“I didn’t curse the ncaa,” barnes said after arizona’s 69-59 victory in san antonio. “I said a swear word. the bad word is basically, forget all about it, plus a chosen word. forget about everyone if they don’t believe in us, because we believe in us. That’s my team. I believe in them.”
everyone’s “f”? That was something of a rallying cry for a team that entered its first Final Four as decided underdogs against 11-time National Champion UCONN. The theme of disrespect seeped throughout the tournament, as Arizona was apparently motivated by not appearing in an NCAA Final Four highlight video this week.
Barnes maintained that he was not a main motivating factor as the team prepared for uconn.
but…
“I think it was just another…little thing,” he said. “That was just another thing we dealt with. I think it started early. First of all, I understand why. we had not been here. It’s uncharted territory, so I’m keeping it all. but initially they did not mention us when they talked about our region. that was the first thing. those things are motivating.
“secondly, when you go to play texas a&m (the sweet 16), we were hardly in the featured video. they were already them. everyone thought texas a&m. then you fast forward, next was the featured video (last four); we were not in that, there were three teams. those are just things that motivate a team. it does not mean anything. We don’t care, we believe in each other. We believe in what we do. that’s just motivating. that’s kind of like, I’m fine, show them, be in the next video.”
Barnes, in fact, said she loves being underestimated: “I’ve been a loser all my life. Too young to do this, too this to do that, too inexperienced to do this. We prove it wrong every time. I don’t care, it just motivates me and my team.”
You’re not wrong to be underestimated. uconn young guard christyn williams admitted it.
“We thought it was going to be easy, I guess, and we got nervous,” Williams said.
barnes tweeted on saturday morning responding to college basketball columnist gary parrish, who said: “shame on anyone trying to make adia barnes apologize for telling skeptics to lose heart. It’s a great moment.”
“I was so excited it was the heat of the moment and it was supposed to be a private moment with my team!” barnes wrote on Saturday. “I told them we believed in ourselves! Forget (insert goofy face emoji) everyone who didn’t, I’ll go to war with you anytime, anywhere! It’s not the best look, but I loved it on my team.”
paul.doyle@hearstmediact.com