The Buckeyes have bounced back from bigger transfer losses, so how will this edition of Ohio State do?
The foundation of the Ohio State women’s basketball program took a hit on Wednesday when junior forward Cotie McMahon joined the transfer portal with one year of eligibility remaining. With the forward not lacking suitors for her intensity and basketball ability, a move away from Columbus is practically a done deal. So, how do head coach Kevin McGuff and the Scarlet and Gray move forward?
There is recent evidence to support Ohio State bouncing back quickly.
After the 2020-21 season, the Buckeyes lost two starting forwards in the portal, with Dorka Juhasz the biggest loss of the pair. Juhasz led Ohio State for three seasons inside the paint, nearly averaging a double-double in her time in scarlet and gray. When Juhasz left, she took 14.6 points and 11.1 rebounds per game, with the latter good for second-best in the Big Ten.
Ohio State did not hang their heads too low when Juhasz left for head coach Geno Auriemma and the UConn Huskies. McGuff’s side got busy in the transfer portal.
While the Buckeyes’ rebounding has not looked the same since Juhasz left, dropping from a top-three team on the boards to in the bottom third of the conference for the next four seasons, McGuff adjusted the way his team played and built around it.
Shooting guard Taylor Mikesell came in and teamed up with a group of returning players, including guards Jacy Sheldon and Rikki Harris, who ended up being the leaders of the program for nearly five years when it was all said and done.
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The team did not sink into oblivion, which is the normal reaction when a player of McMahon’s magnitude decides to leave. Ohio State won the Big Ten regular season championship.
Now the Buckeyes are in a familiar spot and have a similar group of young players who can lead, starring freshman point guard Jaloni Cambridge.
Ohio State never truly hit its peak in the 24-25 season, and that is due in part to the team’s own offensive identity crisis. It was not evident who was running the team between Cambridge and McMahon. While McGuff wanted Cambridge to take the lead, McMahon was often the focal point of the squad, in both good and not-so-good ways.
Cambridge is now firmly in the driver’s seat. Like Sheldon, Cambridge has the speed, defensive ability and diverse scoring to propel the Buckeyes roster, and should the freshman stay the duration of her college career in Columbus, be a player that athletes will want to team up with from the transfer portal.
It has not been a week into the portal yet, but there are already some forwards who could make an impact in the program, should they choose Ohio State.
Outside of McMahon, who is near the top of the portal in terms of quality and experience, there are forwards Serah Williams and Laura Ziegler.
Big Ten fans know Williams well. The forward played three seasons with the Wisconsin Badgers under former head coach Marisa Moseley. In the last two seasons, Williams averaged 18.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per game, which earned the New York native the 2023-24 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year award, spots on the All-Big Ten team, and most recently a place on the Big Ten All-Defensive Team for the 24-25 season.
Williams is a marquee name in the portal and already has public interest from the UConn Huskies, which does not exactly bode well for the Buckeyes’ chances, if they go for the forward at all.
Ziegler joined Saint Joseph’s out of Denmark, and the 6-foot-2 forward excelled in the A10 conference. The forward started all but one of her 93 appearances for the Hawks and this season had a career year with 17.5 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. Ziegler’s 8.8 rebounds on the defensive boards are the third best in the nation. Named a finalist for the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year award, Ziegler can also find open teammates with 4.3 assists per game, the fourth highest in the A10.
As of publishing, there is no word that Ohio State has contacted either of these forwards.
Ohio State also has three forwards who will possibly debut for the team next season. On the team already is the forward pair of Seini Henry and Ella Hobbs. Should both stay in the program after having redshirt freshman seasons, they bring different games to the lineup.
Hobbs has the potential to be important for the Buckeyes inside the paint. The 6-foot-4 forward missed her freshman season recovering from an ACL injury, but if paired with center Elsa Lemmila, could create a duo that is unmatched inside the paint. That will mean less dynamic drives to the basket that McMahon was known for, but the Buckeyes will be tough around the rim.
Henry plays more of a guard-turned-forward role like McMahon. While the forward does not have the same size as the soon-to-be ex-Buckeye, Henry could play an important role off the bench.
The third is incoming freshman Daria “Dasha” Biriuk. After leaving Ukraine nearly three years ago due to the war with Russia, Biriuk made a name for herself in the United States. Just three weeks ago, Biriuk led the Webb School to a state title with 26 points and 10 rebounds and will soon play at the Nike Hoop Summit in April.
None of these three is at the same level as McMahon, and each brings a slightly different game, but each has the potential, and four years of eligibility, to grow like guard/forward Taylor Thierry did in the program.
Then there are the non-forwards on the team that Ohio State will rely on, like they did Sheldon, Harris, Madison Greene, and Rebeka Mikulasikova. Should they all return, they will be a new foundation of the program.
Outside of Jaloni Cambridge is her sister Kennedy Cambridge, who can slide into a third guard role as a starter with the graduation of Thierry. Kennedy Cambridge brings flashes on offense, but on defense, does not relent. Jaloni Cambridge’s older sister has two years of eligibility remaining, and the two sisters will pair up with either shooting guard Chance Gray or Ava Watson.
Of the current roster, Gray is the most likely to put her name in the transfer portal after losing minutes at the end of games in the second half of the season. The guard went on a cold streak as the expected three-point shooting focused No. 2 guard. Should she not return for a final year of eligibility in Columbus, freshman shooting guard Watson will be the next player up.
Watson and Jaloni Cambridge have experience playing travel basketball together, and were friends long before joining the Buckeyes. Plus, Watson has shown moments of effectiveness from beyond the arc in a limited role off the bench, like a 4-for-4 game from deep against the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Feb. 13.
Does all this mean that the Buckeyes roster is set and there will only be transfers into Columbus from here on out? Not likely. The portal is open until April 22, and in that time, there will likely be more players coming and going. Should Ohio State’s transfers out stop, though, the Buckeyes would not find themselves in a horrible spot… but either way, it is the start of a new era for Ohio State without McMahon on the roster.