SAN ANTONIO – Arizona Wildcats women’s basketball coach Adia Barnes said Saturday she has nothing to apologize for after using a middle finger and having fun in a post-game game with her team in the happy moments after a 69-59 victory over UConn in the Final Four.
The moment, captured by ESPN cameras, went viral immediately after Friday night’s victory that earned the WildCats a spot in the national championship game for the first time in school history. In his post-game press conference, Barnes admitted that “yes I did say one word. The basic word is basically, ‘Forget everyone … Forget everyone if they don’t believe in us, because we believe in ourselves.’ .
During a Zoom call on Saturday to anticipate the national championship game against Stanford on Sunday, Barnes said he thought he was sharing a private moment with his team after causing the inconvenience.
“Honestly, I spent a moment with my team and thought it was a more intimate applause,” he said. “I said something to my team that I really felt and I know they felt, and that looked different on TV, but I don’t apologize because I don’t feel like apologizing. That’s what I was feeling with my team right now. “I’d do it again. We went to war together. We believe in each other. So I’m in those moments and so am I, so I don’t apologize for doing it, it’s me, and I have to be me.” not more “.
Barnes and his players have said they felt despised on several occasions throughout the tournament, culminating in the NCAA dropping them off in a promotional video that predicted the women’s Final Four earlier this week.
“After going round and round, winning more, catching more love and then thinking we finally had some respect and obviously the video, other things that happened, was like a dagger,” the striker said. Arizona, Sam Thomas. “So I think we’re right now, we’re there for ourselves. If people want to support us, we love it. If people want to hate us, I mean, we’re in the national championship, and what else can you say?”