U.Va.‘s Wright named preseason All-American

Virginia's Monica Wright was named to The Associated Press' preseason All-American team yesterday.

She became the first Virginia player to earn preseason honors since Wendy Palmer in 1995-96. Palmer is now an assistant coach with the Cavaliers. Wright was surprised to learn she had now joined her coach.

"Wow. That is quite an honor," Wright said. "To be in the same category as Wendy is truly special."

The senior guard led Virginia with 20.5 points and will be called upon to provide more leadership this year with the Cavaliers having such a young team.

UConn junior May Moore became just the seventh unanimous choice on the squad, garnering all 40 votes from a national media panel. It's the third straight year a player has been a unanimous choice in the preseason.

"It's a great honor to be mentioned with them," said Moore, who was one vote short of being an unanimous choice last preseason. "I've been truly blessed to have such great teammates."

Moore was joined on the preseason squad by teammate Tina Charles, Stanford's Jayne Appel, Ohio State's Jantel Lavender, and Wright. It was the fifth time two players from the same team made the All-America squad.

UConn also had two of the four other pairs of teammates on a preseason team - Jen Rizzotti and Kara Wolters in 1995-96 and Shea Ralph and Svetlana Abrosimova in 2000-01.

Moore has already made the All-America team in her first two years and was the AP's player of the year last season. She averaged 19.3 points and 8.9 rebounds last season in helping UConn to a 39-0 record. The Huskies are a unanimous No. 1 in the preseason poll this year

Charles stepped up her game in the NCAA tournament, earning most outstanding player honors. The senior center is on pace to set the school career scoring record.