In 1992, Cavalier women's basketball stand out Dawn Staley was hailed as the one who would bring a struggling Virginia program into the ACC spotlight and who would help lead the team to a national championship.
Seven years and one Olympic gold medal later, she's back in Cavalier territory, but this time as the one to beat. Staley will join the rest of the U.S. National Team to play Virginia in an exhibition game tonight at 7:30 in University Hall.
The game will mark the first contest of a promising season for the women's squad. Backed by 10 returning players, the Cavaliers are looking to move up in the rankings as the season progresses.
But the climb won't be easy. With the loss of key starters Lesley Brown, DeMya Walker and Monick Foote, the team will need to position some impressive replacements to stay competitive. Though most teams might claim that dominance so early in the season for such a young team is a long way off, Cav Coach Debbie Ryan isn't quite ready to use inexperience as an excuse.
"This is being viewed as a rebuilding year, but I don't know if that's the case, simply because we've worked so hard," Ryan said. "We may do a lot better than a lot of people think we will."
The U.S. National Team is in the midst of a 12-game NCAA Division I tour in preparation for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. All team members except one also play for the WNBA, including such well-known players as Lisa Leslie and DeLisha Milton from the Los Angeles Sparks, Nikki McCray and Chamique Holdsclaw from the Washington Mystics and Natalie Williams from the Utah Starzz.
Though a victory against the Olympic medalists might seem a daunting goal for some, the Cavaliers aren't ready to hand Staley and company an easy win.
"Any time you play an exhibition game, the win [or] loss doesn't count on your record," fourth-year co-captain Lisa Hosac said. "But that's not how we're going to look at it. We're approaching it like any other game. We want to go out there and play hard. We're not gonna fold. They're a good team, but they're beatable."
In fact, the national team lost to Tennessee 65-64 last week, though many critics attributed the upset up to a severe case of jetlag. The national team flew cross-country to face the Lady Volunteers after delivering a 112-55 spanking to the UCLA Bruins - and their fatigue was obvious to many spectators. Two days later, however, the squad came back well-rested and squashed the Duke Blue Devils Wednesday night in a 71-45, no-contest matchup.
Though honored by a slew of national and ACC awards, the one goal Staley never achieved as a Cavalier was a national championship. Perhaps a gold medal in the 1996 Olympics was enough to satiate her desire for ultimate victory, but the team she will face tonight is medal-less and just as hungry as she once was for something other than another average season.
"Twenty wins isn't good enough for me, Ryan said. "Everybody here wants something more. Each player that comes to Virginia wants to win the national championship. That's the ultimate goal."
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