For the first time in six years, the Ohio State women’s basketball team opens the year as a preseason top 10 team. In the first Associated Press poll, the Buckeyes were slotted No. 7 nationally, just two points shy of sixth-place South Carolina.
It’s a testament to the direction of the program which, after reaching its first Elite Eight in 30 years, is now unapologetically aiming for a Final Four and more. And with all that in mind, and a season opener against USC looming, sophomore forward Cotie McMahon was anything but satiated by her team’s preseason ranking.
“We have a lot to prove,” the preseason AP all-American honorable mention and first-team all-Big Ten selection said Monday.
Like what?
“That, one, everyone knows our defense but we’re not the team to play with this year,” she said. “I don’t know if y’all saw, but ranked No. 7 is kind of crazy to us. But, you know, we come out here and (want to) prove we’re better than those six teams in front of us.”
The Buckeyes opened the 2017-18 season at No. 5 in the AP poll, having received 635 points. This year’s team actually received 711 points, but the point is moot to McMahon and the Buckeyes. With a healthy Jacy Sheldon, the addition of ACC defensive player of the year Celeste Taylor as a graduate transfer and an overall deeper pool of talent that features a burgeoning star in McMahon, Ohio State has not been shy about voicing a goal of surpassing last season’s success.
The first test of that will come Monday in Las Vegas, where the Buckeyes open with No. 21 USC as part of the four-team 2023 Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena. In what will be a Big Ten battle next season, Ohio State will have its first opportunity to showcase what it hopes to be this season.
Before going through a two-hour open practice at Value City Arena on Monday afternoon, coach Kevin McGuff described the team as still being a work in progress as the preseason comes to a close.
“It’s still so early,” he said. “It’s really hard to tell how good we are, where we’re at. I think this team could be really good at some point. I wouldn’t say we’re there yet. We need a good week of practice, because USC’s very talented and well-coached.”
That also means the game figures to be a suitable test for a team with aspirations like Ohio State. This week, the focus shifts from being solely internal to projecting what challenges the Trojans will present. During the open practice session in front of a crowd that reached triple digits, McGuff deployed a first team of Sheldon, Taylor, McMahon, Taylor Thierry and Rebeka Mikulášiková.
They cheered when McMahon sliced through a scout team defense to feed Thierry on the corner for a 3-pointer she buried. They applauded when a fully healthy Sheldon crossed over her defender, glided to the basket and finished before help could arrive. When it was all over, they took to the floor for photos and autographs.
Sheldon, a fifth-year senior from Dublin Coffman, said it hadn’t yet hit her that this would be her final preseason experience but that the immediate challenge is a welcomed one.
“It is special,” she said. “We’re extra-motivated this year. Really excited, but our focus is always on that first game.”
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And there it was again, another allusion to a chip-on-the-shoulder mentality. To Sheldon, that’s nothing new.
“I think we honestly always, like (McMahon) said, have something to prove,” she said. “That’s been our attitude since I’ve been here, which is really special. I think it motivates us to get better and prove to everybody that we can beat those six teams. It makes us more hungry. It makes us excited. We’re never satisfied with ourselves.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State’s Cotie McMahon: ‘We’re not the team to play with this year’
