How Celeste Taylor found the perfect match at Ohio State

Celeste Taylor did everything she could at Duke. Taylor, the 2023 ACC Defensive Player of the Year, was a big reason why Duke reached its first NCAA tournament since 2018. From the moment she arrived in 2021, she was the player coach Kara Lawson leaned on to help establish the culture she wanted.

Between finding her voice as a leader and helping younger players with film and Xs and Os, there wasn’t much Taylor couldn’t control at Duke. When the Blue Devils faced Colorado in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, her impact on the court was also on full display. She finished with eight points, 10 rebounds, 10 steals and eight assists, but Duke lost in overtime 61-53. She wished she had shot better than 21 percent in the loss, but it was hard to watch that game and see what else Taylor could do. Still, the loss broke her.

In tears after the match, Taylor found her biggest fans, her parents Alex and Selene Navarro. That moment took her father back to Taylor’s eighth grade year, when her starting team lost a game and she cried on the car ride home. It was the same scenario; Taylor did everything on the floor, but wanted to do more.

“I’m like, ‘Celeste, what are you crying about?’ She said, ‘We lost the game and I couldn’t score,'” Navarro said. “She was young and I just told her that those offensive rebounds you got added up to six more points, and those stops you got turned into points.”

After they got home, Navarro got a call from Taylor’s elementary coach saying a college coach wanted to talk to him about Taylor. Despite the loss, the coach loved Taylor’s play for exactly the reasons Navarro told his daughter: She influences the game in every facet.

It’s the same now. Taylor is an all-rounder for No. 12 Ohio State, where she transferred from Duke after last season. She is averaging 7.6 points per game, fourth on the Buckeyes. She also has a career-high and team-best 3.8 assists per game, a team-high five blocks and is second on the Buckeyes with 23 steals. But the player Ohio State fans have come to know better wouldn’t be who she is without moments like the Colorado loss or everything that came before.

It is in her lowest moments, when the tears flow after a tough defeat or when injuries keep her out of matches, that shape Taylor’s perspective. She’s still the ultra-competitive player who was ranked No. 40 as a high school recruit and wants to finish her final college season on top. But now that she’s entering her fifth year, she’s also mature enough to understand that she’s more than just a basketball player. “I want to build a legacy that I can leave behind as far as people seeing who I am,” Taylor said. “It’s about trying to make the world a better place.”

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Whenever the NCAA Tournament ended for Duke, Taylor’s college career would be over. That was the plan she and her family came up with. She was ready to go to the WNBA. An agent was even selected.

But shortly after the Colorado loss last season, Taylor had a conversation with her family. Navarro said he thought Taylor could use another year of college; she could earn a master’s degree after majoring in psychology at Duke, and then pursue a professional career. Taylor disagreed, but promised she would think about it in the coming days. The next morning, Taylor called her parents and said she was there. She went back to Duke.

However, the return was short-lived.

Relationships are of great importance to Taylor, who has three siblings and talks to her mother several times a day. Because the family felt close to Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff, Taylor strongly considered leaving high school with the Buckeyes. But she ultimately chose Texas because of another strong relationship with Karon Aston.

At Duke, the family loved Lawson, but their closest relationship was with assistant coach Winston Gandy. During her two years at Duke, Taylor built a close relationship with Gandy. Whenever she needed to train, film or talk, Gandy was the person she turned to. He even helped Navarro move Taylor into her new apartment for her second season.

But days after Taylor announced she was staying at Duke, Navarro received a call from Gandy. “I have bad news for you,” Gandy said. Navarro thought Duke might have lost a recruit or something, but Gandy said he accepted an assistant coaching job at South Carolina under coach Dawn Staley. Navarro was selfishly disappointed, but he understood he couldn’t pass up that job.

Taylor found out shortly after Navarro and knew something had to change. “Celeste said, ‘Okay, I have to get to the portal. I can’t gamble for my senior year on who Kara will or won’t bring in,” Navarro said. Things moved quickly for Taylor after that.

The experience transferring from Texas to Duke gave her insight into the transfer process. But this time it was different. She still had one year left. She couldn’t go somewhere to help introduce yet another new culture; she wanted it to be a program that was already established and that she could come in and help improve it. The family focused on coaches and programs where they had already developed relationships. McGuff entered.

This was the third time he recruited Taylor. This was the right time for Taylor.

Ohio State was fresh off an Elite Eight run and needed a dynamic and experienced guard following the departure of Taylor Mikesell, who was drafted by the Indiana Fever. Taylor wanted to play somewhere where she would fit in, improve her game and work with a coaching staff that would push her. It was a perfect match.

Taylor played varsity in high school as a seventh grader and averaged 10 points per game. But Navarro had a message for her: She wasn’t as good as she thought she was.
“These girls are just so bad,” he said. “I told her we have to get you out of here because you won’t get better and you’re getting a false idea of ​​how good you can be.”

She left public school and attended Long Island Lutheran for eighth grade. Navarro continually informed his daughter that by committing to defense, her coach would have to put her on the field. One of the best aspects of Taylor’s game was her high basketball IQ, but mixed with her relentlessness on the court. It made her a perfect fit for Ohio State and McGuff.

Ohio State’s tournament run last season was thanks to the strength of its elite defense. The Buckeyes held their opponents to 68 points per game, which wasn’t near the top in the country, but that’s because Ohio State accelerated teams with its press.

So when Taylor entered the portal, it was a no-brainer for McGuff to reach out. And so far this season it has worked. Ohio State gives up just 60 points per game, but Taylor also helps with half-court defense, a facet of the game that Ohio State struggled with last season. Teams are shooting just 38 percent from the field against the Buckeyes, an improvement from 43 percent a year ago.

For Taylor, though, the fit is more than just defense. Ohio State’s abundance of scoring options, such as Jacy Sheldon and Cotie McMahon, has also allowed Taylor to showcase more of her playmaking skills. At Duke, Taylor had to do a lot on offense and averaged more than 10 shot attempts per game. At Ohio State, she can play with less attention on her.

Celeste Taylor found her shot a few weeks ago and she hasn’t looked back

Huge bucket of late pic.twitter.com/FwuVFUzWvr

— Mark Schindler (@MG_Schindler) December 10, 2023

“How can you focus on one player here when everyone is a proven goal scorer?” Taylor said. “So it’s the ability to make open shots, and I think personally, and this is new to my offensive game, the assist department. I want to show that I can pass the ball. I worked on this a lot at Duke. I have always been ahead of the curve in seeing things before they happen.”

Although her shooting percentage is still only 34 percent, she is impressive on both sides of the ball.

After the loss to Colorado, Taylor struggled to think about anything other than her college career being over. But her parents insisted she had nothing to be disappointed about. Between her two years at Texas and the impact she made at Duke, she left a strong legacy. Navarro told Taylor, “The culture has changed forever.” That would have been difficult for Taylor to accept years ago.

“I don’t want to say I didn’t have patience, but when you’re young there’s instant gratification,” Taylor said. “Everyone feels like they deserve this and deserve that.”

That’s not who Taylor is anymore. As she sat at Ohio State practice earlier this season talking about her journey, she said it’s hard to think about. From the excitement of arriving in Texas to play for Aston, to her coach’s firing, the COVID-19 years, injuries at Duke and even success. Taylor says she values ​​these experiences and has grown as a result.

“My parents are always telling me about things when I was younger, and I feel like I don’t want to hear about the past or think about it,” Taylor said. “Did I plan to go to Texas and say, ‘Oh, I’m going to transfer twice after that?’ No. That was never in my mind. … It’s crucial to be able to sit back and think. If you don’t sit back and think, how can you grow as a person? As a college athlete, it’s hard because you think I’ve got to go and go and go, and by the time you look back you’re a senior. You can only grow as a person if you sit back and have that perspective.”

Navarro has also seen a change in Taylor. The smile she had when she left for Texas as a freshman faded over time as she dealt with COVID-19 and was thousands of miles away from home. “I would tell my wife she doesn’t look like the same kid who went to Texas,” Navarro said. “The happiness, the smile, I don’t see that.”

When they visited Ohio State, he saw it again. For the first time in years, he saw his daughter with the same joy she had on the field growing up.

“I think she’s at peace with what she did,” Navarro said. “I think she connects with McGuff on a level that lets her be herself. She is so comfortable and lets go of trying to impress people or play to get drafted. I think she’s just playing for herself and that’s what got her where she was to begin with. She lives in the moment.”

High expectations for Ohio State this season are what motivates Taylor. “People expect this and I’m always going to do my very best to make it happen,” Taylor said. “That’s what broke me last year after not beating Colorado. It was never about other people saying we should win that game because we were the higher seed. It was me. I feel like I could have done more, but I’ve done almost everything I could have done. I gave everything. That’s all I expect from myself.”

Taylor has helped lead Ohio State to a 9-1 record heading into Monday’s top-15 matchup against second-ranked UCLA. Win or lose, Taylor is at peace with herself because she has one goal. “Be happy,” she said. “It’s about being happy in every moment.”

The rest can come later.

(Top photo of Celeste Taylor: Jason Mowry/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)