Arizona women's basketball coach Adia Barnes will join Dawn Staley's staff for the 2021 USA AmeriCup to be held June 11-19 in Puerto Rico. The event is a qualifier for the 2022 FIBA Women's World Cup.
Barnes led Arizona to its first national championship game appearance in women's basketball on April 4, as the Wildcats fell 54-53 to Stanford.
Barnes and South Carolina's Staley, who is the U.S. national team's head coach, both took their teams to the national semifinals, the first time that two Black coaches advanced to the same women's Final Four. Barnes and Staley are also the only former WNBA players to lead teams to the Final Four.
Jennifer Rizzotti, who is part of Staley's staff for this summer's Tokyo Olympics, joins Barnes as part of the AmeriCup staff. Ten nations from North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean will compete in the AmeriCup. The top four finishers advance to one of the four World Cup qualifying tournaments to try to earn one of the 12 spots for the 2022 World Cup in Australia from Sept. 23 to Oct. 3.
"This has been a basketball dream of mine and I can't wait to represent my country," Barnes said in a statement. "The opportunity to work alongside Coach Staley and Coach Rizzotti and the most talented basketball players in the world is an honor. I cannot wait to get in the gym with these athletes and represent USA Basketball with pride."