How low had things gotten for the women’s basketball program at Virginia four years ago? Kymora Johnson, local kid, at St. Anne’s-Belfield, as close to UVA Grounds as you can be, played on the court at JPJ at halftime of a game in middle school, was a ball girl at women’s games, didn’t want to pick up the phone to talk to the new coach, Amaka Agugua-Hamilton.
“When she first called me, I’m going to be honest, I was not coming to Virginia, but I gave it a couple rings and finally picked up,” said Johnson, a five-star recruit, McDonald’s All-American.
Backstory there: when Agugua-Hamilton came calling, she was taking over a program that was coming off a 5-22 season in the final year of the four-year Tina Thompson disaster.
That last Tina Thompson season was so off the rails that the Cavaliers forfeited two games, which, my gawd.
“I’ve talked about it before, we had to do a lot of rebuilding when we got here in all facets of the program, even just rebuilding the community, the energy, resources, players, culture, everything,” Agugua-Hamilton told reporters after Virginia, behind 28 points from Johnson, upset #2 seed Iowa, 83-75, in two OTs, to get to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2000.
ICYMI
It’s a long way from five wins and two forfeits four years ago to a Sweet 16 – a lot longer than the 924 physical miles between Charlottesville and Iowa City.
Or just the two miles between Johnson’s childhood home and Agugua-Hamilton’s office at JPJ, which might as well have been a million.
“It was very difficult to get her on Grounds, like, it took, she lives less than two miles away, and it took probably two months, my first two months there, to even get her to come and talk to us. I literally passed her house on the way home every day,” Agugua-Hamilton recalled.
“Once she did, and once we clicked, we knew we had a special kid,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “It’s not just her talent. Obviously, you see she can do whatever she wants on the basketball court, and she works hard, she’s gifted, but she wants to master her craft. She’s a student of the game. We watch film after games, all that stuff. But it’s who she is as a person and her selfless nature, her giving nature, her high character. She really is like an ambassador for our sport and obviously for our program.”
Landing Johnson gave Agugua-Hamilton her first building block, and helped attract other top talents who viewed the decision of a five-star McDonald’s All-American to commit as a sign that something might be about to happen at Virginia.
A Class of 2022 five-star, Paris Clark, transferred in after her freshman season at Arizona, as did Jillian Brown, a Class of 2021 four-star, who transferred after two years at Northwestern.
Olivia McGhee, another local kid, from Louisa County, 37 miles from Central Grounds, a four-star recruit in the Class of 2023, joined Johnson in that 2023 class.
The rebuild was incremental – 15-15, and four wins in the ACC, in Year 1, before the ace recruits came in for Year 2, in 2023-2024, which ended 16-16, and with seven wins in the ACC.
Last year was another baby step – 17-15, 8-10 in the ACC.
The 2025-2026 season came with expectations – Johnson entering her junior year as a preseason first-team All-ACC selection, Clark entering her senior season, the additions of Sa’Myah Smith (LSU), Tabitha Amanze (Princeton), Romi Levy (South Florida) and Caitlin Weimar (Boston U.) from the transfer portal as complementary pieces.
A stunning November home loss to UMBC threatened to undo everything. That’s where the whispers started, to be sure.
Back-to-back road wins in February at Stanford and Louisville got Virginia to 19-8 overall and 11-5 in the ACC, but the ’Hoos dropped their final three heading into Selection Sunday – the final one a listless 63-50 loss to Clemson in the ACC Tournament that left UVA very much on the NCAA Tournament bubble.
I was hearing from insiders that if Selection Sunday didn’t end with Virginia getting a bid, Agugua-Hamilton could be on thin ice in terms of getting to Year 5, given the resources now being committed to the women’s basketball program.
The TV release of the NCAA Tournament bracket was a bit too much drama for UVA fans, and obviously the coaches and student-athletes – Virginia was literally the last team announced into the field, paired up with Arizona State in a First Four matchup, those two being among the last four at-large teams to get into the field.
The road from there to Sweet 16 included a grind-it-out two-point win over Arizona State in the First Four, a bracket-busting OT win over #7 seed Georgia in the first round, in a game played in an arena without AC on a day when temperatures in Iowa City reached into the low 90s, and the temperatures inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena got into the mid-80s.
ICYMI
- UVA Basketball: Kymora Johnson, Coach Mox, finally going dancing
- UVA Basketball: Virginia holds off late charge from Arizona State
- UVA Basketball: Short turnaround for Virginia for Saturday NCAA game
- UVA Basketball: Virginia upsets #7 seed Georgia in OT, 82-73
The challenge on Monday wasn’t unconscionable heat and humidity, just beating a #2 seed on its home court in front of more than 14,000 howling Iowa fans.
“Like we say all the time, we know what we’re capable of, we know what we can do,” said Clark, evoking the mantra that ESPN shared with its TV audience during the Iowa game, from its cameras in the UVA locker room, which caught the Virginia group chanting, “We know.”
“We believe in all the work that we’ve put in. Not a lot of people have. They’ve written us off. We came into March trying to show what Virginia is about,” said Johnson, who described the experience on Monday as being “what you dream of as a kid.”
Clark provided the first spark, with a personal eight-point run – two threes and a jumper – that cut a nine-point Iowa lead to one in the middle of the fourth quarter.
Johnson took over from there, nailing a three in the fourth quarter that sent the game to OT, then banking in a runner in the lane with 13 seconds left to extend the game to a second OT.
Clark ignited a 10-1 Virginia run in the second OT with an and-one that broke a 67-67 tie with 3:38 to go.
Johnson had eight points in the second OT as Virginia closed things out.
“Just playing in front of 15,000 people, that was insane. Credit to Iowa’s fans, because they get into it,” said Johnson, who played all 50 minutes on Monday – and was on the floor for 133 of the 135 minutes UVA played over three games dating back to Thursday.
It started with a phone call, and an answer, on the third ring.
“As soon as the first conversation happened, I knew this was where I destined to be. I followed my heart, and it led me to Virginia,” Johnson said.
“I literally live five minutes from Grounds, and I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Johnson said, turning to Agugua-Hamilton, sitting next to her on the dais.
“We have a great relationship, and not a lot of players can say they have such a good relationship with their coach, so I’m really blessed to be in this position. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Agugua-Hamilton said.
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Chris Graham
