There was no shortage of confidence for Ava Watson as a high school basketball player. An eventual four-star recruit according to ESPN, the future Ohio State guard arrived on campus in 2024 as a top-50 prospect in her class ready to battle for playing time.
For two seasons, she’s been part of the rotation. Her production grew alongside her playing time from freshman to her sophomore season, putting her in position to fill a void left created when Chance Gray departed for the WNBA.
She just hasn’t been herself since she arrived at Ohio State.
“I feel like the past two years I had zero confidence within myself,” Watson said. “That’s something
I’ve never dealt with, ever.”
Standing inside the postgame interview room at the Schottenstein Center, Watson had just finished a preseason practice played in front of season-ticket holders who then spent more than half an hour getting autographs and taking photos with them at center court. The admission about her first two seasons with the Buckeyes was offered casually as part of a longer answer about where her offensive game might have improved during the offseason.
It merited further examining. After picking Ohio State from a list of finalists comprised of Florida State, Georgia, Louisville and Texas A&M, Watson was her team’s top bench scorer at 5.3 points per game and was a Big Ten freshman of the week winner before an ankle injury limited her to 25 games in her first season. Healthy as a sophomore, she averaged 7.2 points, 2.3 assists and 2.0 steals in 35 games. She started 16 of them, playing 26.3 minutes per game, nearly doubling her average of 13.7 from the season before.
Along the way, though, she wasn’t quite herself.
“It was really hard, but only because when I was in high school I had so much confidence,” she said. “Every shot I put up, I knew it was going in. That’s just how I felt. I got here, and I didn’t even want the ball to come my way. That’s how bad it was.”
In three seasons of high school ball at Buford, Georgia, Watson scored more than 2,000 points and finished her prep career averaging 24 points, six rebounds, 5.2 assists and 4.3 steals in 2023-24. Suddenly, playing at the high-major level, the self-belief that had helped her get there had somehow deserted her.
It wasn’t until somewhere during her sophomore season that Watson said she felt things start to turn.
“I don’t know there was a breakthrough moment,” she said. “I think it was me staying consistent in practice and always working and just gradually it happened. I put my head down and just went to work. That’s all I had to do.”
By the end of the season, Watson was a starter for the Buckeyes, a role she is expected to reprise this season. During those first two seasons, Watson said she knew her focus had to primarily be on defense in order to fight her way onto the floor. Now in her third year, she’s looking forward to an expanded role in the offense. Her offseason featured a healthy dose of shooting with work on her decision-making out of pick-and-roll situations.
“I feel like I’ve earned it where I can go out there and just be free and help my teammates in other ways, not just defense,” she said.
That freedom extends to the mental side of the game, too. Watson said the support of her coaches and teammates kept her going even while she doubted herself and that the connection she feels with them helped keep her at Ohio State.
Transferring elsewhere was never an option, she said.
“I want an alma mater,” she said. “I knew when I committed here I wanted to stick with it no matter what the circumstances (were). Unless (coach Kevin) McGuff left and my whole team left I might’ve said, ‘OK, I’m coming with you all,’ but that’s about it.”
Adam Jardy can be reached at ajardy@dispatch.com, on Bluesky at @cdadamjardy.bsky.social, on Instagram at @cdadamjardyor on Twitter at @AdamJardy.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ava Watson reveals the confidence battle behind her Ohio State rise
