ThomasCostello
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What we learned from OSU women’s basketball coach Kevin McGuff at Big Ten Media Day
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Melissa Tamez-Imagn Images
The Buckeyes head coach took to the podium Wednesday to preview the upcoming season
College basketball season is fast approaching and Land-Grant Holy Land is getting you ready with a series of player previews. Before the season starts this fall, check back regularly for more player previews, schedule news, features, and more heading into the 2024-25 Ohio State women’s basketball season.
Big Ten women’s basketball transcended on an unsuspecting conference room in Rosemont, Illinois Wednesday. The mission? Get all 18 conference head coaches, and 36 players, under one roof to preview the upcoming expanded conference season.
After each coach sat in on a live panel discussion for Big Ten Network, the media had time to talk with the individual coaches and Land-Grant Holy Land was there to chat with Ohio State women’s basketball head coach Kevin McGuff.
Here are a few:
It’s justified to talk about the gaps on the roster with the losses of Jacy Sheldon, Celeste Taylor, Rikki Harris, and Rebeka Mikulášiková, but it also created a considerable leadership hole.
Leadership is having the players help direct freshmen and transfers on how the defense works. Integrating new talent off the court and creating an environment that’s welcoming to new generations of program student-athletes.
Each season, the Buckeyes choose captains differently. Some years, it's done by player vote, and other years it's decided by the coaches. In recent history, with the core group running the show, people knew Sheldon and her peers were leaders.
Fifth-year senior Madison Greene was part of that group, but with most of the upperclassmen gone in the offseason, part of the responsibility falls to Taylor Thierry and Cotie McMahon. Both are players who’ve proven themselves on the court in the last two to three seasons, but personality-wise are as different as their on-court skillsets.
“if you watch us and you kinda get a sense of the personalities. Cotie’s got this big personality and plays with incredible emotion, which is a huge strength of hers,” said McGuff. “Whereas Taylor Thierry and Madison Greene are great leaders by example but not nearly as vocal. I think if they can kind of balance out Cotie’s emotion with just being a little more vocal, I think that could be the right formula for us heading into this year.”
Adding to that formula is the injection of new players who aren’t always seen as leaders in the traditional mindset of “doing your time” in a program before earning that kind of respect.
Kentucky transfer Ajae Petty and Oregon transfer Chance Gray are each in their first season as Buckeyes but according to McGuff are already establishing themselves as someone the coach can trust.
Petty has one season left, bringing a 10.6 rebound per game average from the SEC and the Wildcats. Gray is a deep shooter from Cincinnati who returns home after initially going to the Pacific Northwest.
“I don’t think there’s any reason why Ajae Petty or Chance Gray can’t have a role in the leadership too because they’re experienced players,” said McGuff. “They’re great kids, they work hard and they’re going to be up to speed on what we do and how we do it.”
Ohio State’s seen this new age of transfer leaders before with fellow former Oregon shooting guard Taylor Mikesell and last year with former Duke Blue Devil Celeste Taylor.
This season McGuff adds not one but two with the upperclassmen joining as likely starters.
Another topic floating around Rosemont was travel. Specifically, how is it going to work? The answer is — no one’s sure.
Ohio State travels to Los Angeles for two games in California. On Wednesday, Feb. 5, it’s the UCLA Bruins, followed by the Trojans three days later. McGuff talked about how university sports science experts are still working through the nuts and bolts of when the team leaves, how much rest is needed, and all the logistics needed to go to the West Coast.
In response, McGuff mentioned a Big Ten requirement for one rest day per week, per team. However, teams don’t know if a travel day constitutes a rest day. Also, there could be a cutoff time in the morning that if a team gets back before that deadline, it counts as a rest day.
All-in-all, the conference still has work to do for something McGuff called “an unintended consequence of conference realignment.”
There were clear talking points for the 18 coaches in attendance that they already thought the Big Ten was good, but now they’re sure it’s the best conference in the country.
It’s easy to say it but look at the conference breakdown and it includes nine teams that made the NCAA Tournament in 2024. Helping reinforce the coaches is the addition of arguably the best player in college basketball, USC Trojans sophomore JuJu Watkins.
McGuff spoke highly about Watkins, with firsthand knowledge of her skill when Watkins led the Trojans over the Buckeyes to start the 2023-24 season in Las Vegas. But what stood out to McGuff wasn’t only a 32-point performance for the then-freshman Watkins, it was what happened when Watkins wasn’t on the floor.
“The one thing that really struck me about her is that she picked up her fourth foul right about the beginning of the fourth quarter and they took her out,” said McGuff. “She didn’t pout. She didn’t get upset. She sat on the bench for a little bit and went back in. She’s shown tremendous poise in her first game in college.”
Watkins has already shown the basketball world her ability. Now, the Big Ten will attempt to do the same as a conference. Each side gets the chance to play each other, meaning every game night is another opportunity to see if the coaches are right.
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
Melissa Tamez-Imagn Images
The Buckeyes head coach took to the podium Wednesday to preview the upcoming season
College basketball season is fast approaching and Land-Grant Holy Land is getting you ready with a series of player previews. Before the season starts this fall, check back regularly for more player previews, schedule news, features, and more heading into the 2024-25 Ohio State women’s basketball season.
Big Ten women’s basketball transcended on an unsuspecting conference room in Rosemont, Illinois Wednesday. The mission? Get all 18 conference head coaches, and 36 players, under one roof to preview the upcoming expanded conference season.
After each coach sat in on a live panel discussion for Big Ten Network, the media had time to talk with the individual coaches and Land-Grant Holy Land was there to chat with Ohio State women’s basketball head coach Kevin McGuff.
Here are a few:
Ohio State’s Leaders
It’s justified to talk about the gaps on the roster with the losses of Jacy Sheldon, Celeste Taylor, Rikki Harris, and Rebeka Mikulášiková, but it also created a considerable leadership hole.
Leadership is having the players help direct freshmen and transfers on how the defense works. Integrating new talent off the court and creating an environment that’s welcoming to new generations of program student-athletes.
Each season, the Buckeyes choose captains differently. Some years, it's done by player vote, and other years it's decided by the coaches. In recent history, with the core group running the show, people knew Sheldon and her peers were leaders.
Fifth-year senior Madison Greene was part of that group, but with most of the upperclassmen gone in the offseason, part of the responsibility falls to Taylor Thierry and Cotie McMahon. Both are players who’ve proven themselves on the court in the last two to three seasons, but personality-wise are as different as their on-court skillsets.
“if you watch us and you kinda get a sense of the personalities. Cotie’s got this big personality and plays with incredible emotion, which is a huge strength of hers,” said McGuff. “Whereas Taylor Thierry and Madison Greene are great leaders by example but not nearly as vocal. I think if they can kind of balance out Cotie’s emotion with just being a little more vocal, I think that could be the right formula for us heading into this year.”
Adding to that formula is the injection of new players who aren’t always seen as leaders in the traditional mindset of “doing your time” in a program before earning that kind of respect.
Kentucky transfer Ajae Petty and Oregon transfer Chance Gray are each in their first season as Buckeyes but according to McGuff are already establishing themselves as someone the coach can trust.
Petty has one season left, bringing a 10.6 rebound per game average from the SEC and the Wildcats. Gray is a deep shooter from Cincinnati who returns home after initially going to the Pacific Northwest.
“I don’t think there’s any reason why Ajae Petty or Chance Gray can’t have a role in the leadership too because they’re experienced players,” said McGuff. “They’re great kids, they work hard and they’re going to be up to speed on what we do and how we do it.”
Ohio State’s seen this new age of transfer leaders before with fellow former Oregon shooting guard Taylor Mikesell and last year with former Duke Blue Devil Celeste Taylor.
This season McGuff adds not one but two with the upperclassmen joining as likely starters.
Questions Around Big Ten Travel
Another topic floating around Rosemont was travel. Specifically, how is it going to work? The answer is — no one’s sure.
Ohio State travels to Los Angeles for two games in California. On Wednesday, Feb. 5, it’s the UCLA Bruins, followed by the Trojans three days later. McGuff talked about how university sports science experts are still working through the nuts and bolts of when the team leaves, how much rest is needed, and all the logistics needed to go to the West Coast.
In response, McGuff mentioned a Big Ten requirement for one rest day per week, per team. However, teams don’t know if a travel day constitutes a rest day. Also, there could be a cutoff time in the morning that if a team gets back before that deadline, it counts as a rest day.
All-in-all, the conference still has work to do for something McGuff called “an unintended consequence of conference realignment.”
The Big Ten is Good
There were clear talking points for the 18 coaches in attendance that they already thought the Big Ten was good, but now they’re sure it’s the best conference in the country.
It’s easy to say it but look at the conference breakdown and it includes nine teams that made the NCAA Tournament in 2024. Helping reinforce the coaches is the addition of arguably the best player in college basketball, USC Trojans sophomore JuJu Watkins.
McGuff spoke highly about Watkins, with firsthand knowledge of her skill when Watkins led the Trojans over the Buckeyes to start the 2023-24 season in Las Vegas. But what stood out to McGuff wasn’t only a 32-point performance for the then-freshman Watkins, it was what happened when Watkins wasn’t on the floor.
“The one thing that really struck me about her is that she picked up her fourth foul right about the beginning of the fourth quarter and they took her out,” said McGuff. “She didn’t pout. She didn’t get upset. She sat on the bench for a little bit and went back in. She’s shown tremendous poise in her first game in college.”
Watkins has already shown the basketball world her ability. Now, the Big Ten will attempt to do the same as a conference. Each side gets the chance to play each other, meaning every game night is another opportunity to see if the coaches are right.
Continue reading...