Ohio State women’s basketball fan survey reveals hope, doubt, and a clear Player of the Year

This offseason, the roster, leadership and expectations for Ohio State women’s basketball’s 2025-26 season were all in question. That made it difficult to make heads or tails on how things will play out for the Buckeyes.

With all that in mind, after years of providing in-depth coverage of the team, Land-Grant Holy Land wanted to hear from the fans… and you delivered.

Below are the takeaways from what fans think about the upcoming season. It includes who will be the Buckeyes’ Player of the Year, the confidence in head coach Kevin McGuff’s program leadership and where Ohio State will end the season.

Player of the Year – Jaloni Cambridge

On the 15-question survey, the Player of the Year for Ohio State had a clear winner. Sophomore point guard Jaloni Cambridge received 76.9 percent of the votes, with no other player reaching a double-digit share.

It’s tough to fault fans considering the freshman already proved herself last season as a leader for the Buckeyes. Cambridge ended the season with spots on All-Big Ten teams, a Freshman of the Year award by media voters and with the transfer of Cotie McMahon, the point guard also received the keys to the offense for this season and beyond.

Off the court, Cambridge admitted on Big Ten media day that she was not as vocal last season and is already making up for that initial shyness. This offseason, Cambridge brought the players together for a pre-practice meeting to not drill in plays or offensive strategy but to remind everyone why they are at Ohio State.

Sure, the expectation of winning is great but Cambridge wants her teammates to remember that it’s a game and it’s fun. Time will tell how that transfers on the court.

Center Elsa Lemmilä was the next closest Buckeye at 9.2 percent. Chance Gray, Ava Watson and T’yana Todd are the only other players who received more than a single vote in the 130-vote survey.

Most Improved Player – Elsa Lemmilä

Speaking of the Finnish big, Lemmilä grabbed 53.1 percent of the vote for Most Improved Player from a field of Buckeyes who played last season for McGuff. That does not include any redshirt forwards Ella Hobbs or Seini Henry.

As a freshman, Lemmilä came off the bench behind graduate forward turned professional basketball player Ajae Petty, but it did not take the 6-foot-6 center long to make an impact. Despite averaging 15.3 minutes per game, Lemmilä had 60 blocks for Ohio State and averaged 4.8 rebounds per game.

When stats are looked at on a per 40-minute basis, Lemmilä averaged 12.7 rebounds and 4.9 blocks per game.

This season, Lemmilä could take a big jump for multiple reasons. First, it’s Lemmilä‘s second season and with that brings valuable experience to the roster. Second, Lemmilä is healthy again after sustaining a foot injury late in the regular season, which hampered her impact in the Big Ten Tournament and NCAA Tournament.

Fans chose Watson as the second most improved at 20 percent. Like Lemmilä, Watson came off the bench and suffered a late injury. Fortunately for the Buckeyes, both are back at 100 percent for coach McGuff.

New Player Most Excited to Watch – Kylee Kitts

The Buckeyes brought in six new players this season, and four of those came from the transfer portal. Of the 130 responses, 45 went with the Floridian who had a redshirt first season with the Florida Gators. That year of watching from the bench was not due to lack of ability, no. Kitts graduated high school a year early and Florida opted to let the younger Kitts sit and learn from the sidelines.

Florida’s loss is Ohio State’s gain as the 2025 No. 25 prospect overall turned 2024 prospect brings her guard/forward play to the Buckeyes. Kitts blurs the line between the two positions and can bring the ball up the court, shoot from beyond the arc and play commanding defense inside the paint.

T’yana Todd, who led the ACC at 45.9 percent shooting from beyond the arc, was second in the poll with 24 votes. The two freshmen guards Bryn Martin and Dasha Biriuk shared third place with 18 votes apiece.

Head Coach Kevin McGuff

Speaking of McGuff, the survey also asked a series of questions rated on a scale of 1-to-10. The first was about the program leader who led the Buckeyes to four conference titles, a conference tournament title and the program’s first Elite Eight appearance in 30 years.

Regardless of the success, two Second Round exits at home and an offseason which included an arrest of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a case that is still playing through the legal process.

Overall, McGuff received an average score of 5.5 out of 10, with most fans choosing six through eight. However, 12.3 percent of the vote came back with a one, potentially pointing back to the OVI court case as a polarizing event for supporters of the Buckeyes.

Even so, fans rated their confidence in high school and transfer portal recruiting higher than they did McGuff. For high school recruiting, 23.1 percent of fans gave the staff an seven out of 10, while 24.6 percent gave them an eight out of 10 in the portal.

2025-26 Season Predictions

Season Ranking

How about the regular season as a whole? When it comes to where Ohio State lands in Big Ten standings is a story that has many endings.

Most respondents have the Buckeyes landing somewhere between third and fifth place in the conference, with eight folks picking the Scarlet and Gray to win the regular season title.

On average, all 130 survey-taking fans have Ohio State landing at No. 4 in the Big Ten.

Big Ten Tournament

With that high of an average ranking, 96.2 percent see Ohio State in the 15-team Big Ten Tournament field, although winning it is a different story.

Only 81.5 percent do not see them winning the entire tournament in Indianapolis this coming March.

NCAA Tournament

How about March Madness? Only 5.4 percent of respondents believe the Buckeyes miss out on the tournament and 2.3 percent believe it ends in the First Four, the play-in game to make the 64-team field.

The consensus pick should be no surprise to Ohio State fans. 46.2 percent believe the season ends in the tournament’s Second Round. The Buckeyes fell there in each of the last two seasons. First it was against the Duke Blue Devils in 2024 and then the Tennessee Volunteers in 2025. What makes matters worse is they were both in Columbus.

A First Round or Sweet Sixteen appearance were the other two dominating selections for fans. Surprisingly enough, 24.6 percent chose the Sweet Sixteen, despite the Buckeyes coming in with a drastically new roster.

Most Anticipated Non-Conference Opponent – UConn

In preparing the survey, the question should have been worded “Which Ohio State non-conference game, that is not UConn, are you most excited to watch?”

The history, ability and name recognition of UConn makes them the biggest team in the country, despite sides like the South Carolina Gamecocks taking a lot of attention in the last few years. When Ohio State announced UConn in a home-and-home series, it squashed talk of not scheduling any tough teams.

UConn is as tough as it gets and this season the Buckeyes play in Connecticut against the returning NCAA Champions. Ohio State defeated Azzi Fudd and the Huskies back in 2023 in the Sweet Sixteen, but that UConn was not at the place of this current squad that features not only Fudd but 24-25 Freshman of the Year Sarah Strong and former Big Ten All-Defensive Team selection Serah Williams.

TCU takes second in the poll at 12.3 percent and the rest of the games have a pick or two apiece. One person selected Coppin State this Sunday, possibly in excitement for the first game of the season.

Overall, the non-conference schedule as a whole received a six out of 10 on the 10-point scale, making it a moderately satisfying non-conference schedule for fans.

Most Anticipated Big Ten Opponent – UCLA

Despite welcoming the Bruins to Columbus two years ago, fans were upset last season when the first expanded Big Ten did not include any games against the two teams from Los Angeles. While the Buckeyes get center Lauren Betts back in Central Ohio this season, JuJu Watkins still won’t play in Columbus due to a season-ending ACL injury sustained in the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

With that said, fans picked UCLA at a 33.1 percent clip. The Watkin-less USC Trojans ended up third in the poll behind the Buckeyes’ games against the Maryland Terrapins.

As it comes to the more traditional rivalries for the Buckeyes, the Michigan Wolverines and Iowa Hawkeyes came in at fifth and sixth place respectively. This season, Ohio State welcomes Syla Swords, Olivia Olson and Mila Holloway to Columbus in the next iteration of The Game (WBB edition) and the Buckeyes travel to Iowa City for their matchup against Hannah Stuelke and the Hawkeyes.

The Big Ten schedule received a more favorable satisfaction rating of 7.9 out of 10.

There was one more question on the poll that was not addressed yet, and that is the Schottenstein Center. Respondents came together and gave Value City Arena a 7.3 out of 10 on the 10-point satisfaction scale.

Normally any mention of the arena elicits jeers from the St John’s Arena faithful across social media, so the vote was a surprising response. That helps prove that the loudest in the room do not always represent the will of the fans as a whole.

How will all of these picks play out this season? That begins Sunday at 1:00 p.m. at the Schottenstein Center.

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