For former Duke guard Celeste Taylor and former Michigan State forward Taiyier Parks, Ohio State made perfect sense.
Growing up in Valley Stream, New York, on Long Island, Taylor fostered a relationship with fellow Long Island native Jalen Powell, who will enter her third year as an assistant coach at Ohio State in 2023-24. And even before Powell joined Kevin McGuff’s staff, the Buckeyes had already made a great impression on Taylor during her high school recruitment.
So when Taylor was looking for a final destination to close out her college basketball tenure, Ohio State already had a leg up.
“For me personally, coming out of high school I actually really loved Ohio State, but it just wasn't the right fit at the time for me. So when I got my fifth year, I had a coaching change at Duke with one of my assistant coaches and I'm really close to assistant coach Jalen Powell,” Taylor said Monday. “She's known me since I was a little kid and so it was kind of a no-brainer choosing where I wanted to do my fifth year.”
Hey Buckeye Nation pic.twitter.com/ov4XGuKs48
— Celeste Taylor (@_celeste620) April 20, 2023
Despite playing her first four seasons with one of Ohio State’s Big Ten rivals, Parks – a Cleveland native – was intrigued by the prospect of returning to her home state for her final year of college basketball. Not to mention, Parks played AAU basketball with Ohio State star Jacy Sheldon in high school, and that bond only aided in her decision to come to Columbus.
“More so coming home, just being a part of a winning culture right away. Last season they did pretty good, so it seems like a win-win situation for me,” Parks said. “… (Sheldon) did text me. She just dropped the little eye emoji. So I did take Ohio State into consideration. They were recruiting me before I committed to Michigan State, so that were actually one of my top schools. So it was a no-brainer, honestly, just to be back playing with Jace.”
Buckeye Nation, help us officially welcome @TaiyierParks to the family#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/ouRdvpSIZR
— Ohio State WBB (@OhioStateWBB) June 5, 2023
Ohio State’s stellar 2022-23 season had plenty to do with both of their decisions, too. The Buckeyes went 28-8 on the year, spent eight weeks ranked among the top three teams in the AP Top 25 and made it to the Elite Eight for the first time in 30 years. Ohio State lost leading scorer Taylor Mikesell to the WNBA draft, but other than that, nearly all of the Buckeyes’ nucleus from last year’s team will return in 2023-24.
With the addition of Taylor, Parks and fellow transfer addition Kennedy Cambridge, the fresh faces on the Ohio State roster believe they can help take one of the best teams in women’s college basketball to another level this season. And Parks didn’t shy away from stating exactly where the Buckeyes hope to be next March.
“Just being myself, I'm very physical. So bringing physicality to the team, I feel like it's gonna help us and bring us further and deeper into the tournament,” Parks said. “Hopefully to the Final Four.”
Make no mistake, the Ohio State coaching staff isn’t openly imbuing its team with a Final Four-or-Bust mentality this offseason, but Taylor said the expectations are clear without anything having to be spoken outright.
“I don't necessarily think it's been stated. I think you can tell by when you walk in the gym, just the atmosphere,” Taylor said. “It feels like a national championship team once you step on the court, once you step in the locker room. Everybody around you is just, you could tell how motivated everybody is. When they play, when they speak basketball in general. I mean, there's days where we get on top of each other. Me and Tai are new and we're still the ones that are getting after each other and everybody's taking it. And you can tell that they want to win, they want to win every game possible.
“So I mean, it hasn't been stated, you guys will see when you see us play on the court that that's our goal. One of our goals.”
Taylor may be the most important transfer addition of all for the Buckeyes. An AP honorable mention All-American last season, Taylor was the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and a first-team all-conference performer at Duke. Taylor led the Blue Devils with averages of 11.4 points and 2.5 assists per game in 2022-23, and also pulled down 4.8 rebounds per contest – the second-best mark on the roster. Taylor’s accolades make her an obvious plug-and-play starter for Ohio State’s backcourt this season.
“You can tell by when you walk in the gym, just the atmosphere. It feels like a national championship team once you step on the court, once you step in the locker room.”– Celeste Taylor on Ohio State
Taylor knows what it’s like to make a deep postseason run, too. She spent the first two seasons of her college career at Texas, where the Longhorns made an appearance in the Elite Eight in 2020-21. Taylor said that experience will pay dividends in helping lead Ohio State on another stellar run in the NCAA Tournament next spring.
“Getting back into a culture where everybody has experienced that already and they know how hard it is to get there, and then learning from that experience, learning just how much more you have to give, how much harder it is once you get there to keep pushing,” Taylor said. “I guess for me, just being a super senior and just being able to help that and push. I've gotten to that point too, and there's so much more work that needs to be done after that fact. And so just constantly telling the young girls, because there are a lot of young girls on the team still – there are a lot of older ones too – just to keep pushing it. You guys made it that far, they did that. Kudos to them, it was great. It was a great run, I loved watching it.
“But just to be a part of it and help in any way that I can, honestly. I'm willing to do whatever it is, because once again, I know what it feels like to get there. And I want to get further than that as well.”
Taylor is well-adapted to change. Now in her third different program, McGuff will be Taylor’s fourth head coach over the course of a five-year career. So despite a change of scenery, Taylor believes “I could fit into any style” of play.
“I think I'm just a hard-nosed (player), very big on working hard and work ethic and just doing whatever it is that my team needs me to do. I'm capable of scoring, I know that, but I don't have to score in order to make an impact on the game,” Taylor said. “And so I know that personally, I'm the person that's diving in the crowd for loose balls, the person that's diving on the floor, taking charges. Honestly, just the hustle player. But whatever it is that they need me to do in the system, I'm willing to do. Right now I'm just taking my role as, I came in as a defensive player of the year, so obviously demonstrating that defense into another conference. But taking open shots when the shots are there, feeding my teammates.”
Standing at 6-foot-3, Parks will provide a physical interior edge for the Buckeyes after averaging 8.3 points and 5.2 rebounds per game for the Spartans in her fourth year. Parks said she can also knock down outside shots when called upon to do so.
But more than anything, she hopes to contribute to the winning culture that she and Taylor have experienced in spades since entering the program this offseason.
“The energy and the vibe is there. This place gives off (a great) energy. It's a standard and an expectation, and we're just happy that we have the opportunity to be in this,” Parks said. “So I just feel like it's gonna be good for us.”
