in more than 20 years.

The Wildcats were gaining momentum, playing their best basketball of the season and coming together as one.

By this time, Barnes had renewed confidence in the UA as an NCAA Tournament team and thought a key win here or there would place her group solidly in the field of 68. Maybe even a split of the L.A. schools, on the final weekend of the regular season when UA went up against two top-10 teams, could do it.

When that didn’t happen — with an especially tough loss to USC in double overtime after letting the game slip away in regulation — Barnes didn’t waver thinking UA would still earn a bid.

But it wasn’t until the Wildcats beat Washington 58-50 on Wednesday night in the Pac-12 Tournament that Barnes thought the team got, in her view, the exact win it needed to clinch a spot.

“This game was very important in my mind,” Barnes said before referencing her old boss from back when she was an assistant coach at Washington. “I'm not on the committee. I'm not like the (Arkansas coach Mike) Neighbors guru with the numbers. I actually tried to call him the other day. He called me back, so phone tag. I don't want to get stressed out, put more pressure.

“This game was imperative to win, because we lost to USC. I think that USC probably would have solidified us in the tournament. But I think this game was a must-win for us to have that chance. And I think that we've showed that we are a tournament team. And hopefully the committee agrees with it. We’ve had some good wins. We've also lost a lot of close ones. But this is with a young team. And I think we're capable of winning some more games.”

Earlier in the week, ESPN’s Charlie Crème had Arizona as the fifth team out. The Athletic’s Mark Schindler had the Wildcats as an 11-seed or a play-in team facing another No. 11-seed, Maryland. The host Terrpains beat UA in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season in College Park, Maryland.

Schindler also posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday that the dynamic duo of Esmery Martinez and Helena Pueyo are “playing themselves into the field.”

Some of the numbers he pulled:

• Over the last seven games — when the UA rotation has been down to seven players — Pueyo’s is averaging 15.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 3.7 steals and 1.3 blocks.

• Over that same span, Martinez is averaging 10.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.0 steal.

• Over the last five games, the Wildcats are forcing turnovers and ending defensive possessions with a steal on 18% of their plays — making them third in the nation in steal percentage.

Best of the best

Every Pac-12 coach has said it numerous times throughout the season, especially in the last few weeks: No conference measures up this to the conference.

UW coach Tina Langley said, “We play an NCAA Tournament every night in the Pac-12.”

“This is a great conference and every single time you line up you're playing a team with a high net, with a great strength of schedule, with tremendous athletes and tremendous coaches.”

Utah coach Lynne Roberts agreed. She said that over the last 10 years or so, the Pac-12 has won around 72% of their NCAA Tournament games, ”which just crushes every other league in terms of winning percentage. And that's because we're playing NCAA Tournament-type games every weekend,” Roberts said.

Another thing that makes the league unique is that every time out, teams are facing different styles of play. For example, Washington plays a Princeton offense that’s slow and methodical. The Huskies milk the clock, play four guards and “(you) guard like seven back cuts before a shot,” Barnes said.

“Then you play USC, they're very different. They have a go-to player, they have JuJu (Watkins), which is only the best freshman in the country, and they have athletic players around," she said. "I think you have to adjust. That's what basketball is.”

All three coaches talked about how it’s not only the systems that each team plays, but also the masterminds behind them — the elite coaches in the Pac-12.

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“(They) are better than most coaches in the country,” said Barnes, who then referenced her Pac-12 counterparts in Stanford's Tara VanDerveer, Oregon State's Scott Rueck, Oregon's Kelly Graves, UCLA's Cori Close, Utah's Lynne Roberts and Colorado's JR Payne. “I mean, you look at Tara, you look at Scott, Kelly, you look at Cori, you look at Lynne, you look at JR

"I mean, everybody's good. There isn’t one bad coach," she added. "Really good tactical coaches.”

Top 50

With this being the final Pac-12 Tournament and 10 of 12 teams going to different leagues next season, ESPN ranked the Top 50 players who have played in the Pac since the 1986-87 season.

Barnes was slotted in at No. 15. Besides her Pac-10 Player of the Year honors, she ranks in the top 15 in league scoring. In addition, they included her long playing career, WNBA title with the Seattle Storm and taking UA to the national championship game as a coach. She is also one win away from 150 wins at her alma mater.

Aari McDonald was No. 21, and they mentioned her league Player of the Year honors, the title game and being selected No. 3 in the WNBA draft.

Three other Wildcats and Ring of Honor members who were considered are Ify Ibekwe, Shawtinice Polk and Davellyn Whyte.

Collector’s items

If any fans of Arizona, Washington, Utah, Arizona State, Oregon State, UCLA, Stanford, USC wanted to take home a souvenir Pac-12 Tournament T-shirt — either gray short sleeve or white long sleeve — they were out of luck on Wednesday.

These tees were sold out well before the second game — Cal’s 65-44 win over Washington State — was over. In addition, Oregon State tees were sold out — and the Beavers weren’t even playing until Thursday.

Colorado was the next most popular tee.

However, a new supply of Pac-12 tees came on Thursday morning at 9 a.m. — still hot off the presses — according to a salesperson.