It is relatively quiet in the world of college basketball from early April until the end of October. There is the occasional social media post showing players practicing or in the weight room. Teams announce an upcoming game here. A random tournament at an exotic locale shares their tournament field there. The only thing that is reliable throughout the offseason is the transfer portal. Over a thousand athletes entered the portal at the end of their teams’ respective seasons. Normally, Ohio State
women’s basketball is part of many transfer conversations, but this year was different; this year was quiet.
Since 2019, head coach Kevin McGuff has relied on the transfer portal to fill gaps on his roster, but not much else. Each season, the Buckeyes added at least one player from another program; from forward Braxtin Miller, who joined the Buckeyes from Oklahoma State in 2019, to guard T’Yana Todd, who finished her collegiate career at Ohio State for the 2025-26 season. In between were fan favorites like forward Eboni Walker, sharpshooting guard Taylor Mikesell and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Celeste Taylor.
After three years of second-round exits in the NCAA Tournament, at home, fans looked at the portal to see who Ohio State would lose and who would join. A regular occurrence in today’s college basketball environment, but no transfer committed to the Buckeyes. Ohio State lost guard Dasha Biriuk, who averaged 3.3 points per game in 7.3 average minutes, but kept four regular starters and eight of its 11 players.
Was it because nobody wanted to play for the school? Did other programs beat out the Buckeyes for their top targets? Was it just that McGuff was comfortable with the roster he already had?
“Oftentimes, either through graduation or people transfer out, you’ve got a lot of clear spots where a lot of people are like, ‘Hey, I might want to come there so I can play,’” McGuff told Land-Grant Holy Land. “Not that there aren’t people that were in the portal that could come here and compete for spots, because there’s really good people in the portal. But it just wasn’t a clear picture here.”
To the Ohio State coaching staff, there are no clear openings for a transfer to join and get meaningful minutes. All-Big Ten First Team point guard Jaloni Cambridge is not someone who is losing time on the court. Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year finalist Kennedy Cambridge, the conference’s leading blocker, 6-foot-6 center Elsa Lemmilä, and the high ceiling for forward Kylee Kitts are a strong returning core.
The lone loss from the starting lineup was guard Chance Gray. The now WNBA guard finished college in Columbus and scored 14.7 points per game on 45.3% shooting from the field and 40.5% from beyond the arc — all career highs. Not to mention the loss of leadership within the locker room.
Behind her are a pair of guards who each showed throughout the 25-26 season that they are ready for more responsibility. Sophomore guard Ava Watson started the last 16 games of the season due to a midseason injury to Kitts. In that time, Watson annoyed opponents with her defensive ability in one-on-one situations. Freshman Bryn Martin showed offensive flashes from beyond the arc, off the bench. That included a 16-point game against the West Virginia Mountaineers to cap off a late comeback against the Big 12 side.
Beyond bringing back an experienced group with growing chemistry, NCAA rules and high school recruiting had their say in the decision.
On June 23, the NCAA announced the 5-for-5 eligibility model. With it, college athletes have five years to complete five seasons of competition. That clock starts when an athlete begins classes at the school or on their 19th birthday, whichever comes first. It means fewer people competing collegiately into their late 20s and the end of redshirts. A year spent at a school is one less year to compete, with minimal exceptions.
That rule had a direct impact on the Buckeyes and 2027 recruit Sydney Mobley.
In three years at Big Walnut High School in Sunbury, Ohio, Mobley accomplished a lot in high school. As a freshman, the 6-foot-1 forward scored 17.0 points and added 12.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals. That landed her on the All-Ohio First Team for Division II. This year, as a junior, Mobley’s 20.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists led Big Walnut to its first appearance in the high school state tournament.
For all of Mobley’s hard work, she earned Ohio Ms. Basketball honors for the best player in the state. Mobley is only the eighth junior to win the award. Hard work is the Columbus-area resident’s
“She’s [Mobley’s] really into training and skill development. Physical athletic training. She’s really into that, and her family thought ‘hey, she could go a year redshirt and do that, and really improve herself,’” McGuff said.
However, the 5-for-5 rule meant that a redshirt season was a waste of Mobley’s eligibility. “It doesn’t make sense to even consider redshirting, and I think she’s good enough, anyways. So then we started talking to them about playing this year, and so at that point, I quit recruiting anybody out of the portal.”
So, when the 2026 fall semester kicks off at Ohio State on Tuesday, Aug. 25, Mobley will be officially enrolled at the university. With that comes a full roster spot with the Buckeyes. No redshirt. The No. 29 prospect of the 2027 class will be a 2026 freshman playing for a spot in the Ohio State rotation.
“We didn’t know if we would get Sydney [Mobley] or not, or whether she was going to come. But I said I would rather have her than anybody that was in the portal, and so we kind of put all of our eggs in that basket and recruited her, and it worked out,” McGuff said.
Mobley joins a three-person freshman class with guard Atlee Vanesko and forward Adriana Díaz. The former trained with the Buckeyes this offseason, and the latter won her second consecutive U18 FIBA Eurobasket Championship with Spain on Aug. 8.
