2024-25 Team Preview: Ohio State

How far can the new-look Buckeyes go around Cotie McMahon and Taylor Thierry?

Folks, it’s time for the top four. It’s also time for my second two-preview week of this slate. Expect the preview for Team No. 3 on Thursday as we get closer and closer to the start of the regular season.

*seamless transition* Wow look, the only Ohio State-related sports topic worth discussing right now! Anyway!

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Last Preview:

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Overview

Last season was a big one for Ohio State, who capitalized on a veteran roster with a strong identity by winning the Big Ten outright in the regular season and earning a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

By the end of February, the Buckeyes had accomplished as much as anyone could have hoped for. The team was 25-3 overall, 16-1 in the Big Ten, had not lost a game of any type since the turn of the calendar year and were largely considered the second-best team in the nation behind undefeated South Carolina.

Those first 28 game made the final four of the season sting a bit. The Buckeyes lost three of them, first falling by 10 to Iowa to end the regular season, then by 21 to Maryland in the Big Ten Tournament, then to Duke by 12 in the Round of 32. A 23-point win against Maine did little to ease the feeling of disappointment in how Ohio State finished the year after all the excitement that came before.

It felt like Ohio State maybe got too comfortable at the exact wrong time when competition ramped up, but I’m not going to harp on the thought much because it takes away from how truly fantastic this unit was for the large bulk of the season.

Even with the late skid, the Buckeyes finished with their best win percentage ever under head coach Kevin McGuff (80.6%), and the program’s best since 2009-10. They were a well-rounded scoring unit that shot the ball well and kept the ball moving, ranking 18th and 14th nationally in assists per game (17.8) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.34), respectively.

On the other side of the ball, Ohio State was set on making sure its opponents felt pain and anguish at every turn. Opponents turned the ball over 20.7 times a game and had a 0.60 assist-to-turnover ratio, which ranked 10th and 19th in the NCAA. This team got the headlines for its stifling defense and rightfully so, but the offense was generally excellent as well.

When you have a great offense and a great defense, where are the flaws? The clear one was rebounding, where Ohio State was not very good and has not been in recent seasons. The other one is harder to display with a single number, but anyone who watched last year knows that the Buckeyes loved to go ice cold for lapses of games. They loved doing it almost as much as they loved going thermonuclear for equal spans of time. This hot-and-cold sequencing worked fine for awhile, but it also led to situations late in the season like:

• Getting outscored 26-13 in the second quarter against Maryland after a 17-12 first quarter

• Getting outscored 24-13 in the fourth quarter against Duke in the Round of 32 with a one-point deficit

OK fine, NOW I am done harping on the end of Ohio State’s season. But when a team is so rock solid, these lulls stand out that much more.

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Here's last year’s Ohio State roster, sorted by Her Hoop Stats win shares:

Departures

Over half of Ohio State’s roster from last season — eight players in total — are not back for 2024-25. That’s a big chunk of the heart of last year’s team that will need to be replaced if the Buckeyes hope to repeat as conference champs.

This team is going to look so different without Jacy Sheldon. For as obviously excellent as she was statistically, she was even more impactful than any number could display. Sheldon was an excellent shooter, a fantastic play initiator, a good playmaker and the original heartbeat of this extremely good defense. Her motor is among the very best I have watched in this conference, and it was no surprise to me that she ended up being a first round pick for her efforts.

Sheldon was not the only defensive anchor off to the WNBA. Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Celeste Taylor also departs after one season with the Buckeyes, and the defensive hype was clear and evident from Day One. Taylor took awhile to warm up on the other side of the floor, but by the end of the season she was one of the best two-way guards in the conference.

Rebeka Mikulasikova was never the answer for Ohio State’s rebounding woes, but she made a lot of improvements over her time with the team and was one of the best shooting bigs in the Big Ten. Her ability to space the floor for the Buckeyes, who often lacked those shooters at guard, was huge on the offensive side. Rikki Harris was one of those guards that never got the shot falling how she wanted, but her impact was absolutely felt off the bench. Harris was a master spark plug who could get the defensive stops and bring juice to whoever she was on the floor with. She’s the type of player that will be hard to replace past the numbers.

I’m fascinated how much Emma Shumate will see the floor in East Lansing, because she really found a three-point shot last season in limited action off the bench. That could be a big loss if she continues to launch it for Michigan State this season. The rest of the departures are depth pieces, but I will be curious to see Diana Collins’ progression at Alabama. She was a prospect I was excited about out of high school, but did not see significant time on the floor for the Buckeyes last year.

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Returning Players

It was an up-and-down Year 2 for Cotie McMahon, but her ceiling remains as high as just about anyone in the country. Credit: Ohio State Women’s Basketball, Twitter/X

Only seven players are back from last year’s excellent roster, and the two key returnees are clear: Cotie McMahon and Taylor Thierry.

Let’s start with McMahon, who I thought showed enough as a true freshman to make me think she could be as good as the second-best player in the Big Ten last season. Instead, she had a bit of a sophomore slump, and saw her scoring average (15.1 → 14.7), assists (2.4 → 2.2), steals (1.6 → 1.1), field goal percentage (51.0 → 46.3) and three-point percentage (26.3 → 23.7) decline as a result. She was an improved rebounder (5.5 → 6.3) and turned it over less (2.9 → 2.5), but on the whole it was a disappointing campaign for McMahon after the highs of year one.

I fully believe a bounce-back is not only possible, but should be expected. McMahon plays with a certain fire that is unteachable, and it makes me believe that she is capable of working out these issues and becoming the superstar that Ohio State could really use without Sheldon. I think it’s decision time on if McMahon should abandon the three altogether or if it can be a viable part of her game. Either are possible outcomes, but the middle ground option felt like it caused uncertainty in McMahon’s style and took her out of rhythm.

Thierry is the quietest star the Big Ten has, and you can take that in whichever way you’d prefer to use “quiet.” The perfect foil for McMahon’s tenacity, Thierry is extremely stoic, has been very selective with when to shoot and has maintained spectacular efficiency because of it.

That’s been great for Ohio State over the past two seasons, but it is now time for Thierry to let the shots fly. She has been above 60 percent from the field two straight seasons and has hit 41.7 percent of her 60 three-point attempts. Even if the percentages dip a bit, increasing Thierry’s volume could lead to some remarkable numbers for the do-it-all wing.

While that duo highlights the returnees, the Buckeyes also get back two key vets in Eboni Walker and Madison Greene. Both are five-plus-year players with loads of experience that will be especially useful for bringing a new group together. Greene specifically played her most games in a single season (23) since her freshman year after some brutal injury luck. I would love to see her find some of that rhythm she starter her collegiate career with, as she can be a fantastic point guard option at her peak.

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Incoming Players

Ohio State brings in seven players that make up one of the most exciting hauls in the country. They are exactly the type of additions the Buckeyes needed to have to stay among the conference’s elite.

Transfer adds Chance Gray and Ajae Petty are excellent, excellent bets to be contributors for this roster. Both put up some sizable numbers last year for faltering teams, and it makes a player like Gray primed for a breakout if her efficiency can improve with talent around her. Petty feels like an especially massive get for Ohio State considering the rebounding woes of recent memory. Petty was 18th in the nation last year with her 10.6 rebounds per game, and would have beaten the Buckeyes’ best rebounder (McMahon), by more than four per contest.

This five-player freshman class feels strikingly familiar to what Ohio State brought in for 2019, with a class that included the likes of Sheldon, Greene, Harris, Mikulasikova and two-time WNBA Champion Kierstan Bell. There’s a lot to be excited about with each of these players, but for this upcoming season, we must focus on Jaloni Cambridge.

The No. 2 overall player in the 2024 Class is coming to Ohio State. Cambridge is a dynamic athlete that is likely to take on point guard duties for this team right away. She averaged 21.8 points, 9.4 assists, 7.3 rebounds and 3.6 steals per game for a very good Montverde Academy team and should be a lightning bolt to watch develop under McGuff and co. I’ll also be curious how much Cambridge’s sister, Kennedy, gets involved. She’s a former four-star prospect who redshirted last season, and who could definitely see some minutes in the rotation.

While Petty is a safe bet to take on the starting big role, the Buckeyes lost depth at forward from last year. That leaves the door open for either sophomore Faith Carson, or any of the three first-year options: Seini Henry, Ella Hobbs and Elsa Lemmilä. The 6-6 Lemmilä intrigues me the most of the options, as she has the size and signifiant experience overseas to get involved quickly.

Last and most certainly not least is Ava Watson, a top-55 guard prospect who I’m hoping will carve out a solid bench role this season. She was a solid scorer and major defensive pest in high school, both things Ohio State has a specific passion for already. I’d be surprised if McGuff doesn’t find a way to work her into the rotation.

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Outlook

Projected Starters

• Jaloni Cambridge - G

• Chance Gray - G

• Taylor Thierry - F

• Cotie McMahon - F

• Ajae Petty - F

Projected Big Ten Finish: 4th

Ohio State was so masterful for 90 percent of last season that it made that other 10 percent hard to swallow. That shouldn’t take away from how legitimately spectacular the Buckeyes were at their peak.

Can they get back to those highs with half the roster gone? Absolutely, but the question marks feel a little larger than they did a year ago. Will McMahon make that leap this time around? Will Thierry take on a larger offensive role? Is Cambridge going to immediately be a force of nature? Do the transfers fit seamlessly? If I were forced to pick an answer for those, I would probably say “yes” for each one individually, but that also may be asking a lot out of this group.

For a team with so many new faces, I feel confident that this will be the starting lineup the Buckeyes end up with, barring a first-year forward showing star potential right away. The transfers are great adds who can start right away, and I simply can’t imagine Cambridge opening the year on the bench.

Ohio State lost a lot, and Sheldon especially is such a difference-maker to try and fill the void for, but the Buckeyes really did all they could to do it. Gray and Petty are instant impact players. Cambridge is THE impact player you could get in a recruiting class. The pieces are there to put Ohio State’s ceiling right back where it was last year.

But the floor feels a tad less safe because of all that did change in the process. In the end, it may come back to where it started, with the McMahon-Thierry duo taking those leaps. If they can, it may be enough to get Ohio State over the hump and into Sweet 16/Elite Eight conversations.

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Photo Credit: Ohio State Women’s Basketball (@OhioStateWBB), Twitter/X

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