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Women’s Basketball Preview Part 1: Upperclassmen
Charles via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
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Even though football season is still in full swing, basketball season is right around the corner. Hopefully you have been enjoying our series of previews for the Ohio State men’s basketball team and today we take a look at the women’s team. The OSU women’s basketball team took big steps last year in their second year under head coach Kevin McGuff, falling just short to eventual Final Four participant Maryland in the Big Ten Tournament championship game and just missing out on a trip to the Sweet 16 despite being very short handed due to injuries. This year hopes are high for the Buckeyes who open the season ranked 6th in the AP Poll and 10th in the Coaches Poll.
The Buckeyes already played their one exhibition game, defeating Ursuline College 113-61. The Buckeyes shot 55% from the floor while holding the Arrows to 35% and forcing 33 turnovers which they turned into 46 points; OSU only committed 13 turnovers themselves. Seven Buckeyes scored in double figures, led by Ameryst Alston with 17 points; Kelsey Mitchell added 15, Alexa Hart scored 14, Kianna Holland and Asia Doss scored 12, Kaylah Pugh had 11, and Shayla Cooper had 10. The Buckeyes get the regular season underway on Friday, November 13 when they travel to take on Final Four participant South Carolina.
This is the first of our two previews of the women’s basketball team and will focus on the Juniors and Seniors on the Ohio State roster; our other preview will focus on the underclassmen. This is a fairly young team overall with only 2 seniors and four juniors on it.
When one wants to talk about the upperclassmen on the team, they have to start with senior guard Ameryst Alston. After making a splash her freshman season and being named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team, Alston exploded in her sophomore year, becoming one of the top scorers in the Big Ten and earning First Team All-Big Ten honors. Alston only got better in her junior year, once again earning First Team All-Big Ten honors while scoring 694 points, the 6th most in OSU history. Alston’s 19.8 points per game was third best in the conference and her average of 4.0 assists per game showed that she could move the ball as well as score. Alston is a dynamic player who can shoot from outside as well as attack the basket and last season the combination of her and Kelsey Mitchell gave Ohio State one of the most dangerous backcourts in the country. It will be interesting to see how Alston’s scoring numbers go this season, her and Mitchell will draw lots of defensive attention and that combined with a deeper bench likely means reduced scoring. I suspect we’ll see Alston’s assist numbers go up as other players should benefit from good looks due to the attention she will draw.
The other senior on the team is guard Cait Craft, sister of former Buckeye point guard Aaron Craft. After being a role player her first season, Craft become a starter her sophomore season and kept that role her junior year. While she contributed a solid 7.6 points and 4 rebounds per game last year, defense was Craft’s strong suit (shocking for a member of that family isn’t it) as she was second on the team with 55 steals and consistently caused headaches for whoever she was guarding. Unfortunately, despite her defensive prowess, Craft is a bit inconsistent in her shooting and that will likely cause her to lose her starting spot this season due to all of the young talent on the team. Craft should still see plenty of floor time thanks to the team’s up tempo attack and I expect to see her defensive skills called on late in close games when the Buckeyes need someone who can shut down a scorer.
Now we move on to the juniors and first up is redshirt junior forward Kalpana Beach who is one of the most intriguing but frustrating Buckeyes in a long time. Beach first joined the Buckeyes in the 2011-2012 season and looked like she was going to be a force to be reckoned with on the inside thanks to her athletic ability and aggressive play. Unfortunately Beach suffered a concussion early in the season which seemed to shake her up and she never fully recovered her aggressive tendencies. Beach’s health problems weren’t over though as she missed all of the next two seasons due to knee injuries. Things were looking hopeful last year as Beach averaged 4.7 points and 5.1 rebounds through the first six games of the season but then once again injured her knee which sidelined her for a major portion of the season. At this point there are a lot of questions about whether Beach can stay healthy for an entire season. Her athleticism would be very valuable in Coach McGuff’s system and if she can return to her original aggressive play, she could have a huge year as defenses will likely pay less attention to her, focusing more on stopping OSU’s backcourt and fellow forward Alexa Hart.
The other redshirt junior on the team is center Lisa Blair. Blair has primarily been a role player, stepping in to provide rest for front court players. While not much of a scoring threat, she only averaged 2.1 points per game last year, her 6’6” size makes her much more of a force on the boards and defensively; Blair averaged 3.0 rebounds per game and recorded 50 blocks while only playing a bit over 9 minutes per game. Blair will likely continue to be a role player this season as she doesn’t have the athleticism that McGuff is looking for; she will probably play a bigger role against more physical teams where her size will be needed in the paint.
Junior forward Shayla Cooper transferred to Ohio State from Georgetown and became eligible in late December of last season. She instantly provided a spark to the Buckeyes, averaging 10.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. Cooper is a matchup nightmare for opponents thanks to her ability to shoot the three pointer, hitting 38% of her shots from outside last season; this stretches defenses and really opens up the inside. Cooper will be called on to serve a similar role this season and should get plenty of opportunities with the ball as she’ll still be overshadowed by her other teammates; I expect opposing defenses will quickly come to regret not paying as much attention to her though.
The old saying is that if you can’t beat them, join them but the opposite is true of junior forward Stephanie Mavunga who transferred to Ohio State from North Carolina after the Tarheels barely held off a Buckeye comeback in the second round of last year’s NCAA tournament. Mavunga was the main reason that the Tarheels won that game and while there is plenty of opportunity to speculate about her reasons for leaving UNC given the amount of smoke associated with sports there, the fact that she chose to come to Ohio State speaks volumes about the program that Coach McGuff is building. While Mavunga will be forced to redshirt this season due to transfer rules, she’ll be a big contributor to the program in the future thanks to her physicality.
The post Women’s Basketball Preview Part 1: Upperclassmen appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
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Charles via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Even though football season is still in full swing, basketball season is right around the corner. Hopefully you have been enjoying our series of previews for the Ohio State men’s basketball team and today we take a look at the women’s team. The OSU women’s basketball team took big steps last year in their second year under head coach Kevin McGuff, falling just short to eventual Final Four participant Maryland in the Big Ten Tournament championship game and just missing out on a trip to the Sweet 16 despite being very short handed due to injuries. This year hopes are high for the Buckeyes who open the season ranked 6th in the AP Poll and 10th in the Coaches Poll.
The Buckeyes already played their one exhibition game, defeating Ursuline College 113-61. The Buckeyes shot 55% from the floor while holding the Arrows to 35% and forcing 33 turnovers which they turned into 46 points; OSU only committed 13 turnovers themselves. Seven Buckeyes scored in double figures, led by Ameryst Alston with 17 points; Kelsey Mitchell added 15, Alexa Hart scored 14, Kianna Holland and Asia Doss scored 12, Kaylah Pugh had 11, and Shayla Cooper had 10. The Buckeyes get the regular season underway on Friday, November 13 when they travel to take on Final Four participant South Carolina.
This is the first of our two previews of the women’s basketball team and will focus on the Juniors and Seniors on the Ohio State roster; our other preview will focus on the underclassmen. This is a fairly young team overall with only 2 seniors and four juniors on it.
When one wants to talk about the upperclassmen on the team, they have to start with senior guard Ameryst Alston. After making a splash her freshman season and being named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team, Alston exploded in her sophomore year, becoming one of the top scorers in the Big Ten and earning First Team All-Big Ten honors. Alston only got better in her junior year, once again earning First Team All-Big Ten honors while scoring 694 points, the 6th most in OSU history. Alston’s 19.8 points per game was third best in the conference and her average of 4.0 assists per game showed that she could move the ball as well as score. Alston is a dynamic player who can shoot from outside as well as attack the basket and last season the combination of her and Kelsey Mitchell gave Ohio State one of the most dangerous backcourts in the country. It will be interesting to see how Alston’s scoring numbers go this season, her and Mitchell will draw lots of defensive attention and that combined with a deeper bench likely means reduced scoring. I suspect we’ll see Alston’s assist numbers go up as other players should benefit from good looks due to the attention she will draw.
The other senior on the team is guard Cait Craft, sister of former Buckeye point guard Aaron Craft. After being a role player her first season, Craft become a starter her sophomore season and kept that role her junior year. While she contributed a solid 7.6 points and 4 rebounds per game last year, defense was Craft’s strong suit (shocking for a member of that family isn’t it) as she was second on the team with 55 steals and consistently caused headaches for whoever she was guarding. Unfortunately, despite her defensive prowess, Craft is a bit inconsistent in her shooting and that will likely cause her to lose her starting spot this season due to all of the young talent on the team. Craft should still see plenty of floor time thanks to the team’s up tempo attack and I expect to see her defensive skills called on late in close games when the Buckeyes need someone who can shut down a scorer.
Now we move on to the juniors and first up is redshirt junior forward Kalpana Beach who is one of the most intriguing but frustrating Buckeyes in a long time. Beach first joined the Buckeyes in the 2011-2012 season and looked like she was going to be a force to be reckoned with on the inside thanks to her athletic ability and aggressive play. Unfortunately Beach suffered a concussion early in the season which seemed to shake her up and she never fully recovered her aggressive tendencies. Beach’s health problems weren’t over though as she missed all of the next two seasons due to knee injuries. Things were looking hopeful last year as Beach averaged 4.7 points and 5.1 rebounds through the first six games of the season but then once again injured her knee which sidelined her for a major portion of the season. At this point there are a lot of questions about whether Beach can stay healthy for an entire season. Her athleticism would be very valuable in Coach McGuff’s system and if she can return to her original aggressive play, she could have a huge year as defenses will likely pay less attention to her, focusing more on stopping OSU’s backcourt and fellow forward Alexa Hart.
The other redshirt junior on the team is center Lisa Blair. Blair has primarily been a role player, stepping in to provide rest for front court players. While not much of a scoring threat, she only averaged 2.1 points per game last year, her 6’6” size makes her much more of a force on the boards and defensively; Blair averaged 3.0 rebounds per game and recorded 50 blocks while only playing a bit over 9 minutes per game. Blair will likely continue to be a role player this season as she doesn’t have the athleticism that McGuff is looking for; she will probably play a bigger role against more physical teams where her size will be needed in the paint.
Junior forward Shayla Cooper transferred to Ohio State from Georgetown and became eligible in late December of last season. She instantly provided a spark to the Buckeyes, averaging 10.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. Cooper is a matchup nightmare for opponents thanks to her ability to shoot the three pointer, hitting 38% of her shots from outside last season; this stretches defenses and really opens up the inside. Cooper will be called on to serve a similar role this season and should get plenty of opportunities with the ball as she’ll still be overshadowed by her other teammates; I expect opposing defenses will quickly come to regret not paying as much attention to her though.
The old saying is that if you can’t beat them, join them but the opposite is true of junior forward Stephanie Mavunga who transferred to Ohio State from North Carolina after the Tarheels barely held off a Buckeye comeback in the second round of last year’s NCAA tournament. Mavunga was the main reason that the Tarheels won that game and while there is plenty of opportunity to speculate about her reasons for leaving UNC given the amount of smoke associated with sports there, the fact that she chose to come to Ohio State speaks volumes about the program that Coach McGuff is building. While Mavunga will be forced to redshirt this season due to transfer rules, she’ll be a big contributor to the program in the future thanks to her physicality.
The post Women’s Basketball Preview Part 1: Upperclassmen appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
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