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WBB in Arizona

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I find it kind of confusing that folks are criticizing Adia Barnes for scheduling a weak non-conference schedule when she's literally been publicly pleading that better non-conference opponents be willing to play her team:

Adia Barnes, other top coaches struggle to lock in games; costs, wins and fanbases a factor

I wonder why she hasn't been successful?

Of the three issues there costs wins and fan bases I'm wondering which one gets Barnes attention the most. If you're reading my mind as to wins bingo.

Clearly Stanford has no problem scheduling but I wonder about teams like Gonzaga and Idaho who do manage to put together a stronger schedule.

While I'd like to take Barnes at face value and I know it takes time to upgrade a schedule I'm wondering about the sincerity of her claims.

As I recall she's got a relationship with Dawn Staley. It would seem depending on the type of relationship they have she could seek advice from Dawn or even help from Dawn in upgrading the schedule. Since Staley is highly respected and has now moved to the top of the profession I would certainly think she would be of some help if Barnes wanted to go to the extra mile to upgrade the schedule.

Up the road ASU always hosts a little mini tournament recently renamed the Brianna January tournament. While the Sun Devil's don't attract high-level competition I would wonder if Barnes might think: oh I could put together a tournament in Tucson in the winter and attract some people to want to come out to the sun and fun. Going back to Dawn Staley who's a huge advocate of advancing women in the sport given enough time I'll bet Dawn could drum up some SEC teams to come out.

On the issue of costs. I'm wondering how well Barnes is networking the Tucson community. Raytheon has a huge presence down there. If she could get senator Mark Kelly, Democratic elect Governor Katie Cobbs I mean Hobbs and the local head of Raytheon together I bet they could scrape up some and incentives and bucks to get some big teams to come out.

Barnes might also try to set up a Pac-12 versus Big East exchange series during the cold winter months.

Also I wonder about that third issue fan base. Tucson draws amazing down at McKale Center.

Those fans would love to support high quality visiting teams. Heck they show up in pretty good numbers to watch the cupcakes that roll through Tucson in the preseason.
 

KnightBridgeAZ

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I wonder why she hasn't been successful?

Of the three issues there costs wins and fan bases I'm wondering which one gets Barnes attention the most. If you're reading my mind as to wins bingo.

Clearly Stanford has no problem scheduling but I wonder about teams like Gonzaga and Idaho who do manage to put together a stronger schedule.

While I'd like to take Barnes at face value and I know it takes time to upgrade a schedule I'm wondering about the sincerity of her claims.

As I recall she's got a relationship with Dawn Staley. It would seem depending on the type of relationship they have she could seek advice from Dawn or even help from Dawn in upgrading the schedule. Since Staley is highly respected and has now moved to the top of the profession I would certainly think she would be of some help if Barnes wanted to go to the extra mile to upgrade the schedule.

Up the road ASU always hosts a little mini tournament recently renamed the Brianna January tournament. While the Sun Devil's don't attract high-level competition I would wonder if Barnes might think: oh I could put together a tournament in Tucson in the winter and attract some people to want to come out to the sun and fun. Going back to Dawn Staley who's a huge advocate of advancing women in the sport given enough time I'll bet Dawn could drum up some SEC teams to come out.

On the issue of costs. I'm wondering how well Barnes is networking the Tucson community. Raytheon has a huge presence down there. If she could get senator Mark Kelly, Democratic elect Governor Katie Cobbs I mean Hobbs and the local head of Raytheon together I bet they could scrape up some and incentives and bucks to get some big teams to come out.

Barnes might also try to set up a Pac-12 versus Big East exchange series during the cold winter months.

Also I wonder about that third issue fan base. Tucson draws amazing down at McKale Center.

Those fans would love to support high quality visiting teams. Heck they show up in pretty good numbers to watch the cupcakes that roll through Tucson in the preseason.
Did you read the article? According to Tara, Stanford has a hard time scheduling. Dawn is quoted frequently in the article.

The wins issue has nothing to do with Arizona - the article is discussing teams who don't want to come when they are not sure they can win. The costs are also not referring to Arizona - they are referring to the cost of traveling to play in Arizona - one of the trips mentioned is 6 figures for Cali trip. I'm pretty sure that the top programs don't get paid to play, that's reserved for the lower level teams. And Arizona was paying a pretty penny when I heard a few years back. And the issue with fan bases is teams not wanting to play in an environment where they are so outnumbered. Our attendance has been in the area of 6000 for all the games so far.

There is apparently a future agreed home and home with UConn. What in the heck do people want?

And the issue does not apply to the other teams in mid-major conferences. Their issues are different.
 
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5 PAC-12 teams are in Massey's top 15 at the moment. 10 teams are in Massey's top 50. Washington State is 53 and Cal is 65th. Cal played Notre Dame tough for a bit over 3 quarters.

Arizona is playing Cal Baptist and Baylor. Cal Baptist is usually pretty good but is struggling some this year. Fall 2019 they almost beat Stanford, outscoring Stanford 3 of the 4 quarters.
 
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Did you read the article? According to Tara, Stanford has a hard time scheduling. Dawn is quoted frequently in the article.

The wins issue has nothing to do with Arizona - the article is discussing teams who don't want to come when they are not sure they can win. The costs are also not referring to Arizona - they are referring to the cost of traveling to play in Arizona - one of the trips mentioned is 6 figures for Cali trip. I'm pretty sure that the top programs don't get paid to play, that's reserved for the lower level teams. And Arizona was paying a pretty penny when I heard a few years back. And the issue with fan bases is teams not wanting to play in an environment where they are so outnumbered. Our attendance has been in the area of 6000 for all the games so far.

There is apparently a future agreed home and home with UConn. What in the heck do people want?

And the issue does not apply to the other teams in mid-major conferences. Their issues are different.
I did read with interest, thanks for posting.

Scheduling is very difficult. With that acknowledged, in spite of the difficulty Tara does schedule a reasonable schedule

I would also acknowledge that she has advantages over coach Barnes. Stanford does have a cache and as a long time coach Tara does have relationships.

I was merely pointing out that facing the same difficult environment the kitties have had less success in scheduling.

Part of that may be coach Barne's age and her nascent status as an emerging coach at the elite level. Part of her lack of success they also be Tucson. Part of her lack of success might be the ability of her team to travel.
 
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who said I was criticizing her?
While the nature of my post could have been construed as criticizing I was merely observing. Coach Barnes is a fine young coach, an accomplished recruiter, a wonderful addition to the coaching profession.

Last year she made the trip up to Flagstaff to play the NAU Lumberjacks. She didn't need to do this it was a wonderful gesture on her part and I know was deeply appreciated by coach Payne. As you know she also had the Jacks come down to Tucson this season.

She is clearly committed to WBB and her fellow coaches and in my experience has gone the extra mile to help and support coaches both here in Arizona and I would guess throughout the country.

I was merely observing her lack of success compared with other programs here in the west.

An interesting comparison and contrast are these weekend's tournaments. NAU women travel to Paradise Jam to play five power five teams undefeated Arkansas, undefeated Kansas State and one loss Clemson.

Coach Barnes takes her team over to San Diego to play Cal Baptist and University of San Diego a combined 5-4. I guess outside Arizona the top team at this tournament would be Cal Baptist?
Visit ESPN for the game summary of the California Baptist Lancers vs. Arizona Wildcats NCAAW basketball game on November 25, 2022 California Baptist vs. Arizona - Women's College Basketball Game Summary - November 25, 2022 | ESPN
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The Arizona State Sun Devils are attending a holiday tournament and will play Notre Dame. LSU was the top team in the other bracket.

Could certainly seems to me that this is a choice well within the control of the coach as they develop their program.

Clearly the kitties have a much deeper and well financed program than the humble Jacks up here in Flagstaff. These are the kind of choices I think that bear observation and yes even perhaps criticism. Perhaps rather than pleading a coach might take the option of actively and proactively going where the good teams are during these fall tournaments. Just a thought.
 
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I find it kind of confusing that folks are criticizing Adia Barnes for scheduling a weak non-conference schedule when she's literally been publicly pleading that better non-conference opponents be willing to play her team:

Adia Barnes, other top coaches struggle to lock in games; costs, wins and fanbases a factor

Thank you for putting this out there so more people can see the truth. South Carolina has had a similar issue this season and I’m sure they’re not alone. The fact of the matter is that there seems to be only a handful of coaches willing to play multiple top teams in the non-con.
 
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While the nature of my post could have been construed as criticizing I was merely observing. Coach Barnes is a fine young coach, an accomplished recruiter, a wonderful addition to the coaching profession.

Last year she made the trip up to Flagstaff to play the NAU Lumberjacks. She didn't need to do this it was a wonderful gesture on her part and I know was deeply appreciated by coach Payne. As you know she also had the Jacks come down to Tucson this season.

She is clearly committed to WBB and her fellow coaches and in my experience has gone the extra mile to help and support coaches both here in Arizona and I would guess throughout the country.

I was merely observing her lack of success compared with other programs here in the west.

An interesting comparison and contrast are these weekend's tournaments. NAU women travel to Paradise Jam to play five power five teams undefeated Arkansas, undefeated Kansas State and one loss Clemson.

Coach Barnes takes her team over to San Diego to play Cal Baptist and University of San Diego a combined 5-4. I guess outside Arizona the top team at this tournament would be Cal Baptist?

The Arizona State Sun Devils are attending a holiday tournament and will play Notre Dame. LSU was the top team in the other bracket.

Could certainly seems to me that this is a choice well within the control of the coach as they develop their program.

Clearly the kitties have a much deeper and well financed program than the humble Jacks up here in Flagstaff. These are the kind of choices I think that bear observation and yes even perhaps criticism. Perhaps rather than pleading a coach might take the option of actively and proactively going where the good teams are during these fall tournaments. Just a thought.
yes she is, she proved it vs Uconn I don't think any Uconn fan is debating that. I know people are mad of the bird she gave, but that was not directed at Uconn, it was directed at Espn and the Ncaa for leaving them out of the promo package.
 

KnightBridgeAZ

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While the nature of my post could have been construed as criticizing I was merely observing. Coach Barnes is a fine young coach, an accomplished recruiter, a wonderful addition to the coaching profession.

Last year she made the trip up to Flagstaff to play the NAU Lumberjacks. She didn't need to do this it was a wonderful gesture on her part and I know was deeply appreciated by coach Payne. As you know she also had the Jacks come down to Tucson this season.

She is clearly committed to WBB and her fellow coaches and in my experience has gone the extra mile to help and support coaches both here in Arizona and I would guess throughout the country.

I was merely observing her lack of success compared with other programs here in the west.

An interesting comparison and contrast are these weekend's tournaments. NAU women travel to Paradise Jam to play five power five teams undefeated Arkansas, undefeated Kansas State and one loss Clemson.

Coach Barnes takes her team over to San Diego to play Cal Baptist and University of San Diego a combined 5-4. I guess outside Arizona the top team at this tournament would be Cal Baptist?

The Arizona State Sun Devils are attending a holiday tournament and will play Notre Dame. LSU was the top team in the other bracket.

Could certainly seems to me that this is a choice well within the control of the coach as they develop their program.

Clearly the kitties have a much deeper and well financed program than the humble Jacks up here in Flagstaff. These are the kind of choices I think that bear observation and yes even perhaps criticism. Perhaps rather than pleading a coach might take the option of actively and proactively going where the good teams are during these fall tournaments. Just a thought.
Although, once again . . .

Last year Arizona went to a destination tournament, where they played Vanderbilt, Rutgers and DePaul. Not the best competition (especially last year) but the choice is not 100% yours when you go to a destination tournament.

Next year, Arizona will again go to a destination tournament (it was in the article). They will hopefully get a decent slate of opponents.

I believe there is (or was) a rule about how frequently you could do the destination tourneys. But I don't think most schools do one every year. And in the end, they are dependent on invitations.

I always use (as an example of scheduling issues) a few years back Arizona was setting up a game at DePaul and to make the trip worthwhile they signed up a visit to Chicago State, which was awful, to make the trip "worthwhile" (2 games). In the end, DePaul withdrew their offer to play and Arizona made a trip only to play Chicago State at their home. Waste of money.
 
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Although, once again . . .

Last year Arizona went to a destination tournament, where they played Vanderbilt, Rutgers and DePaul. Not the best competition (especially last year) but the choice is not 100% yours when you go to a destination tournament.

Next year, Arizona will again go to a destination tournament (it was in the article). They will hopefully get a decent slate of opponents.

I believe there is (or was) a rule about how frequently you could do the destination tourneys. But I don't think most schools do one every year. And in the end, they are dependent on invitations.

I always use (as an example of scheduling issues) a few years back Arizona was setting up a game at DePaul and to make the trip worthwhile they signed up a visit to Chicago State, which was awful, to make the trip "worthwhile" (2 games). In the end, DePaul withdrew their offer to play and Arizona made a trip only to play Chicago State at their home. Waste of money.
Interesting background and history.

This type of insight and inside information is useful in evaluating the effectiveness of a leader in achieving or in the case you cite not achieving a goal.

It appears that in the past UArizona has had challenges in affecting schedule improvement through travel or playing on neutral courts.

Granted this is a challenging environment and requires institutional support as well as administrative involvement. In the example you provided evidently Arizona had neither and was therefore unsuccessful or ineffective in attempting to improve their schedule. DePaul certainly would be an upgrade over Texas Southern.

Athletics has a number of attributes that are are admirable. Intentions and resolve are a factor in all life including athletics. But I think in the end it comes down to action talks and talk walks.

Until we see some sort of successful action from the kitties program and perhaps as you indicate it will begin next year I could just merely observe that the kitties have an extraordinarily weak schedule. We could observe further that other women's basketball programs in the West do have success in improving their schedule outside conference. Given her competitive nature I'm surprised it's taken Barnes this long to move from the pleading step. Like grief if there are five steps we may be seen an upgrade in the scheduling. And after they play Baylor their SOS will improve I'm sure from its current 207 level.

The process of maturing in a profession particularly coaching take time. I know looking back on it Barnes does probably have mixed emotions about her reaction after the UConn game. I would suspect in future years she'll look back with mixed emotions on her current considerable struggles with scheduling and her public comments regarding same.

That's said I'm looking forward to the NAU Lumberjacks playing 25 ranked Kansas State today. Arizona's game against Cal Baptist will likely be entertaining as well their game against USD.

Visit ESPN for the game summary of the California Baptist Lancers vs. Arizona Wildcats NCAAW basketball game on November 25, 2022 California Baptist vs. Arizona - Women's College Basketball Game Summary - November 25, 2022 | ESPN
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I'm sure if you put yourself in my shoes you can wonder why a Big Sky team with an excellent but lesser known coach in Loree Payne is successful in scheduling power 5 teams while we a high visibility acclaimed coach isn't.

Returning to the topic of this thread 25 ranked Kansas State pounded Clemson last night in the Paradise Jam. The challenge the Lumberjacks have against Kansas State is a daunting one. In their first game Loree Payne's team, while clearly overmatched, battled back and learned a great deal about themselves.

This game will feature NCAA wbb players that happen to be twins as Olivia and Ryah Moran battle the Glenn sisters of KS also identical twins.

And in further tournament news the ASU Sun Devils will prep for their Saturday game against 7th ranked Notre Dame in the goomba splash. As I observed earlier while the Sun Devils may be undefeated going into the game against the Fighting Irish they'll certainly come out learning a great deal about themselves with the loss.
 
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Pretty good day for AZ WBB

The Sun Devils edge American 70-61 to remain undefeated, for the next 20 hours until they hit the 7th ranked Fighting Irish in the goomba splash

The Antelopes also remain undefeated with a 73-60 win over North Dakota hitting 11 threes in the Grand Canyon Thanksgiving Classic. Grand Canyon faces winless Lindenwood tomorrow.

UArizona seems to have Cal Baptist under control, leading by 12 late in the third quarter in the San Diego Thanksgiving Tournament. They face the host tomorrow after USD edged Idaho State by 1.

NAU, the only loser falls to 25th ranked KState in the Paradise Jam. They face Clemson tomorrow.
 
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It dawned on me that Fairfield sounded familiar and I was thinking of Barta. I can't name too many players from Montana. The Tinkle sisters come to mind as well.
NAU coach Loree Payne was a great player from Montana.
 

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NAU coach Loree Payne was a great player from Montana.
That goes back almost a whole generation. I remember seeing her play at UW. There was Lalum too (although she drove me nuts; 6-5 and all she wanted to do was shoot 3's).
 
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Well an expected end to the weekend.

The Devils did hang with the Irish for a half ,(actually leading) before the 7th ranked Irish took care of business in a 20-point victory. The Devil fall from the unbeaten ranks ( first time since the 2002 season that ASU won its first five games of the season) as the seventh ranked Fighting Irish live up to their billing and remain undefeated. I think a week from today they face the Huskies.

ASU announcer Jeff Munn couldn't say enough nice things about Miles. He said that those in attendance for watching a WNBA player in action. Ebo was unstoppable as ASU had no one to match up and the Irish were able to get the ball on the paint at will.

The Antelopes took care of business at their tournament destroying Lindenwood 97 to 46. Grand Canyon shot 60% from the field, had 20 steals,. Earned her opponents over 27 times. On Wednesday I drive down to watch ASU visit Grand Canyon in what should be a fun game. And a real bargain at $3.50 for a general admission ticket.

NAU finishes their trip at Paradise Jam with a cat fight against Clemson and a loss.

And the Wildcats from the dirty t (I heard this phrase during the pregame of the football game for the territorial cup from the ASU announcer) finished up a successful weekend in SoCal beating USD to remain undefeated. USD drops to 4-3. In the consolation game the Idaho State Bengals (3-4) pulled a minor upset beating Cal Baptist dropping the Lancers to 2-4. The Bengals held Lancers to 3 points in the second quarter.
 
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Thank you for putting this out there so more people can see the truth. South Carolina has had a similar issue this season and I’m sure they’re not alone. The fact of the matter is that there seems to be only a handful of coaches willing to play multiple top teams in the non-con.
Wonder why South Carolina and Arizona don't do a home and home. Dawn is looking for challenges for her team. She had to find a second team to play on the road trip to CA. Arizona is probably too far from Californaia to be an option. There's also the question of timing.
 

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Well an expected end to the weekend.

The Devils did hang with the Irish for a half ,(actually leading) before the 7th ranked Irish took care of business in a 20-point victory. The Devil fall from the unbeaten ranks ( first time since the 2002 season that ASU won its first five games of the season) as the seventh ranked Fighting Irish live up to their billing and remain undefeated. I think a week from today they face the Huskies.

ASU announcer Jeff Munn couldn't say enough nice things about Miles. He said that those in attendance for watching a WNBA player in action. Ebo was unstoppable as ASU had no one to match up and the Irish were able to get the ball on the paint at will.

The Antelopes took care of business at their tournament destroying Lindenwood 97 to 46. Grand Canyon shot 60% from the field, had 20 steals,. Earned her opponents over 27 times. On Wednesday I drive down to watch ASU visit Grand Canyon in what should be a fun game. And a real bargain at $3.50 for a general admission ticket.

NAU finishes their trip at Paradise Jam with a cat fight against Clemson and a loss.

And the Wildcats from the dirty t (I heard this phrase during the pregame of the football game for the territorial cup from the ASU announcer) finished up a successful weekend in SoCal beating USD to remain undefeated. USD drops to 4-3. In the consolation game the Idaho State Bengals (3-4) pulled a minor upset beating Cal Baptist dropping the Lancers to 2-4. The Bengals held Lancers to 3 points in the second quarter.
Olivia Miles is a terrific player. She’s easy to root for, too, even as a fan of the Huskies
 
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Olivia Miles is a terrific player. She’s easy to root for, too, even as a fan of the Huskies
Jeff Munn, Sun Devils announcer spent a considerable part of the second half mentioning Miles. After a fairly lethargic 25 minutes the Irish really kicked it up a notch with Miles leading the way quietly.

For my money Jeff Munn is one of the best announcers working in radio. Professional, well prepared, always considerate and he calls a great game.

This weekend Tim Healey ASU football and men's basketball announcer called his 300 football game for the Sun Devils and 700th basketball game. I futilely looked to see what Jeff Munn's history because I think he's been there as long or longer than Healey

My two youngest kids were in choir in high school and their choir director was Tim Healey's oldest daughter, Katie. Back in 2014 I got to meet Tim Healey In person. I'm such a groupie that I think I enjoyed that more than the choir concert.
 
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I am impressed with the expertise and insight that is clearly behind the scheduling for the Arizona Wildcats women’s basketball team for this year.

Context is critical towards evaluating and understanding Arizona’s scheduling. There are 7 new players on a 12-person team, and one of those players, Lauren Ware, is out for the entire season due to an earlier injury. Thus, in effect, there are 7 new players on an 11-person team, and their best returning player, Cate Reese, was coming off of shoulder surgery. For their new players, 3 are starters (the transfers) and 4 are freshmen - all 7 are highly regarded. But, the adjustments will take time. The general trend for this year’s schedule was that the games would become increasingly difficult, which should help the team prepare for conference play while optimizing opportunities for the adjustments. I see their nonconference schedule as being nicely aligned with the composition of the team.

Regarding the Strength of Schedule, Massey ratings project that the Cats will have the 7th most difficult SOS (SSF column) by the end of the year, although this is early in the season for computer rankings. The nonconference games that are predicted to be the most difficult are with Baylor and Kansas. Even though the #7 ranking in the country is not as high as that of Stanford, which comes in at #5 in today’s projected SOS rankings, context is once again a factor. Arizona tried to schedule Texas for this year, but this did not happen because scheduling depends on the availability and circumstances for both (emphasis added) teams. If the Texas game had also been added, as seems to have been expected by Arizona, Arizona’s projected SOS ranking could have been higher than that of Stanford.

Regarding last year’s nonconferencce schedule, the actually scheduled games included Louisville, Texas and DePaul, with the Texas game being cancelled soon before the game due to Covid. Looking forward, I understand that scheduling for Texas and UConn are in a planning stage.

What has happened with the Arizona Wildcats team is one of the most interesting stories in women’s college basketball over the last few years. The story includes a team, which had a bad conference record (2-16) as recently as 2018, subsequently winning the NIT, and then going to the 2021 NCAA Tournament Championship game, and losing to Stanford by one point when their last shot of the game missed and time expired. Their predicted overall recruiting class for this year (high school and transfers) would clearly be one of the very best in the country. And their 2-year high school recruiting class for the 2022 and the 2023, as measured by cumulative HoopGurlz rankings, is evidently 2nd only to UConn, and higher than that of Stanford and South Carolina, which placed 3rd and 4th by this measure.
 
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The dirty t certainly loves their basketball. Beginning with fast Freddy Snowden the fan base has embraced the men and women and filled McKale center.

Pre pandemic I traveled to The dirty t to watch the Sun Devils take on the kitties. It was an amazing experience I think that about 7,500 fans filled McKale (typically the Sun Devils draw five or six hundred although they tend to report twice that in Desert Financial) and they vocally and enthusiastically supported the kitties who as I recall opened the can of kitty litter on the Devils.

And you're right the Wildcats after the salad days with Bonvicini did fall on hard times. And former Wildcat WBB Barnes did bring them out of the desert and like the Phoenix or some other bird they rose again she is to be applauded for some of that.

There's no doubt kitties SOS benefit from playing in the Pac and Stanford, UCLA, Oregon, even the Washington schools certainly will assist their end of year SOS. Kitties will have a year end strong strength of schedule, just no thanks to their non-conference choice.

On the topic of non-conference SOS it's a different story. Regardless of the reason coach Barnes regularly encounters a non-conference schedule that the just completed Thanksgiving tournament in San Diego represents. One fans' tomatoes another fans' tomato.

Aside from the undefeated kitties that tournament had Idaho State, a down Cal Baptist this year and of course the host USD. I think it speaks to the power of the Pac-12 that Massey projects such a strong year end schedule as it offsets the cupcakes Barnes has beaten up on this year. Perhaps she's reading from the same non-conference scheduling book as Kim.

Good to know Barnes is tenderly bringing the newcomers on her team along. Coaching philosophies I think do differ and there's a place in the women's game for these philosophies.

SOS of the "teams" Barnes has played so far and uses to thoughtfully bringing along her team.

NAU 3-5 Massey rank 150

Cal Baptist 2-4 Massey rank 183

USD 4-3 Massey rank 117

LMU 1-5 Massey rank 238

Cal Northridge 0-5 Massey rank 302

Long Beach 2-3 Massey rank 146

Combined record 13-25

Once conference play begins she'll encounter the strength of schedule one would expect in a power five conference. And perhaps once again Barnes will have an excellent year, high seeding and a run in the ncaa. And maybe just maybe she'll have another opportunity to show off those hand gestures.

On the issue of recruiting based on the analysis provided, the quality of those recruiting classes combined with her coaching one would expect a run of final four appearances . . . Perhaps the existing record (consecutive appearances) will be in danger given Barnes coaching, professionalism, and the expectation she will continue to recruit so well.


Harry Sheehy, former Dartmouth athletic director, offered his thoughts on sportsmanship: “It is your response to winning and losing that makes you a winner or loser.”
 
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