UA has work to do before looking at NCAA Tourney

Ian Mayer Arizona Daily Wildcat UA head coach Joan Bonvicini gives pointers during a timeout earlier in the season. Bonvicini feels that the Wildcats have found their stride after the 92-57 win over Arizona State Saturday.

That's when the UA women's basketball team finds out the road they will have to travel to reach the Final Four in Kansas City, Mo.

Just 19 days until March 8, the day the NCAA selection committee announces the brackets for the NCAA Tournament, which starts March 12.

With the selection date looming, and with the eighth-ranked Wildcats hoping to host the first and second rounds of the tournament, it might be easy to look ahead and wonder.

But before then, the Wildcats do have to deal with a little thing called the rest of the Pacific 10 Conference season.

Arizona has six games left, starting Thursday against Oregon State. But more important than OSU are remaining contests against the other conference powers - Oregon, UCLA and Stanford.

That's fine with head coach Joan Bonvicini, who said she believes the Wildcats are beginning to hit their stride.

"I felt really good after ASU," she said of the 92-57 blowout at McKale Center Saturday. "It was the best game we've played in awhile."

And after tinkering with the starting lineup last week, she has her team playing with an intensity not seen since a 31-point home win over then seventh-ranked Washington in early January.

"We feel like we are really starting to peak as a team," she said. "Our players feel good about where they are right now."

After UA's weekend home series against the Oregon schools, which ends with a Saturday evening contest against the Ducks, Arizona travels to the Bay Area for a Feb. 26 meeting with California, a team they beat 81-44 Jan. 29, and then, more importantly, play at Stanford two days later.

After ending the Cardinal's 48-game conference winning streak with a dramatic 91-90 win in Tucson Jan. 12, the Wildcats might have the confidence to pull off the upset in Maples Pavilion.

And confidence is half the game against Stanford, according to Washington State head coach Harold Rhodes.

"You have to beat Stanford mentally first," Rhodes said, adding that without confidence, opposing teams automatically become 15-point underdogs.

"And when Kristin Folkl comes in, it goes to 25, 30 point underdogs," he said.

Arizona senior forward Adia Barnes agreed, acknowledging that with the tight race for the conference championship - three teams are within two games of Stanford, the Pac-10 leader - every successive game becomes more crucial.

"This (win over ASU) is good for our confidence. We need to have a lot of confidence going to Cal and Stanford," she said. "That is going to be a big road trip."