Even though Ohio State is replacing the majority of its starting lineup from the team that won last year’s Big Ten championship, Kevin McGuff is optimistic about what the 2024-25 Ohio State women’s basketball team has the potential to become.
Ohio State will be relying on plenty of new faces to step up this season. Three of the Buckeyes’ five starters from last year – first-team All-Big Ten and second-team All-American guard Jacy Sheldon, Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and second-team All-Big Ten guard Celeste Taylor and All-Big Ten honorable mention forward Rebeka Mikulasikova – are now playing professionally. The Buckeyes return only four players – Cotie McMahon, Taylor Thierry, Madison Greene and Eboni Walker – who played in more than half of Ohio State’s games last season.
That said, the Buckeyes have added plenty of talent to complement their returners. Ohio State added a pair of proven Power 4 players from the transfer portal in former Kentucky forward Ajae Petty, who averaged a double-double with 14.2 points and 10.6 rebounds per game last season, and former Oregon guard Chance Gray, who averaged 13.9 points per game for the Ducks last year. The Buckeyes also added a five-freshman recruiting class that includes the No. 2 overall prospect in the 2024 recruiting class, Jaloni Cambridge, along with two other top-100 prospects in Georgia guard Ava Watson and North Carolina forward Ella Hobbs.
McGuff expects that this year’s team will be better by the end of the season than it will be at the start of the season since it will be counting on many new players to be significant contributors. But he believes the talent of this year’s roster will be apparent from game one.
“I think when you guys watch us play early on, you're going to see a lot of talent out there and a decent amount of depth. But with so many newcomers, it's just when are we going to kind of get that chemistry and everybody kind of feeling comfortable doing what we do,” McGuff said this week as Ohio State started its first full week of practice. “Just watching them practice, I think we've got some talent, but just how quickly it all kind of comes together, it's a little bit of the unknown. So we're going to be really pushing them really hard here in the next month to make as much progress as we can.”
No departed player from last season leaves bigger shoes to fill than Sheldon, who led the Buckeyes in scoring with 17.8 points per game last season and was described by McGuff as “one of the best leaders we've had here in a long time.” The duo of Gray and Cambridge will go a long way toward replacing what the Buckeyes lost from last season’s backcourt, though, as Gray has already proven she can be an efficient scorer at the power-conference level while Cambridge is expected to make a major impact right away.
Ohio State is also counting on Greene, a sixth-year senior who came off the bench last season but started for the Buckeyes earlier in her career before suffering two season-ending knee injuries, to return to her pre-injury form and be a key piece of the backcourt rotation with Cambridge and Gray.
“Jaloni's just so fast up the court and has command of the ball. Madison, knock on wood, looks as good as she's looked since the injuries and more comfortable and she gives us great experience. She just makes everybody around her better, and she's also a great defender. And then Chance has just got really a knack for scoring the ball,” McGuff said Monday during a press conference at Ohio State. “So I think they all bring something a little bit different, but I think they're all going to be instrumental or integral in part of what we're trying to accomplish.”
Thierry and McMahon will form the core of Ohio State’s lineup at the 3 and 4 positions as the Buckeyes’ two returning starters from last season. McMahon, a preseason All-Big Ten honoree, will take on a starring role for the Buckeyes after ranking second on last year’s team with 14.4 points per game and leading the squad with 6.3 rebounds per contest. McGuff also expects Thierry to continue elevating her game after averaging 11.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in 2023-24.
McGuff says both of them, along with Greene, need to step up as leaders this season as the Buckeyes’ established veterans. He expects them to lead in different ways, as McMahon is known for being a high-energy, vocal player whereas Thierry and Greene have quieter personalities but lead by example, but McGuff believes they can complement each other well in that regard.
“We're going to need Cotie to step up, and we're going to need (Madison and Taylor) to step up because they lead in very different ways,” McGuff said Wednesday during an interview on Big Ten Network. “(Greene and Thierry) lead by example, and they don't have the same voice that Cotie has, but we need somebody to kind of offset her voice at times as well. And so I'll be challenging them to work with Cotie to provide great leadership this year, but (McMahon’s) energy and her passion is what really makes her special.”
One area where Ohio State needs to improve from last season to be a contender in the postseason is rebounding, but Petty should provide a massive boost there after ranking 18th nationally among all Division I players in rebounds per game last season. McGuff also identified Elsa Lemmilä, a 6-foot-6 freshman from Finland, as another player he believes can be a difference-maker in the post this season.
“Ajae Petty's a really good rebounder. She averaged 11 rebounds playing in the SEC. Elsa, I think, can also really help with that. And we just need Taylor Thierry and Cotie to also step up and help,” McGuff said Monday.
“You're going to see a lot of talent out there and a decent amount of depth. But with so many newcomers, it's just when are we going to kind of get that chemistry and everybody kind of feeling comfortable doing what we do.”– Kevin McGuff on Ohio State women’s basketball entering the 2024-25 season
A lack of bench production also hurt Ohio State last season, which ended with an upset loss to Duke in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and depth remains a question mark for the Buckeyes entering this season with their limited number of proven veterans. McGuff says he won’t know until closer to the start of the season, which will begin with a Nov. 5 home game against Cleveland State (a full non-conference schedule has not yet been released), how many players the Buckeyes can count on to be a part of their rotation this season.
McGuff believes the Buckeyes have plenty of players who are capable of being quality contributors this season, though. Along with Cambridge and Lemmilä, McGuff named Watson as another freshman who he thinks can be an immediate factor at Ohio State.
“Jaloni's a special talent. She can really play. I think she'll have a chance to help us right away,” McGuff said. “Ava Watson's been really good. She shoots the ball extremely well. She's got a very high basketball IQ. Elsa will give us great size and length and athleticism around the basket. Now, she's coming off of an injury her last year of high school in Finland … she's practicing, but she's still kind of getting comfortable out there because she didn't really start going live here until a couple weeks ago. So it's going to take her a while to get comfortable, but I think she's got a very bright future.”
Cambridge’s older sister, Kennedy Cambridge, is also expected to factor into the Buckeyes’ backcourt rotation this year after redshirting last season following her transfer from Kentucky. Both Greene and Thierry identified her during a Big Ten Network interview on Wednesday as a player who hasn’t gotten a lot of attention that they expect to make an impact this season.
“She's really quick and really good at defense, stealing the ball, and rebounding,” Greene said. “I feel like she could definitely make a big impact in making those big plays that we may need in the game.”
Walker, who started 11 games for the Buckeyes in 2022-23 before playing in only 23 of 32 games last season, gives Ohio State another veteran to provide depth behind Petty in the post. Hobbs has not yet been cleared to practice after suffering a season-ending knee injury in her senior year of high school, but fellow freshman Seini Henry – the older sister of Ohio State football commit Chris Henry Jr. – could be another candidate to offer depth at forward. The roster is rounded out by junior guard Kaia Henderson and sophomore center Faith Carson, who played only sparingly off the bench last season but will look to earn more playing time this season now that they have another year of experience.
Returning to the top of the Big Ten this year won’t be easy, and not just because of the players the Buckeyes lost from last season. Ohio State will face more competition for the conference crown this season than ever before following the Big Ten’s addition of four former Pac-12 teams, two of which – USC and UCLA – are expected to be among the top teams in the country. But McGuff is confident his team will respond to the challenge.
“I think when you see us early on, we're going to look like a really talented team that if we can kind of get it together, we've got a chance to be special,” McGuff told BTN. “And what has me excited is the opportunity to really push this group and challenge them to be another great Ohio State team and see where we can take this thing.”
Ohio State invited members of the media to watch the first 30 minutes of its practice on Monday, and Eleven Warriors put together some video from the practice session – its third full practice of the preseason – to provide a first look at the 2024-25 Buckeyes as they prepare for the season ahead.
