I like Mox but am starting to think this really has run its course.
We should be better than this in year four of her regime. We shouldnât be scheduling such a god awful non-con slate (did any non-con home game interest literally anyone who isnât the most die hard fan or just looking for a way to get their kids out of the house?). We shouldnât still be playing so sloppy. The team should be more talented. This just overall isnât a good enough product this far in.
And thereâs no excuse - UVA isnât at any real institutional disadvantage in womenâs hoops. For me this sport is get it done or we move on to see if the next person can.
Rough game against Duke, but against our other top-20 opponents, she had 24 against Nebraska, 22 against Vandy. She needs more help, Iâd agree with that.
The one thing Iâll disagree with is the crappy non-con schedule. You can argue it should have been tougher, but womenâs hoops goes MUCH harder with scheduling cake-walk non-cons than menâs. IIRC, the womenâs team, relative to other P4 teams, actually had a relatively hard non-con schedule. Only a few teams, like GT, go the other way and it doesnât look like theyâre rewarded for it.
I donât doubt your hoops knowledge, but Iâm telling you that your eyes are deceiving you on Mo.
Even since she was in HS, on the court sheâs looked more like a mom who wandered into a rec-league game than a Gatorade/All-ACC player. She doesnât look fast or athletic, and she only occasionally looks like sheâs actually trying very hard.
But she is fast. Sheâs generally a solid defender, and absolutely locks down opposing PGs on a regular basis. Not the fastest of 5* opposing players perhaps, but Iâm not sure anyone on the team can mark that player. Sheâs currently 4th in the ACC in steals/game and her 4.4 rebounds/game this year is the lowest mark of her career, so she has a nose for the ball and she hustles. Sheâs much faster and more athletic than she looks.
UVA can be an NCAA tournament team with Mo as the best player, but they canât do it with a gigantic gap between her and the next best player. Last couple years, the gap has been huge. This year, the gap is smaller but still bigger than it should be (mostly because of Smithâs injuries) and I feel like the team is less than the sum of its parts.
I canât speak to her athleticism, @ElliottHoo has seen her play much more than I have, so I defer to his perspective, but as far as height and size, sheâs about the same as Hannah Hidalgo. Thereâs no reason we couldnât win with Mo as the best player.
You canât be expected to win em all against powerhouses like Ball State, Scranton, and Lafayette. Unreasonable fan standards are destroying the sport smh
To be fair, Scranton is the #2 ranked D3 womenâs basketball team in the country. So, theyâre actually pretty good.
On the other hand, thatâs still an awful loss. Scranton has 1 player who is exactly 6â tall, and thatâs it. Oddly enough, Scranton doesnât list the game at all on their team website but its there on ESPN.
