At the end of each regular season, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame picks a winner from all Division I women’s basketball players. Thursday, the group named its 50-player watchlist for the 2025-26 season, and the name of Ohio State women’s basketball point guard Jaloni Cambridge earned a place on the list.
Cambridge joined the Buckeyes last season as its top-ranked recruit in program history, listed at No. 2 on ESPN’s Hoopgurlz ranking behind UConn forward Sarah Strong. In Cambridge’s first season in Columbus,
the guard picked up a spot on the Big Ten All-Freshman Team and the media selected her as the Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
In 29 games, Cambridge averaged 15.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 2.0 steals in her debut season. That earned the point guard four Big Ten Freshman of the Week awards.
Now, the expectations for Cambridge hit a new level as the now sophomore is the strongest offensive weapon for head coach Kevin McGuff. Cambridge moved into the role well and shared at Big Ten media day how she has matured in the offseason.
Before Cambridge returned to Ohio State for summer workouts and practice, the point guard spent time in Arizona at WNBA star Kelsey Plum’s Dawg Class and tried out for Team USA’s AmeriCup team. While Cambridge lost out on a spot to Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo and TCU Horned Frogs’ Olivia Miles, the guard returned to set the tone for the young Buckeyes team.
“We had a meeting, team meeting, with the players at the start of practice, and I was reminding everyone to go out there and have fun, because you can’t enjoy something if you’re not having fun,“ said Cambridge. ”I want everyone to be happy and to know that this is a place that we all want everyone to be in.“
McGuff’s point guard leads a roster of 11 players, with only five from last year’s roster. Cambridge has a tall task ahead of her in leading the team alongside upperclassmen guard Chance Gray and Kennedy Cambridge.
Cambridge is one of 13 players from the Big Ten and one of only four sophomores in the conference’s group of honorees. Michigan Wolverines duo of Syla Swords and Olivia Olson are part of that group, and Kennedy Smith of the USC Trojans.
UCLA leads the conference with four players named to the watchlist, headlined by senior center Lauren Betts, who also won the Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year award unanimously with both the coaches and media. Elsewhere in the Big Ten, USC freshman Jazzy Davidson is one of only two freshmen on the 50-player list, a needed addition for the Trojans who will not have JuJu Watkins this season due to injury.
Former Ohio State star Cotie McMahon, who transferred to the Ole Miss Rebels of the SEC in the summer, also received a spot on the watchlist.
This year’s award winner will be announced at the end of the season. Last season, USC’s Watkins took the award for the Big Ten’s third season in a row after Iowa Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark won it her last two seasons in NCAA basketball.
