Players Lost:

  GP/GS Min FG FGA FG% 3 Pt 3Pt A 3 Pt % FT FTA FT %
Marrita Porter 29/29 29.7 162 275 .589 1 5 .200 98 130 .754
Larecha Jones 29/13 20.2 146 332 .440 29 103 .282 62 85 .729
Roslyn Barker 29/23 20.3 55 109 .505 0 0 .000 25 39 .641
Mindy Fusetti 23/0 5.9 16 36 .444 0 1 .000 8 13 .615
Kylee Bogott 26/16 14.8 16 30 .533 0 0 .000 5 10 .500
Megan McCabe 12/0 6.7 7 13 .538 0 0 .000 4 9 .444

 

  Off Reb Def Reb Reb PF-D Assists Steals Blocks TO A/TO High Points Ave
Marrita Porter 58 112 170 90-3 42 42 13 127 0.33 25 423 14.6
Larecha Jones 65 65 130 82-2 30 34 17 74 0.46 30 383 13.2
Roslyn Barker 36 51 87 74-1 26 33 1 42 0.62 15 135 4.7
Mindy Fusetti 13 10 23 29-0 0 2 5 14 0.00 6 40 1.7
Kylee Bogott 22 38 60 41-0 5 14 5 20 0.25 6 37 1.4
Megan McCabe 16 6 22 5-0 0 3 0 1 0.00 11 18 1.5

 

Players returning:

  GP/GS Min FG FGA FG% 3 Pt 3Pt A 3 Pt % FT FTA FT %
Lauren Shenk 29/22 26.9 94 270 .348 43 135 .319 40 57 .702
Michaela Moua 29/13 27.3 107 193 .554 0 1 .000 47 77 .610
Jamie Lewis 29/29 29.6 68 191 .356 28 94 .298 52 70 .743
Tomeka Brown 29/0 14.2 45 107 .421 3 13 .231 35 65 .538
Laura Ingham 29/0 11.0 12 38 .316 0 8 .000 17 25 .680
Mandy Stanhope 12/0 6.3 7 13 .538 0 0 .000 4 9 .444

 

  Off Reb Def Reb Reb PF-D Assists Steals Blocks TO A/TO High Points Ave
Lauren Shenk 25 36 61 46-0 47 18 2 58 0.81 23 271 9.3
Michaela Moua 47 83 130 74-3 31 30 7 77 0.40 22 261 9.0
Jamie Lewis 20 55 75 53-0 122 50 0 71 1.72 16 216 7.4
Tomeka Brown 18 33 51 45-0 15 24 5 31 0.48 11 128 4.4
Laura Ingham 11 21 32 42-2 37 23 0 50 0.74 9 41 1.4
Mandy Stanhope 5 12 17 6-0 4 2 0 10 0.40 6 18 1.8

 

Additions:

Courtney Bale 6'2  F Transfer from San Diego State
LaToya Turner 6'4 C Pickerington, Oh 1st Team Parade, USA Today, All American, #2* #3@
Tanya McClure 5'6 G Gahanna, Neb 3rd Team Parade AA, #64* #21@
DiDi Reynolds 6'1 F Bascom, Oh #178* #61@
D'wan Shackleford 6' F Newark, Oh #70*
Courtney Coleman 6'2 F Cincinnati, Oh #27*

* All Star Girls Report

@ Blue Star Top 100

All teams go into a season with question marks.  Few teams in the Big 10 have more than OSU.

Fortunately for Beth Burns, she has many potential answers in the form of one of the country's top freshmen classes.  Shenk, Moua and Lewis will form the core of the team, with freshmen taking up many of the remaining minutes.

Turner will likely start at center, with several freshmen competing with Brown for the remaining starting spots.  

Burns has been a defensive coach, and has benched players who don't live up to her defensive expectations.  She will likely have to become more patient as freshmen are not known for defensive excellence and mistake free basketball. It will be difficult for her to play the style of ball she likes with as young a team as she will have.

She will need her freshmen to contribute significantly, because she has major holes on her team.  OSU finished tenth in the conference and ninth in rebounding margin last season.  If they are to improve, or just to maintain their position from last year, they will have to improve in those areas.  It's likely that the improvement will have to come from newcomers.  Shenk is the top returning scorer and she shot less than 35% from the field last year.

In each of Burns' seasons at OSU, her team has endured a swoon during the season.  With a team this young, it may not be possible for her to pull them out if they start slumping again.

On a team with questions, the biggest surrounds returning point guard Lewis.  Lewis is a solid point guard, with the top assist/turnover ratio among returning guards.  But she tore her acl in July and her availability for the upcoming season is uncertain.  If she can not return, or returns at less than 100%, the Buckeyes could have a long season.

The future looks bright in Columbus, but this year may be a struggle.

By position:

  Point guard.  Lewis is one of the conference's best, but her availability is in severe question.  If she returns, she will need to provide the leadership lost when Porter graduated.  If Lewis cannot play this year, the point position could be a major weakness for OSU.

  Swing players.  Shenk was one of the top freshmen in the conference and is the leading returning scorer.  However, she shot under 35% and was inconsistent.  She will need to become a more steady player.  The other swing position looks to be open and someone will need to step up.

  Post players.  Moua is a solid power forward and Turner was one of the nation's best prep player.  Both will need to score and have a presence on the boards.  Moua turns the ball over too much and needs to eliminate some of the give-aways.  She will also be the only returning senior and will need to assume some leadership.

  Bench.  Burns appears to have solid depth in the front court with Bale and Coleman.  If McClure doesn't start, she will contribute at guard.  There may not be much other help at the guard spots.

Strengths:  defense, coaching

Weaknesses:  inexperience, offense, rebounding

Key games:  Jan 13 Purdue, Jan 23 @ Wisconsin, Feb 17 @ Iowa

Key player:  Jamie Lewis.  The health of her knee may determine who good a season the Buckeyes have.

Question Buckeye fans are asking: Will the Buckeyes play a season without a major slump?

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