Don't mess with the latest player to choose UVa.

With the Charlottesville Daily Progress fleshing out this week's news that Stafford High's Merritt Hempe has verbally committed to Virginia for 2012, we now know that the 6-foot-3 forward is also a karate kid. And it's not something she just does for kicks, either - Hempe has had a black belt since middle school.

“It definitely helps with balance and discipline,” she said. “It really empowers you.”

To see who Virginia and all the state's other Division I schools have signed for 2011, click here.

ODU sked just what doctor ordered

It's not unusual to look at Old Dominion's schedule every year and be daunted. Not so this season. Before you Lady Monarch fans get up in arms, a bunch of patsies aren't on the agenda, either. We'll choose the word reasonable. ODU's schedule, released Wednesday, is reasonable considering the state of the program headed into the 2010-11 season.

We know what the rhetoric says. Every team releasing its schedule right now highlights how many opponents were in the postseason. That's not the glory statement it used to be, however. The WNIT expanded last season and the WBI was added.


Yep, we see the annual matchup against national power Tennessee is still on tap. Indeed, ODU opens against Georgia Tech, which returns four starters from a team that won 23 games and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. NC State is another lofty foe. The Wolfpack's 20-14 mark included wins over North Carolina and Virginia.

But we also see some manageable games for a team that needs to come out of the gates and build. Yes, ODU won the CAA regular season last year and won a game in the WNIT, but the bar for this program is far higher given the Lady Monarchs' storied history. Who's manageable? Florida, for one. The Gators are a big name in sports and they advanced to the WNIT last season, but their final record was 14-17 (including an 81-67 win in Norfolk). Charlotte, also in the WNIT, finished 18-14 but returns just two starters. Louisville, the NCAA runner-up a mere two seasons ago, was 14-18 last season with a seven-point victory over ODU in Cancun. Tulane, who ODU might play in a holiday tournament, had a gaudy 26-7 mark against a schedule ranked 106th. A Richmond team that was 18-11 and returns anticipated ACC first-teamer Brittani Shells should be a formidable test on the Spiders home floor.

NC A&T, Stony Brook and George Washington.....Those are three wins ODU should bag right now.

This is a good schedule for ODU and here's why. While coach Wendy Larry has always prepared her teams by going against the best of the best, a return game against Stanford is in no one's best interest right now. Nobody is saying the Lady Monarchs will beat Florida, Louisville, Tulane, Charlotte and Richmond, but they should be able to compete against this class of teams. They don't need to start another season 2-9. And the heavyweights (Tennessee, Georgia Tech) still offer opportunities to make a national statement. And let's not forget the CAA includes Dawn Evans returning for her senior year at James Madison and that kid from Delaware.

ODU fans are still longing for the glory days and who's to say they won't be back? That last Sweet 16 appearance was in 2007-08, a season, incidentally when ODU faced UConn, Tennessee, Purdue, Michigan State, Kentucky and Vanderbilt. This schedule is not that schedule nor should it be. But it's just what this team needs right now.

Can't wait to see how it plays out.

UVa.'s schedule - buckle up, Cavs

The flood of schedules continues with Virginia's, and as we noted previously, the Cavaliers' non-conference slate includes one brutal stretch. Beginning on Nov. 18, the Cavaliers begin a two-week stretch that sends them to Tennessee, Cancun - for games against Iowa State, West Virginia and TCU - and Ohio State. Tennessee is projected as a Top-5 team this season, Ohio State is likely to be Top 10 and the other three are good bets to open the season among the Top 25. In fact, when ESPN's Charlie Creme did his (extremely) early forecast of the 2010-11 season, he had all five teams in his Top 20.

Throw in the fact that the top of the ACC figures to be more potent this season and, well, we usually roll our eyes when a coach refers to their schedule as "challenging", because that's what they all say. But we're giving Debbie Ryan a pass on her "It's a very challenging schedule this year" quote. Because with this lineup, the woman ain't just blowin' smoke.

Schedule from VaTech? Check.

Clever scheduling by Virginia Tech coach Beth Dunkenberger. Sure, there aren't too many heavyweights on tap, but given that the Hokies needed a late surge to finish as a .500 team a year ago, this isn't a group that needed to go looking for too much trouble yet.

Furthermore, the best teams on Tech's non-conference schedule are usually preceded by one or more less daunting foes. In other words, the set-up should allow the Hokies to play their way up to their biggest tests. Perhaps the best team on Tech's schedule, for example, is Vanderbilt, whom the Hokies could meet in the final of Tech's own tournament. But before they potentially see the Commodores, they'll definitely see Alcorn State (8-20). Before Robert Morris (23-9, WNIT) comes Winthrop (13-18). And before VCU (23-9, WNIT 3rd round) comes Elon (12-19).

In fact, Tech's first three games - against Presbyterian (5-25), Wofford (8-21) and Elon, all at home - can kind of be looked at as one big lead-in to their first big test against the Rams. And we're not even that sure about the Rams, as they suffered heavy graduation losses and earlier this week learned that one of their starting guards is out for possibly the entire season with an Achilles injury. VCU does have an intriguing cast of newcomers, but can this group come together by Nov. 21?

VCU's 2010 schedule - no cliches included

You've heard of Hell Week? Well, in women's basketball circles, this must be Schedule Week because, after days of waiting, the slates are now coming out rapid-fire style.

Virginia Commonwealth is the latest to weigh in. Like Richmond, the Rams deserve kudos for offering up a healthy dose of in-state competition. In addition to CAA foes George Mason, James Madison, Old Dominion and William and Mary, the Rams will also face Richmond, Virginia Tech, Radford, Liberty and Longwood in non-conference play.

We'd also like to give a pat on the back to VCU coach Beth Cunningham for avoiding the words "competitive" and "challenging" in her assessment of the schedule. We were starting to think it wasn't possible.

Seriously, if you made up a drinking game where you had to take a swallow every time a coach summed up their schedule with one of those words, you'd be sloshed in about 15 minutes.

Consider:

Norfolk State coach Debra Clark: "This will be a very competitive schedule for us."

Gulp.

George Mason coach Jeri Porter: "We believe this schedule will challenge us a great deal...."

Gulp.

Liberty coach Carey Green: "Our team is faced with a big-time, high-major, competitive schedule that will provide tremendous challenges."

Gulp, gulp.

Virginia Tech coach Beth Dunkenberger: "We are excited about our challenging schedule for the upcoming season."

Gulp.

The defense rests.

Richmond: Man, do we love this schedule!

God bless you, Michael Shafer.

We get off on seeing state teams battle head-to-head. So we're positively giddy about the non-conference schedule the Richmond coach has put together, a slate that features six games against members of the LadySwish 13:

Nov. 23 - at Hampton
Dec. 5 - vs. VCU
Dec. 12 - vs. Old Dominion
Dec. 20 - at William and Mary
Dec. 30 - at Radford
Jan. 3 - at Virginia

Throw in a Dec. 1 date with Georgetown (featuring Suffolk's super sophomore Sugar Rodgers) and, well, we couldn't be more excited about this schedule if we had made it up ourselves.

Then again, at this point we almost don't care what the schedules say - we just want to see 'em. Click here to see both the schedules that have been released so far as well as whatever we know about the eight schools that have yet to announce who they'll play in 2010-11.

PA's Williams sets Tennessee visit

Dan Fleser of govolsxtra.com keeps coming up with juicy recruiting nuggets. His latest - Princess Anne High star Elizabeth Williams will make her official visit to Tennessee the weekend of Oct. 15. The significance of that date? October 15 is also the first day teams can practice, and many teams mark the occasion with one of those splashy - not to mention recruit-seducing - "Midnight Madness" celebrations.

Fortunately for Virginia and the other schools on Williams' short list, Tennessee typically isn't one of those schools. Said Tennessee men's coach Bruce Pearl: "I'd rather lock the doors at midnight and have a hard practice and see who pukes first on the court."

This year, though, the school is considering joining the masses and holding a basketball kickoff event of its own. Last month, Tennessee officials said its target date for such an event was Oct. 22. But now that Williams has finalized her visit date, we wouldn't be surprised if they move the festivities up a week.

If they do - and actually, even if they don't - the Cavaliers needs to come strong it's their turn to woo Williams. Of course, Debbie Ryan doesn't need our help when it comes to recruiting; the woman does have a wee bit of experience in these matters. But just in case she's looking for ideas, we offer our top five things UVa. should do when Williams comes calling:

5. Since Williams plans on becoming a doctor, have the entire team show up for practice in hospital scrubs and surgical masks.

4. Ensure her that, for the four years she's enrolled, the Virginia Cavaliers will officially be known as the Princess Anne Cavaliers. 

3. Present Williams with the key to Charlottesville. And just to let her know you mean business, throw in the keys to Richmond, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach. Make it a complete set.

2. Hire Drake as her personal escort for the weekend.

And the No. 1 thing UVa. should do....

1. Beg.

They say it's your birthday

We have unveiled a new feature for LadySwish. Birthdays. We've done our best to track down the birthday of every player and head coach in the state. We're missing a few incoming frosh, and Longwood has a policy about not releasing player birthdays due to privacy.

So if we miss your birthday, please let us know. And yes, we apologize Beth Dunkenberger for starting this one day after your birthday. Happy birthday, Beth!

But our first player birthday to celebrate, on Sunday, Sept. 5, was Choicetta McMillan from Hampton. Look for more in the days and weeks ahead.

Radford adds JUCO transfer

Sounds like Radford has a real steal in junior college transfer Hanka Musa, a 6-4 center who spent last season at New Mexico Junior College. The sophomore from Macedonia led the Thunderbirds in scoring (10.2 ppg) and rebounding (6.1 ppg) while shooting 60 percent from the floor. She also blocked 18 shots and was a Western Junior College Athletic All-Conference selection.

Notes Radford coach Tajama Abraham Ngongba:  “Hanka is a very skilled player. Once she gets acclimated to our system, I believe Hanka will be an extremely effective interior player for our team.”

We like Hanka's style already. She notes on her Facebook page,  "As far as carrying the torch for the years to come, I don't know. I just want to be the best basketball player I can be."

Can't wait to see what she does against her little sis Edina, a freshman at Gardner-Webb. The two will meet in conference play; Edina is just 5-10

Liberty toughens up its sked

Think Carey Green is tired of being a teen seed in the NCAA tournament? He'll tell you as much, and that's one reason why Liberty's schedule, released Wednesday, has a look as daunting as Maya Moore's jump shot.

Nope, the Flames don't have those guys on the sked. But check this out. They play Baylor (Final Four 2010 and Brittney Griner is just a sophomore). They play Texas A&M (Big 12 Conference Tournament champions). JMU is on the bill (Dukes won the CAA Tournament behind Dawn Evans, now a senior). The Maryland tournament is on tap after Christmas. Upstart St. John's is Liberty's first-round opponent with a potential second-round matchup against the Terps (Frese brought in a great class, too). CAA stalwart VCU is on the sked, too, and you know what? Every one of these games is on the road.

The Flames go 48 days without a home game in November and when they get one, on Nov. 30, it's against a Division II team that's no patsy. Glenville State led Division II in points and 3-pointers last year.

"Easy, isn't it," Green joked about the schedule he set up. "It's a great schedule full of opportunities. We've got a team that can compete. How well? That will be determined."

Green welcomes the challenge on the heels of a team that returns all but one starter, including last year's Rookie of the Year Devon Brown. That doesn't mean he wouldn't like to play a few of those games at the Vines Center. Both JMU and VCU are home-and-home deals.

"It's very difficult for Liberty to get home games," he admitted. "They end up being guarantee games."

Green said he doesn't remember a year when scheduling has been so chaotic. He says his email box has been full of teams looking for guarantee games, and while he's not sure why there has been such a spike, he speculates that the pressure to win has more teams looking to line up lightweight opponents.

"We may be reaching the point where there's greater accountability," Green said, noting coaches are under increased pressure to rack up wins. "It's at the point where everybody is looking for an easy game."

Here's the secret, though. Liberty is no check-that-off-for-the-win-column game. The Big South Tournament champions were 27-6 last year and return four of five starters plus have added the services of TCU transfer Tolu Omotola, a 6-3 forward. But Green knows that even a dream year by the Flames still most likely gets them only a seed in the teens come NCAA Tournament time. The toughest team in their conference is Gardner Webb (which, by the way, has added ODU transfer Sierra Little). But eeking out a win over a Maryland, Texas A&M or Baylor could pay off big in March.

"I'd love to get a 10 or 11 seed," Green said.

But that's all way, way down the road, and it's no surprise when asked how his Flames will defend Griner, Green responded by saying it's all about the Wolfpack Invitational on Nov. 12-13. Matchups aren't set yet, but that's when Liberty kicks off the 2010-11 season.