For the last three seasons, Ohio State’s season has ended in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Despite having home court advantage in the first two rounds of the tournament in each of the last three seasons, the Buckeyes have been upset in the second round each year.
Graduate guard Kennedy Cambridge is well-aware of this streak and has her sights set on snapping it in her final year with the program.
“(Ohio State head coach Kevin) McGuff does so much for us, and he’s so like the chillest coach I’ve ever had in my entire life. I love that man, but get him to a Sweet 16,” Kennedy Cambridge said. “He deserves it as much as we deserve it. He deserves it a lot. He puts a lot into us, and our fans too. They come out. They come out on the road. They’re always there, so just getting out of (the Schottenstein Center) is the biggest emphasis for me this year. The rest I don’t really care about. The individual goals — I will do whatever it takes to get us out of the Schott.”
In 2023-24, Ohio State had an impressive regular season, capturing the Big Ten regular season title to earn a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament. However, after a win over Maine in round one, the Buckeyes lost to Duke by 12 at home.
It was a similar story in 2024-25, when the Buckeyes earned a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. A loaded roster that included such stars as guard Jaloni Cambridge and forward Cotie McMahon was unable to overcome Tennessee in the second round.
McMahon transferred to Ole Miss after that season, but the Buckeyes still had a successful regular season last year to earn a No. 3 seed.
However, Ohio State ran into a red-hot Notre Dame team in the second round and was eliminated on its home court for the third year in a row.
Given his team’s failures in the second round of the NCAA tournament, McGuff probably wants to see his team get to the Sweet 16 more than anyone, but he doesn’t have such a specific goal for this year’s team.
“Hopefully we get to play at the Schott again,” McGuff said. “Hopefully we play well enough to get a chance to play here. It’s always a great opportunity to play in front of your fans a little bit in the NCAA Tournament. Hopefully we can get to that point, and then have a team that can play well enough to move on. I think it says a lot about (the players) that they want that for this program and for this community and for their teammates, and so that’s what’s most important to me. It just speaks to the fact that we have great kids right now. We really do. They’re wonderful young women that we have an opportunity to coach. For me, I just hope that I can help them kind of reach their potential and do something special this year.”
As for what Ohio State needs to do to get over the hump, McGuff simply hopes he can construct a complete team.
“I think it’s a combination of how you’re playing that time of year, what your matchup is, what your strengths are, how your strengths align with who you’re playing, but you can’t always plan for that right now,” McGuff said when asked what his team needs to do better to reach the Sweet 16. “So what do we do? Try to make as complete a team as possible. If we can be a little better defensively, a little better rebounding, that would probably just make us a little more complete.”
