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Virginia fans is she's met challenges before and conquered them. "All my teams have been different," F Boyle said. "They've all been very different. At Richmond, we had one big post player, we had more of a four-out, one-in look. At Cal, we had two dominant post players, so that's a different look." It was her success at Richmond and Cal — Boyle took a perennial loser at Califor- nia to four NCAA Tournaments and won at least 21 games in each of her three seasons at Richmond — that made her Virginia ath- letics director Craig Littlepage's choice to replace Cavaliers legend Debbie Ryan. Boyle inherits a team that finished 19-16 and missed the NCAA Tournament last sea- son. And while the Cavaliers return some of their top performers from 2010-11, the roster is thin from a numbers standpoint with just 10 scholarship players available. Still, that doesn't mean Boyle is unhappy with what she's seen from the team in the preseason. "The more time with them on the floor, the better," she said. "We're up and down. In some ways it's like coaching 10 freshmen, because everything is so new to them. You have to put that in perspective and know that you're going to have good days and bad days. And know that within the practice, there's highs and lows. So more time with them, they're coming along. "They're a really good group. They want to win. They want to please. Ultimately, long term, we're going to have to get more athletic. I want to get longer on the wings and get some more speed. Our job as coaches is to put them in a position to be successful. What does that entail? What are we going to look at? I think we're shooting the ball well right now. That's something that we do pretty well. We're trying to build an offense around that and allow them to be more successful." That shooting ability means Virginia will look to its backcourt for offensive produc- tion and leadership. Ariana Moorer is one of only two fourth-years on the roster, and she returns after averaging 9.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game last season. Third-year China Crosby, who was brilliant at times last year and battled injuries at others, aver- aged 7.1 points. Boyle will look for both guards to step up their scoring and could ask them to play alongside each other more often this season. "It's tricky," Boyle said. "We need to 24 ◆ CAVALIER CORNER BY SHANE METTLEN IRST-YEAR VIRGINIA women's basketball coach Joanne Boyle knows this season with the Cavaliers will present plenty of challenges. The good news for play them together, but we can't play them together all the time because they're go- ing to have to come in and give each other some rest. We're going to have to pick and choose our times to play them together. Just because we play some zone doesn't mean it's going to be a soft zone. We can protect ourselves in some ways. But they have to take ownership. "When I talk about being smart players, staying out of foul trouble is about being a smart player. They're going to have to be on the floor a lot. They have to be in sync with each other and of what's expected of them." couraged to take it. I'm excited to just have a clean slate, start fresh and do what I can." Underneath the basket is where the Cava- liers might see the lack of bodies become an even bigger factor. When Boyle arrived in Charlottesville, she expected to have first-year forward Sarah Imovbioh, a 6-2 rebounder extraordinaire from Nigeria who attended high school just down the road from The Grounds at St. Anne's-Belfield. But issues with Imovbioh's African tran- I GETTING GEAR NTO New Head Coach Joanne Boyle Plans To Implement An Up-Tempo Attack Virginia also brings back second-year guard Ataira Franklin, who averaged 9.4 points per game last season, and she could see her role grow even more this year. "They're always at a different level when they come back their sophomore year," Boyle said. "She got some really good game minutes, she can guard one through three. She can really shoot it. "The thing we've been working on the most with her is her footwork. Just trying to get her more efficient with her shot selection and getting to the rim. A lot of that is just her footwork. Her ball handling, get her really in the gym working on her ball handling. I want her to be a great rebounding guard for us. Her versatility — I hope she can do a little bit more than just shoot the three." Another second-year, Kelsey Wolfe, could also see a drastic increase in playing time after impressing Boyle with her shooting ability. The coach noted there were times in the fall it seemed Wolfe never missed. "She and all the coaches have a lot of confidence in me that I'm a great shooter," said Wolfe, who played in just 22 games and averaged 2.7 points per game last year. "Ev- ery time I have an open opportunity, I'm en- "I didn't know the situation until I got here. So we got that resolved, and first and foremost she's here," Boyle said. "The NCAA allowed her to be here. And they also granted her four years. For her to have an academic year of residence — hindsight is what it is — but she really gets to get grounded in her schoolwork. Would I like to have her this year? Of course I would, but I'm ecstatic that I get her for four years. "Everything for her this year is volunteer. She can work out, strength and condition- ing, on a volunteer basis. She was allowed to play pickup in the preseason, but now that practice has started she is not allowed to participate in practice at all. Everything is on her own. She can watch practice but she can't participate. "She's pretty diligent. She's got a system down now. She's a great rebounder, a great athlete. She hasn't even touched where she's going to be by the time she's a senior. She's got a great work ethic; she could be an un- believable player." Second-year guard Ataira Franklin aver- aged 9.4 points per game and earned ACC All-Freshman accolades last season. PHOTO BY ANDREW SHURTLEFF scripts led to her being ruled ineligible this season, though she remains in Charlottes- ville preparing to join the team next year.