In the shuffle from UA women’s basketball coaches Adia Barnes to Becky Burke, I must have heard or read three or four reports that Barnes was “the greatest women’s basketball coach in UA history.”
I get it. So many of those in today’s sports media are younger, with a limited historical perspective.
As good as Barnes was for three or four years at Arizona, what Joan Bonvicini did from 1991-2008 went beyond Barnes’ contributions.
Bonvicini went to seven NCAA Tournaments and won the Pac-10 in 2004 at a time Stanford, Washington, ASU and the Los Angeles schools were powerhouses. She finished second three times (Barnes finished second once).
Under Bonvicini, who took over a bottom-feeding Wildcat program that had gone 44-100 the previous five seasons, the Wildcats soon produced records of 20-10, 22-8, 23-8, 23-7, 25-7, 20-12, 22-9, 24-9 and 20-12.
Then-Arizona women’s basketball head coach Joan Bonvicini is flanked by Monika Crank, Adia Barnes and Marte Alexander during a 1998 game against UCLA.
Moreover, 10 Wildcats became first-team all-Pac-10 players; Barnes, Margo Clark, Brenda Pantoja, Angela Lackey, Felicity Willis, Tatum Brown, Reshea Bristol, Elizabeth Pickney, Dee-Dee Wheeler and Shawntinice Polk at a time the Pac-10 chose just 10 players every season.
Barnes had five first-team All-Pac-12 players (Aari McDonald, Cate Reese, Sam Thomas, Shaina Pellington, Helena Pueyo) at a time the league chose 15 players per year.
This isn’t meant to slight Barnes. During her tenure, I became a regular on press row for five years, attending the Final Four, and twice selecting her as Tucson’s Sports Figure of the Year (2020, 2021). This is meant to give Bonvicini, who left Arizona at No. 2 in all-time Pac-12 victories, her due.
