As I mentioned after the UVA game, Latasha Lattimore would start for us. She's long and athletic (even if she's a little out of control). We don't have a 6'4 like her on our roster. She was a mismatch against us (until we made our adjustments) and a huge mismatch against a VT team that is tiny inside (they likely win tonight's game with one or both of Wake Forest's starting posts).
Shea Ralph would've been a great move to make after the unmitigated disaster that was Tina Thompson, but Carla Williams was not making that decision (I'm guessing you talked to Craig Littlepage about Shea). I was REALLY hoping for Coach Yo, but she wasn't taking a pay cut to clean up the UVA mess after cleaning up the mess in Oxford.
Alexis' gift may help--to keep certain players from leaving. One of them would be a great fit for a team like Maryland (which rebounded well after a down year by their standards) or Tennessee (another ranked team that needs athletic bigs), which is why the players may need an incentive to stay. I can't see it making a difference in bidding wars against the teams ranked, say, 11-20 (which is where UVA is trying to get)--especially since those teams will have had the track record of recent success that UVA lacks. If it comes down to UVA versus Duke for a 6'4-6'5 athletic big and both teams can offer immediate PT and $$, how many are choosing UVA?