Recapping Coach Mox’s First UVA Women’s Basketball Recruiting Class

In the end, coaches are judged by wins and losses, banners hung, and sustained success. Six months nonetheless stay earlier than Amaka Agugua-Hamilton can have her first likelihood to begin to mould that legacy as she begins her tenure as head coach of the Virginia girls’s basketball program. 

But, within the two and a half months which have elapsed since Coach Mox was named head coach of the Cavaliers, she has checked practically each field attainable as she takes the reins of a serious convention basketball program for the primary time. 

Coach Mox took no time in any respect to calm down in Charlottesville and instantly hit the recruiting path, seeking to safe some much-needed reinforcements for the UVA roster. On this job, Agugua-Hamilton confronted an uphill battle as she entered the recruiting cycle late within the course of and scrambled to string collectively a 2022 recruiting class for Virginia. 

Coach Mox met that problem head-on and knocked it out of the park. 

On April ninth, Notre Dame switch Samantha Brunelle introduced her dedication to Virginia. Brunelle, who attended William Monroe Excessive Faculty in Stanardsville, simply down the street from Charlottesville, was the No. 1 total recruit within the class of 2019 and was named to the ACC All-Freshman Crew in 2020 after averaging 13.8 factors and 5.7 rebounds per recreation in her first season in South Bend. After a few seasons the place accidents restricted Brunelle’s enjoying time, she entered the switch portal and Agugua-Hamilton was in a position to persuade the Virginia native to return residence and use her remaining two years of eligibility enjoying for the Cavaliers. 

4 days later, Coach Mox struck once more, this time securing a dedication from the highschool class of 2022. Cady Pauley, who had initially dedicated to play for Agugua-Hamilton at Missouri State, introduced her dedication to UVA on April thirteenth. Pauley was one of many top-scoring highschool gamers within the nation this season, averaging 33 factors per recreation. She completed her highschool profession with 3,074 factors, eighth on the all-time scoring record in Missouri ladies’ basketball historical past. 

Lower than two weeks later, the Cavaliers signed Yonta Vaughn, a star level guard out of Bishop McNamara Excessive Faculty in Maryland. ESPN ranked Vaughn because the No. 15 level guard within the nation and the No. 72 total participant within the class of 2022. 

Lastly, on April twenty eighth, Minnesota guard Alexia Smith transferred to Virginia, rounding out a formidable recruiting class for Coach Mox, particularly given the circumstances. Smith appeared in 52 complete video games over the past two seasons for the Golden Gophers, together with 12 begins in her freshman season. Initially rated a five-star prospect popping out of highschool in Columbus, Ohio, Smith was the No. 15-ranked guard within the class of 2020 and led her highschool crew to 2 state championships. 

The additions of Brunelle, Pauley, Vaughn, and Smith will go a good distance in the direction of supplementing the depth, expertise, and expertise on the UVA roster in yr one of many Amaka Agugua-Hamilton period of Virginia girls’s basketball. The Cavaliers are set to return 5 gamers with a number of video games of beginning expertise from final season: Carole Miller, London Clarkson, Camryn Taylor, Mir McLean, and Taylor Valladay, in addition to function gamers Kaydan Lawson and McKenna Dale, who each appeared in practically each recreation within the 2021-2022 season. McLean, a mid-season switch from UConn, was the Twenty fifth-ranked recruit in her class and a McDonald’s All-American in 2020. If Agugua-Hamilton can maximize her potential, McLean could possibly be a star within the making for the Cavaliers. 

Whereas we’re nonetheless a methods away from having the ability to draw any severe conclusions in regards to the hiring of Coach Mox, we’re actually in a position to say: thus far so good. 

For the primary time in a number of years, there’s palpable and justifiable pleasure surrounding the Virginia girls’s basketball program. 

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