Virginia Women’s Basketball 2018-19 Season Preview

Posted on Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018, 8:31 am

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By Kipperly Tidball

Former WNBA star Tina Thompson is looking forward to her first year as a women’s basketball head coach at the University of Virginia. The 2018-19 season will mark her fourth year coaching overall, following three seasons as an assistant coach and associate head coach at the University of Texas.

Thompson had quite an illustrious career as a player. As a student-athlete at the University of Southern California, she ranked fifth on her alma mater’s career lists, scoring 2,248 points and grabbing 1,168 rebounds.

In 1997, she was the first player drafted in the very first WNBA draft, selected by the Houston Comets. She was the first WNBA player to ever score 7,000 points and obtain 3,000 rebounds. She helped the Comets win four league championship titles from 1997 to 2000. She was also an Olympic Gold Medalist in Athens in 2004 and in Beijing in 2008.

When she retired from the WNBA in 2013, Thompson was the league’s all-time leading scorer with 7,488 points in 496 games played, with 15.5 points per game. Thompson received two prestigious honors this year since coming to UVa. She was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in September and into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in June.

Before accepting the job at Virginia in April, Coach Thompson said she was impressed with the work ethic of the Cavaliers. She was heartened by how hard the team worked because she anticipates the work ahead will be difficult.

However, she stressed that she does not want her players to be discouraged. The team has only 11 scholarship players of the 15 allowed by NCAA rules.

“We don’t have a lot of depth,” Thompson admitted. “It’s just a matter of us playing in a way that we stay out of foul trouble and that our shape continues to get better so we don’t peak at the wrong time.”

She emphasized that the Cavaliers need to be steady enough to get through an entire season successfully.

“The goal is to win games,” she added.

In order to do that, she indicated, it’s going to be a tiresome season for the team and particularly for some individuals who will have to dig deep and take responsibility for maturing as players.

“Being a student-athlete is tough,” admitted Thompson. “At the University of Virginia, it’s even tougher. If we can talk on that responsibility and be glad about it, it will definitely make a difference in our season.”

Coach Thompson said that she doesn’t see her goal as rebuilding the team but as facilitating growth. With a solid group of juniors such as Dominique Toussaint, Jocelyn Willoughby, Felicia Aiyeotan and Lisa Jablonowski, Thompson feels she is “contributing to a pretty solid foundation.”

However, with the loss of last year’s graduating seniors, “who were heavily relied upon,” she indicated that these current juniors will have to step up to perform more of a leadership role which she believed that they were not ready to do when she first arrived in Charlottesville.

“What I demand of them with regard to leadership is a little bit different,” said Thompson. “They have to be a little more vocal and lead by example,” which they haven’t perfected yet, according to Thompson.

But she strongly believes they are capable of becoming strong leaders.

“It’s going to be a process, for sure,” she added.

The Cavaliers will continue to be a defensive team, said Thompson, but there will be an added heavy emphasis on scoring more points.

“Defense for sure wins games, but it takes some points here and there to actually secure those wins,” Thompson explained.

She is working to instill confidence in her players, not only in shooting the ball and in getting to the rim more often, but in developing an overall “free-flowing” and comfortable attitude toward offense.

“I’ve always been a scorer,” she said. “It’s been something that has been an emphasis on the teams that I’ve been a part of and it’s something that I want to continue.”

Coach Thompson expressed marked enthusiasm about becoming a head coach.

“When you are assisting, you’re giving ideas that you think might work,” said Thompson. “When you’re the head coach, you’re applying the ideas that you think may work. That definitely gives me a sense of comfort because I’ve always been a leader from the front and never from behind. It’s something that I’ve felt comfortable doing and I excelled at.”

Thompson said she understands the rigors and demands for a coach and for student-athletes at a power five school. She knows the job will be taxing, but she embraces the challenge.

She wants to create an environment for her players that exudes calm and fosters growth.

“I love the fact that I can be in control of that,” said Thompson, “that I can narrate what their day looks like.”