From Wildcat to queen: Barnes joins Monarchs

Brian Foster Arizona Daily Wildcat WNBA bound senior Adia Barnes spoke yesterday in the McKale Room about being the first woman basketball player to be drafted from the UA. Barnes, the first Wildcat ever to be named Pac-10 player of the year, was drafted in the 4th round to the Sacramento Monarchs.

You wake up at about 6 a.m. and work on a political science paper so you can graduate. Commencement is three weeks away.

You spend about three hours on your paper, then run home waiting to hear if you got the job you've been working toward for four years.

A couple of false calls and an hour and a half later, the phone rings, you pick it up and the person on the other side tells you your dream has come true, congratulations and oh yeah, you're moving to Sacramento.

And so as her life as a college student comes to a close, Adia Barnes now knows her future lies with the Sacramento Monarchs of the Women's National Basketball Association.

Drafted with the second pick in the fourth of four rounds - the 32nd pick overall - Barnes will join a team that went 10-18 last season, losing 13 of their last 18 games.

"I'm excited about the group coming in," Barnes said of her draft class, which includes All-American point guard Ticha Penicheiro from Old Dominion, Big-10 Player of the Year Tangela Smith from Iowa and 6-foot-5-inch All-Big-10 center Quacy Barnes from Indiana.

Barnes, a San Diego native, said while she had hoped she might land in Phoenix with the Mercury, she was more than happy to go to Sacramento.

"I'm a California girl so I'm happy," she said. "I don't know a lot about their style, but from what I know, there are some very good things."

Originally expected to go in the late first round or early second, Barnes said she was surprised she fell into the fourth round but she wasn't too upset about it.

"I'm just fortunate to get drafted," she said, though that may be a stretch considering she scored 2,237 career points in one of the nation's five strongest conferences.

Heidi Vanderveer, head coach of the Monarchs and younger sister of Stanford head coach Tara Vanderveer, said that while the draft was dominated by point guards and tall centers, Barnes' work ethic and attitude, something she called the "lunch pail approach" is what makes her a solid pick.

"I've never seen her not be competitive and not go after it," Vanderveer said. "I was very surprised to see her still on the board."

Vanderveer said Barnes would have a decent shot at making the team, though she will have to compete with 15 other players for only 12 roster spots.

If Barnes does make the team, it will be as a wing-forward instead of the post forward she played with the Wildcats.

"She really proved (at the WNBA pre-draft combine) she had good range," Vanderveer said. "A lot depends on practice."