SAN ANTONIO – Arizona Wildcats women’s basketball coach Adia Barnes said Saturday that she has nothing to apologize for after using a middle finger and expletive term in a post-game encounter with her team in the joyous moments of a 69-59 win over UConn in the Last four.
The moment, captured on ESPN cameras, went viral immediately after Friday night’s victory landed the Wildcats a spot in the national championship game for the first time in school history. In her press conference after the game, Barnes admitted, “I did say a curse word. The curse word is really, ‘Forget everyone … Forget everyone if they don’t believe in us, because we believe in us.’ ”
During a Zoom call on Saturday to get a sneak peek at the national championship game against Stanford on Sunday, Barnes said she thought she was sharing a private moment with her team after making the upset.
“I really had a moment with my team, and I thought it was a more intimate conversation,” she said. “I said to my team something that I really felt and I know they felt, and it just seemed different on TV, but I don’t apologize for it because I don’t feel like I need to apologize. felt with my team at the moment. I wouldn’t take it back. We went to war together. We believe in each other. So I sit in those moments, and that’s how I am, so I don’t apologize for doing that. just be me, and I just have to be myself. “
Barnes and her players have said they felt disrespected several times during the tournament, the highlight of which was the NCAA removing them from a promotional video featuring a preview of the Women’s Final Four earlier this week.
“After I went around, won more, got more love and then thought we finally got some respect, and of course the video, other things that happened, it was kind of a dagger,” said Sam Thomas from Arizona. “So I think we’re just now, we’re doing it for ourselves. When people want to support us, we love it. When people want to hate us, I mean we’re in the national championship, so what more can you say? “