ThomasCostello
Guest
A week looking inward sets Ohio State women’s basketball up for high NCAA Tournament expectations
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Angie Greenwood - The Undrafted
While ESPN might have missed the Buckeyes reaction to its tournament spot, Ohio State is excited and ready.
Sunday night, on the campus of Ohio State, the Ohio State women’s basketball team gathered with friends and family to celebrate its spot in the NCAA Tournament. As is the usual, it included the awkward timing of showing excitement when ESPN jumps to the live feed of the room for reaction.
For most teams, its jump to the camera, wait through three seconds of silence, and then the boom of yelling, cheering and even some dance moves.
The longer the room waited, the more it filled with an anxious aura. When ESPN announced the Buckeyes No. 2 seed, after 26 minutes of waiting, the room erupted with excitement.
So, when the production crew panned over to the Scarlet and Gray’s feed, it was seconds after the excitement calmed. Instead of players high fiving and leaping out of their seats, coverage showed a room of players sitting quietly. It caused the studio to joke about a lack of excitement, with the room in Columbus laughing off the timing snafu.
What the studio crew of the Worldwide Leader in Sports didn’t see was a team switched into game mode.
“It’s like, ok you see this team pop. This team pop up,” said guard Celeste Taylor about watching the Selection Show. “Once your see your name pop up, your team’s name pop up, everything else goes away.”
Ohio State made the switch from celebrating to preparing. It wasn’t about who was coming up in the Second Round or the Sweet Sixteen or Elite Eight. Even on questions about potentially playing her former team, the Duke Blue Devils, in the Second Round, Taylor put the conversation back on facing the Maine Black Bears.
In the Big Ten Tournament, the Buckeyes saw what happens when its not focused on the task in front of itself. Over the last week without any basketball games on the schedule, the Scarlet and Gray didn’t prepare for potential March Madness matchups. It broke down tape from its defeat to the Maryland Terrapins in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament.
“We learned from that tough loss,” said head coach Kevin McGuff. “And then also kind of moved past it, started focusing just on ourselves and getting better.”
At the conference tournament, Ohio State entered the game as if a winning result was guaranteed. Instead, it was an 82-61 Scarlet and Gray loss, including Maryland out rebounding the Buckeyes 55-31. The +24 rebounding margin nearly the amount of total rebounds grabbed by Coach McGuff’s side.
An overall “really bad” performance, in McGuff’s own words. For Taylor, what was missing was clear.
“Just heart,” said Taylor. “Honestly, just being able to compete like we played every other game we have this season, showing that heart and showing that competitiveness that we all have, we kind of lacked it in that game for whatever reason.”
McGuff saw a shift in his team in practice. Ohio State players watched video, practiced its own game and putting the Big Ten Tournament game in the past.
Now, with the Buckeyes knowing its next opponent, it's all eyes on Maine. The University of Maine Black Bears won the America East Conference tournament, earning an automatic bid. That’s on top of the regular season conference championship. The third time in the past six years the Black Bears swept conference team honors.
Sophomore forward Cotie McMahon is confident that the Buckeyes are up to the challenge.
“We are capable of doing a lot more,” said McMahon. “We’ve had a week to prep. Now we have another week to just prep and really show, prove to ourselves what we’re really capable of and what this team is capable of. And the sky’s the limit for us.”
All season, expectations loomed over this Ohio State side. Entering it after an Elite Eight run in 2023, and adding one of the top defenders in the country in Taylor. After three defeats in two months of the 2023 part of the season, it looked like those expectations might be out of reach.
In 2024 though, a 15-game winning streak wiped away the doubt, defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes, Indiana Hoosiers and the other four Big Ten sides joining the NCAA Tournament fray.
Now, which Buckeyes will enter the tournament? The experienced side overcoming double-digit fourth quarter deficits against the No. 2 Hawkeyes in January or the side expecting everything to fall its away in the Big Ten Tournament?
That’s a question for Ohio State to answer, hoping its timing this year is better than ESPN’s.
Continue reading...
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Angie Greenwood - The Undrafted
While ESPN might have missed the Buckeyes reaction to its tournament spot, Ohio State is excited and ready.
Sunday night, on the campus of Ohio State, the Ohio State women’s basketball team gathered with friends and family to celebrate its spot in the NCAA Tournament. As is the usual, it included the awkward timing of showing excitement when ESPN jumps to the live feed of the room for reaction.
For most teams, its jump to the camera, wait through three seconds of silence, and then the boom of yelling, cheering and even some dance moves.
The longer the room waited, the more it filled with an anxious aura. When ESPN announced the Buckeyes No. 2 seed, after 26 minutes of waiting, the room erupted with excitement.
So, when the production crew panned over to the Scarlet and Gray’s feed, it was seconds after the excitement calmed. Instead of players high fiving and leaping out of their seats, coverage showed a room of players sitting quietly. It caused the studio to joke about a lack of excitement, with the room in Columbus laughing off the timing snafu.
What the studio crew of the Worldwide Leader in Sports didn’t see was a team switched into game mode.
“It’s like, ok you see this team pop. This team pop up,” said guard Celeste Taylor about watching the Selection Show. “Once your see your name pop up, your team’s name pop up, everything else goes away.”
Ohio State made the switch from celebrating to preparing. It wasn’t about who was coming up in the Second Round or the Sweet Sixteen or Elite Eight. Even on questions about potentially playing her former team, the Duke Blue Devils, in the Second Round, Taylor put the conversation back on facing the Maine Black Bears.
In the Big Ten Tournament, the Buckeyes saw what happens when its not focused on the task in front of itself. Over the last week without any basketball games on the schedule, the Scarlet and Gray didn’t prepare for potential March Madness matchups. It broke down tape from its defeat to the Maryland Terrapins in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament.
“We learned from that tough loss,” said head coach Kevin McGuff. “And then also kind of moved past it, started focusing just on ourselves and getting better.”
At the conference tournament, Ohio State entered the game as if a winning result was guaranteed. Instead, it was an 82-61 Scarlet and Gray loss, including Maryland out rebounding the Buckeyes 55-31. The +24 rebounding margin nearly the amount of total rebounds grabbed by Coach McGuff’s side.
An overall “really bad” performance, in McGuff’s own words. For Taylor, what was missing was clear.
“Just heart,” said Taylor. “Honestly, just being able to compete like we played every other game we have this season, showing that heart and showing that competitiveness that we all have, we kind of lacked it in that game for whatever reason.”
McGuff saw a shift in his team in practice. Ohio State players watched video, practiced its own game and putting the Big Ten Tournament game in the past.
Now, with the Buckeyes knowing its next opponent, it's all eyes on Maine. The University of Maine Black Bears won the America East Conference tournament, earning an automatic bid. That’s on top of the regular season conference championship. The third time in the past six years the Black Bears swept conference team honors.
Sophomore forward Cotie McMahon is confident that the Buckeyes are up to the challenge.
“We are capable of doing a lot more,” said McMahon. “We’ve had a week to prep. Now we have another week to just prep and really show, prove to ourselves what we’re really capable of and what this team is capable of. And the sky’s the limit for us.”
All season, expectations loomed over this Ohio State side. Entering it after an Elite Eight run in 2023, and adding one of the top defenders in the country in Taylor. After three defeats in two months of the 2023 part of the season, it looked like those expectations might be out of reach.
In 2024 though, a 15-game winning streak wiped away the doubt, defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes, Indiana Hoosiers and the other four Big Ten sides joining the NCAA Tournament fray.
Now, which Buckeyes will enter the tournament? The experienced side overcoming double-digit fourth quarter deficits against the No. 2 Hawkeyes in January or the side expecting everything to fall its away in the Big Ten Tournament?
That’s a question for Ohio State to answer, hoping its timing this year is better than ESPN’s.
Continue reading...