Virginia women's basketball head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton speaks at the ACC Basketball Tipoff.
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00:00 Yeah, I mean I would probably go down our whole roster but well these two have
00:04 been an integral part of that buy-in and culture shift and all that.
00:08 They've been great leaders and they come in with great attitudes and things like
00:12 that and they're talented players obviously. But you know we have Taylor
00:16 Valadie who comes in and she's just you know she's a bulldog out there. She's so
00:20 tough on both sides of the ball and she just brings that grit and that you know
00:25 you need somebody like that. Everything starts with her on
00:28 defense you know and it trickles down. Offensively she pushes the tempo and
00:32 she's been a great leader. She's one of our captains as well.
00:35 Mir, Mir's coming. I mean Mir's like one of the most athletic kids probably
00:39 that's come through here and she just does things on the court that you
00:45 don't even really teach you know. So the way that she can affect our defense just
00:49 by contesting a shot or rebounding and infect our offense by mismatches and
00:54 things like that. She brings a lot to the team but you can go all the way down. I
00:59 mean we've had so many people contribute. I think London Clarkson has gotten way
01:02 better. She's versatile, finishes either hand, is very vocal, helps our team when
01:08 you know we're getting into ruts and things like that. She helps us along
01:11 with these two get out of that. So she's another one. McKenna Dale I think she's
01:15 probably one of the most improved. A lot of people look at her and think she's
01:19 just a flat-out shooter but she's getting to the rim more. She's doing
01:22 things that are more outside of her comfort zone because we like to utilize
01:25 our versatility. So we push kids outside of their comfort zone and she's kind of
01:28 flourished with that. Our two first years they're they're growing every day. I mean
01:32 one is a point guard, Yon Tavon's a point guard and she's getting better and then
01:36 Katie Pauley we call her CP is just becoming more confident and just coming
01:41 out of her shell and she's a not lights out shooter but can handle the ball some.
01:45 And so we have everybody that does different things. Alexia Smith she's a
01:47 transfer from Minnesota. She brings toughness, she brings defense, she brings
01:51 downhill play. She's stretching the floor now a little bit more with her
01:54 shot. And so I just, Carol Miller, I mean I can really talk about everybody. I
02:00 think she's gonna be one of the more most improved. Before I got here what I
02:04 heard she was more of just a shooter. Now she's bringing the ball down the court,
02:07 she's attacking, she's utilizing her versatility. Same thing with Kaden Lawson.
02:11 Same thing she's a three-level scorer. So I probably left somebody out but I tell
02:16 them all the time I told them in the circle I think every single person in
02:19 our circle we have 11 kids and I think everybody can contribute to our success.
02:23 So that's an awesome thing to have. I mean now I can play with lineups. You
02:27 know we need offensive line, we need defensive line, we need more athletic
02:30 line, we need a you know whatever it is I can play around and put people in
02:34 position to be successful because everybody's kind of growing together and
02:37 getting better. Wow coach I know a lot of analysts and reporters out there saying
02:40 thank you so much for helping me build my board and my scouting report. So thank
02:45 you so much for your time. That's gonna do it for now. Thank you for the question
02:48 as well. Ladies, best of luck this season. Can't wait to cover you guys. Thank you.