{"id":306549,"date":"2025-10-15T23:10:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T23:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/306549\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T23:10:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T23:10:23","slug":"adia-barnes-ushers-in-new-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/306549\/","title":{"rendered":"Adia Barnes ushers in new era"},"content":{"rendered":"

UNIVERSITY PARK \u2014 It\u2019s a new era for SMU\u2019s women\u2019s basketball program, which brought in a new coaching staff<\/a> and an entirely new roster this season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SMU hired Adia Barnes<\/a>, former Arizona head coach, to take over its program in April. Barnes reached the national championship with her alma mater in 2021.<\/p>\n

Barnes spoke with reporters ahead of her team\u2019s first exhibition game next week. Here are three takeaways.<\/p>\n

Mustangs built to thrive in guard-focused ACC<\/p>\n

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Barnes has coached in three different conferences in the last three years, as Arizona moved from the Pac-12 to the Big 12. Now she joins the ACC. <\/p>\n

After coaching in a forward-heavy league like the Big 12 where size inside was the priority, her approach has been different with an ACC squad that needs solid guards.<\/p>\n

She said her team is already fitting that mold in practices.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey love to shoot. They don\u2019t really love defense yet, but we\u2019re learning to like defense a lot more,\u201d she said. \u201cThey really love the 3.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barnes brought two of her guards from Arizona with her \u2014 senior Paulina Paris and sophomore Mailien Rolf. She also added four other power-conference transfers from schools like Stanford, Cal, Ole Miss and Arizona State.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"SouthernVeteran team helpful when creating from scratch<\/p>\n

The new Mustangs squad may be new to one another, but they aren\u2019t new to college basketball. Barnes says she expects that to help ease the transition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helps a lot,\u201d she said. \u201cI have not had that. We were very young. We were one of the youngest in the country at some point. My background for years is the pros, so I think I\u2019m better with a more veteran team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the fact that so many players have been through so many different situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of her players are on their third stop. She only has two true freshmen on the roster \u2014 Jazzy Gipson from Duncanville and Elizaveta Filchagina from Moscow, Russia. <\/p>\n

Not bothered by preseason ranking<\/p>\n

SMU was picked to finish 14th out of 18 teams in the preseason ACC poll. Barnes said that doesn\u2019t faze her. <\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s going to be very challenging,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t care. We\u2019ve always been picked low when I started somewhere, and we\u2019ve never finished where we were picked.\u201d<\/p>\n

That ranking probably reflects more on the program before she arrived. SMU won just two games last season and hasn\u2019t had a winning record since 2012-13. The Mustangs haven\u2019t made the NCAA tournament since 2008.<\/p>\n

But this group of Mustangs is entirely new and unknown. The roster and coaching staff overhaul was in hopes that they can catch the conference by surprise.<\/p>\n

On X\/Twitter: <\/b>@Lassimak<\/a><\/p>\n