College basketball: Arizona women 'disrespected' by Final Four video omission

April 2 (UPI) -- Members of the Arizona women's basketball team are frustrated that they were the only team not featured in a recent promotional video the NCAA posted for the Final Four of the 2021 NCAA Division 1 tournament.

The NCAA posted the video Thursday on social media, but it has since been deleted. The footage featured South Carolina, Stanford and Arizona's Final Four opponent, UConn, but did not include the Wildcats.

The Wildcats are set to make their first appearance in the Final Four of the women's tournament. They battle UConn in the second of two Final Four matchups Friday night on ESPN.

"I rewatched it a couple of times," Wildcats guard Aari McDonald told reporters Thursday. "I was like, wait, I didn't see any red. It was frustrating. I definitely took it as a sign of disrespect.

"But it is what it is. We have to get it together. We aren't worried about that, we have to do our thing."

Arizona coach Adia Barnes also told reporters every team should have been represented in the video due to their tough roads to the national semifinal matchups.

"There was a situation [Thursday] -- there was a highlight video, and we weren't even on it," Barnes said. "Those are things I think that are missed sometimes and shouldn't be because there are four teams that worked really hard to get here and have put in the same amount of work and wear the same shoes and uniforms and enjoying the experience."

The NCAA apologized to Arizona for the incident. The NCAA Women's Basketball Twitter account posted a new video Friday morning. The Wildcats' logo was the first featured in that footage. The new video also featured Barnes, McDonald and other Wildcats players.

The same account tweeted several other references to the Wildcats on Thursday night.

"We will continue to work hard to recognize all four of the Women's Final Four teams for their incredible runs and remarkable seasons," an NCAA spokeswoman told UPI Friday.

Arizona faces UConn in the Final Four at 9:30 p.m. EDT Friday in San Antonio. The top-seeded Huskies are 13.5-point favorites over the No. 3 Wildcats.

Stanford, the top overall seed in the tournament, battles fellow No. 1 South Carolina in the first Final Four matchup. That game airs at 6 p.m. EDT.