Arizona Wildcats coach Adia Barnes dismissed the suggestion that she has anything to apologize for after she was seen unleashing an f-bomb and flashing a middle finger at her team's proverbial critics during an exuberant postgame celebration.
Barnes' third-ranked Wildcats' punched their ticket to the women's final on Friday night by knocking off top-seeded longtime powerhouse UConn and legendary coach Geno Auriemma.
Apparently caught up in the moment after disposing of arguably the most decorated program in women's sports history, Barnes threw up the bird and dropped the f-word while apparently alluding to the doubters who gave her team little chance of knocking off a juggernaut.
The scene was caught by ESPN cameras, and at least a few eagle-eyed users on social media were all over it.
On Saturday, Barnes stood by her fiery celebration when asked about it by reporters.
"It appeared different on TV, but I'm not apologizing for it because I don't feel like I need to apologize," Barnes explained. "It's what I felt with my team at the moment, and I wouldn't take it back. We've gone to war together, we look around the room -- and we looked around the circle, we believe in each other. So, I'm in those moments, and that's how I am, so I don't apologize for doing that, but I'm just me, and I just have to be me."
Barnes, who played her college ball with Arizona before playing several years in the WNBA and abroad, said she was just being herself in the moment, and didn't realize the cameras were rolling.
"I'm just myself. There's no strategy to it. There's no plan to be a certain way, I just do what I feel, which is good and bad. Because you saw at the end of the game, I honestly had a moment with my team -- and I thought it was a more intimate huddle -- and I said something to my team something I truly felt, and I know they felt."
Arizona was set to face Stanford in the women's final on Sunday at 6 p.m. ET.