Welcome to Virginia, Aisha Mohammed.
The highly-touted Nigerian junior center came to Virginia last season but had to sit out the year with a torn ACL suffered while playing for her native country during the World Championship last fall.
Mohammed, a transfer from Central Arizona, leads the forwards and post players into a hopeful 2007-08 campaign.
One aspect of the game the Cavaliers struggled with last season was rebounding. That should really improve this year with the addition of Mohammed, as evidenced by her 14 rebounds in the team's win in its exhibition game against Team Concept Monday.
"[Rebounding] improved incredibly when Aisha Mohammed signed a letter of intent," Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said. "So as soon as she was able to play, it made a big difference. She had 14 boards tonight and she's going to have an impact in the paint, but all of our players have done a better job rebounding the basketball."
Mohammed is not all about cleaning the glass, though. She also scored 18 points in the game. During the postgame press conference, Ryan praised the assets Mohammed brings to the team, noting her finishing skills and ability to catch almost any pass.
"She really isn't that good," Ryan said jokingly. "I'm just kidding. I'm trying to keep her quiet. But I knew once you all saw her, you would know she is really the real deal. You saw a couple of her rebounds where she takes it with one hand and bangs it on the other hand and everybody gets out of the way."
Mohammed, who also stole the ball three times and had one blocked shot during the game, has earned the respect of her teammates for being a scrappy player.
"She's like our little terror player," sophomore guard Monica Wright said. "She just doesn't care -- she'll get down and dirty and that's what I like about her."
While Mohammed is expected to raise the level of post play for Virginia this season, she is just one piece of the puzzle this year for the Cavalier post players. Virginia seems to be loaded with depth at the position.
"If somebody wants to double [Mohammed], go ahead because we got [junior] Lyndra Littles on the other side or [freshman] Kelly Hartig on the other side, who I thought played very, very well tonight for her first game in college," Ryan said. "She really showed a lot of presence out there and has really picked up the defense fairly quickly."
Littles was the leading scorer for the Cavaliers last season (17.3 points per game) but was unavailable for the exhibition for undisclosed reasons.
Hartig, the younger sister of sophomore forward Jayna Hartig and the only freshman on the squad, tallied six points, six rebounds and two blocked shots in 27 minutes during the first college action of her career. Ryan will look for her to be a significant contributor in what will be only her first year.
"I think she's a very special first-year player," Ryan said. "She's really showed tonight that she has a very good game. She's a good passing forward. She's a player that can put the ball in the basket. She's got a nice little jumper from about 15 feet. She has a lot of versatility to her game and she's going to get stronger and stronger as the year goes on."
The older Hartig (2.2 points, 1.1 rebounds per game last season) and junior forward Abby Robertson (3.4 points, 3.6 rebounds per game last season) did not see playing time in the exhibition because of foot injuries. They should be significant factors on this year's team but will likely miss the regular season opener against Longwood Saturday. They may be available to play against George Washington Monday.
"As soon as Abby and Jayna get back, we'll have a full core of post players and Jayna can actually go from the three to the four and play a little bit of forward and a little bit of post," Ryan said. "Abby brings a lot of physical presence to our team. I think we'll be a lot better off when they're back."
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