Story by
Veteran guards Johnson, Wenzel keys to UVA, Virginia Tech women returning to NCAA Tournament
- Story by
- Veteran guards Johnson, Wenzel keys to UVA, Virginia Tech women returning to NCAA Tournament
Last basketball season marked the first time in 21 years that the women's teams from Virginia and Virginia Tech both made the NCAA Tournament. The quest come March, especially attainable with the bracket's expansion from 68 to 76 teams, is for both to qualify in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1998 and '99 and only the third time in history.
"No ceiling," senior point guard and three-time All-ACC honoree Kymora Johnson said of the Cavaliers, confidence fueled by their Sweet 16 appearance last season.
Advertisement
"I think we have all the pieces," said fifth-year guard Carleigh Wenzel, the only member of the Hokies' 2023 Final Four team still on the roster and the leading scorer on last season's one-and-done NCAA Tournament squad.
Coaches and media voting on the league's preseason poll aren't as bullish on UVA and Tech, projecting them sixth and eighth, respectively, in the 18-team conference. Such finishes would likely earn the Cavaliers and Hokies NCAA bids — nine ACC teams qualified last season — but neither is among the Associated Press preseason top 25 as they prepare for their respective openers Monday, UVA against Maryland Eastern Shore, Virginia Tech versus North Carolina Central.
Their exclusion from the national poll is not a slight or surprise. Tech and UVA were unranked throughout the 2025-26 regular season, and the Cavaliers cracked the final top 25 at No. 19 only after winning three NCAA Tournament games in five days to advance from the First Four to Sweet 16.
Not even that improbable run was enough to spare fourth-year coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, whose previous seasons steering the program were defined by mediocrity that produced nary an NCAA bid and led to her dismissal. Enter Aaron Roussell, who in seven years at Bucknell and seven at Richmond produced 12 winning seasons and five NCAA Tournament squads, including the last three with the Spiders.
Advertisement
Players and coaches say Roussell's approach is drastically different than Agugua-Hamilton's.
"It's been fun to have a lot of space and play free," Johnson said.
Fun and freedom were not how anyone would describe life under the previous regime.
"We put a high priority on spacing, movement, trying to be hard to guard," Roussell said. "Maybe there's some direction early in a possession of kind of where we want people to go to, but I think it requires a lot of trust from coaches into our players …
"Then we just kind of play off of that and stack actions on top of that. I think it's a fun system to coach, a fun system to play, and I think these guys … are going to really fit in very, very well with that."
Advertisement
On pace to become Virginia's No. 2 career scorer behind Monica Wright, Johnson headlines the five players Roussell retained from last season. VCU guard Mary-Anna Asare, Florida center Caterina Piatti and Alabama guard Eris Lester were his top transfer acquisitions, while freshman guard Emilie Brzonova arrives from her native Czech Republic with extensive international experience.
Roussell this summer also agreed to a home-and-home nonconference series with Old Dominion, with UVA playing at Chartway Arena on Nov. 15 and the Monarchs traveling to Charlottesville next season. Once dueling national powers, the programs haven't met in seven years.
Indeed, ODU's most recent NCAA Tournament victory was a second-round overtime conquest of Virginia in 2008 at Chartway.
"Being at the mid-major level (at Richmond where) nobody wanted to play you, I didn't want to run from that," Roussell said. "The history of the two schools and the two programs combined, hopefully we can resurrect that a little bit."
Advertisement
Entering her third season coaching at Virginia Tech, Megan Duffy hopes to continue the upward trajectory the Hokies rode while improving from a 9-9 ACC finish in her debut to 12-6 last season, the latter mark highlighted by a sweep of Virginia.
Like Johnson at UVA, Wenzel will be the undisputed centerpiece of those efforts. But two of her running mates from last season will be competing for other ACC teams.
Forward Carys Baker, Tech's top 3-point shooter and No. 2 scorer and rebounder, transferred to Louisville after three seasons in Blacksburg. Point guard Mackenzie Nelson, the ACC's leader in assist/turnover ratio, transferred to Clemson, also after three years at Tech.
"Every year as a coach, you know you're going to lose some, bring some in," Duffy said.
Advertisement
Duffy signed Tennessee transfer forwards Lauren Hurst and Alyssa Latham, the latter a graduate student who played in three NCAA Tournaments, one at Syracuse and the past two at Tennessee. She made the ACC's All-Freshman Team 2023-24.
Perhaps the most intriguing frontcourt addition is 6-foot-4 freshman center Jessica Dimaro, a native of Nigeria who attended high school in Japan and then played the past two seasons in a Japanese professional league. She was the league's Rookie of the Year and then last season averaged 12 points and 9.7 rebounds per game with 13 double-doubles.
"She's super-athletic," Duffy said. "She runs the floor … She's great defensively. She's a rim protector, which is something we needed."
Veterans Samyha Suffren and Kate Sears, the latter returning after a year on the injury shelf, join Wenzel in the backcourt. Wenzel needs to improve her ball security — she committed a team-high 100 turnovers last season — especially if she's needed to play more at the point in Nelson's absence.
Advertisement
When Nelson and Baker entered the transfer portal, Wenzel declined to join them and shop for a higher salary.
"There are a lot of things that you need to talk about at the end of a season," Wenzel said. "But my prayers were always answered. Everything I had a question about was always answered. And so, I never really had a reason to leave. There was never anything else I was chasing. There was never anything else I was looking for. Everything I wanted, everything I prayed for, was at Virginia Tech."
David Teel, david.teel@virginiamedia.com
