Celeste Taylor did the whole lot she may at Duke. The 2023 ACC Defensive Player of the Year, Taylor was a giant cause why Duke reached its first NCAA Tournament since 2018. From the second she arrived in 2021, she was the participant coach Kara Lawson leaned on to assist set up the tradition she wished.
Among discovering her voice as a pacesetter, serving to youthful gamers with movie and Xs and Os, there wasn’t a lot Taylor didn’t have a hand in at Duke. When the Blue Devils confronted Colorado in the second spherical of the NCAA Tournament, her on-court influence was on full show as nicely. She completed with eight factors, 10 rebounds, 10 steals and eight assists, however Duke misplaced 61-53 in extra time. She wished she shot higher than 21 p.c in the loss, nevertheless it was arduous to observe that recreation and see extra that Taylor may do. Still, the loss broke her.
In tears, Taylor found her greatest followers, her mother and father Alex and Selene Navarro, after the recreation. That second took her father again to Taylor’s eighth grade yr when her grassroots group misplaced a recreation and he or she cried throughout the automobile experience house. It was the similar state of affairs; Taylor did the whole lot on the ground however wished to do extra.
“I’m like, ‘Celeste, what are you crying about?’ She said, ‘We lost the game and I couldn’t score,’” Navarro mentioned. “She was young and I just told her those offensive rebounds you got added six more points, those stops you got turned into points.”
After they acquired house, Navarro obtained a name from Taylor’s grassroots coach who mentioned a school coach wished to speak to him about Taylor. Despite the loss, the coach had cherished Taylor’s recreation for the actual causes Navarro instructed his daughter: She impacts the recreation in each side.
It’s the similar now. Taylor is a do-it-all participant for No. 12 Ohio State, the place she transferred to from Duke after final season. She’s averaging 7.6 factors per recreation, fourth on the Buckeyes. She additionally has a career-high and team-best 3.8 assists per recreation, a team-high 5 blocks and is second on the Buckeyes with 23 steals. But the participant Ohio State followers are attending to know higher wouldn’t be who she is with out moments like the Colorado loss or the whole lot that occurred earlier than.
GO DEEPER
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It’s in her lowest moments, when the tears are flowing after a troublesome loss or when accidents held her out of video games, that formed Taylor’s perspective. She’s nonetheless the extremely aggressive participant who was ranked No. 40 as a highschool recruit and needs to finish her closing school season on high. But coming into her fifth yr, she’s additionally mature sufficient to know she’s greater than only a basketball participant. “I want to grow a legacy that I can leave behind as far as people seeing the person I am,” Taylor mentioned. “It’s about trying to make the world a better place.”
Whenever the NCAA Tournament ended for Duke, Taylor’s school profession was going to be over. That was the plan she and her household had devised. She was prepared to move to the WNBA. They even had an agent picked out.
But quickly after the Colorado loss final season, Taylor had a dialog together with her household. Navarro mentioned he thought Taylor may use one other yr of school; she may earn a grasp’s diploma after majoring in psychology at Duke after which pursue knowledgeable profession afterward. Taylor didn’t agree, however promised she’d give it some thought in the coming days. The subsequent morning Taylor referred to as her mother and father and mentioned she was in. She was going again to Duke.
The return was quick lived, although.
Relationships are of robust significance to Taylor, who has three siblings and talks to her mom a number of occasions per day. Because the household felt a detailed bond with Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff, Taylor strongly thought of the Buckeyes out of highschool. But she in the end selected Texas due to one other robust relationship with Karon Aston.
At Duke, the household cherished Lawson, however their closest relationship was with assistant coach Winston Gandy. Over her two years at Duke, Taylor constructed a detailed relationship with Gandy. Any time she wanted to work out, go over movie or speak, Gandy was who she turned to. He even helped Navarro transfer Taylor into her new house going into her second season.
But days after Taylor introduced she was staying at Duke, Navarro acquired a name from Gandy. “I have bad news for you,” Gandy mentioned. Navarro thought perhaps Duke misplaced a recruit or one thing, however Gandy mentioned he was accepting an assistant coach job at South Carolina underneath coach Dawn Staley. Navarro was selfishly upset, however he understood that job couldn’t be handed up.
Taylor found out quickly after Navarro and knew a change needed to be made. “Celeste said, ‘OK I gotta go to the portal. I can’t gamble on my last year with who Kara may or may not bring in,” Navarro mentioned. Things moved shortly for Taylor after that.
The expertise of transferring from Texas to Duke gave her perception into the switch course of. But this time was completely different. She had one yr left. She couldn’t go someplace and assist break in a brand new tradition once more; she wished or not it’s a program that was already set and he or she may are available in to assist elevate it. The household targeted on coaches and applications the place they already had developed relationships. In got here McGuff.
This was the third time he recruited Taylor. This was the proper time for Taylor.
Ohio State was contemporary off an Elite Eight run and wanted a dynamic and skilled guard after the departure of Taylor Mikesell, who was drafted by the Indiana Fever. Taylor wished to play someplace she would fit in, enhance her recreation, and work with a training employees that will push her. It was a perfect match.
As a do-it-all participant, Taylor averages 7.6 factors per recreation and has a team-best 38 assists. (Brian Rothmuller / Icon Sportswire through Getty Images)
Taylor performed highschool varsity as a seventh grader and averaged 10 factors per recreation. But Navarro had a message for her: She wasn’t nearly as good as she thought she was.
“These girls are just that bad,” he mentioned. “I told her we have to get you out of here because you’re not going to get better and you’re going to get a false sense of how good you can be.”
She left public college and went to Long Island Lutheran for eighth grade. Navarro always communicated to his daughter that by committing to protection her coach must put her on the courtroom.One of the greatest components of Taylor’s recreation turned her excessive basketball IQ, however combined together with her relentlessness on the courtroom. It made her a perfect fit for Ohio State and McGuff.
Ohio State’s match run final season got here on the power of its elite protection. The Buckeyes held opponents to 68 factors per recreation, which wasn’t close to the high of the nation, however that’s as a result of Ohio State sped up groups with its press.
So when Taylor entered the portal it was a no brainer for McGuff to achieve out. And it’s labored out to this point this season. Ohio State is giving up simply 60 factors per recreation, however Taylor can also be serving to in the half-court protection, a side of the recreation Ohio State struggled with final season. Teams are capturing simply 38 p.c from the discipline in opposition to the Buckeyes, an enchancment from 43 p.c a yr in the past.
For Taylor, although, the fit is extra than simply protection. Ohio State’s plethora of scoring choices, akin to Jacy Sheldon and Cotie McMahon, has allowed Taylor to indicate off extra of her playmaking abilities as nicely. At Duke, Taylor was compelled to do quite a bit in the offense and averaged greater than 10 shot makes an attempt per recreation. At Ohio State she’s in a position to play with much less consideration on her.
Celeste Taylor found her shot a couple of weeks in the past and he or she hasn’t appeared again
Massive bucket late pic.twitter.com/FwuVFUzWvr
— Mark Schindler (@MG_Schindler) December 10, 2023
“Here, how can you focus on one player when everybody is a proven scorer?” Taylor mentioned. “So it’s being able to hit open shots, and I think personally, and this is new for my offensive game, is the assist department. I want to show that I can pass the ball. I worked on this a lot at Duke. I’ve always been ahead on seeing things before it happens.”
Though her capturing share is all the way down to 34 p.c she’s making an influence on either side of the ball.
After the loss to Colorado, Taylor struggled to consider something aside from her school profession being over. But her mother and father careworn that she had nothing to be upset about. Between her two years at Texas and the influence she made at Duke, she left a powerful legacy. Navarro instructed Taylor: “The culture is forever changed.” That would’ve been arduous for Taylor to just accept years in the past.
“Not to say I wasn’t patient, but when you’re young it’s instant gratification,” Taylor mentioned. “Everybody feels like they deserve this and deserve that.”
That’s not who Taylor is anymore. As she sat in the Ohio State apply health club earlier this season speaking about her journey, she mentioned it’s troublesome to consider. From the pleasure of arriving at Texas to play for Aston to her coach being dismissed, the COVID-19 years, accidents at Duke and even the success. Taylor says she appreciates these experiences and has grown from them.
“My parents always tell me about things when I was younger, and I’m like I don’t want to hear about the past or think about that,” Taylor mentioned. “Did I plan to go to Texas and say, ‘Oh I’m going to transfer two times after that? No. That was never in my head. … It’s crucial to be able to sit back and reflect. If you don’t sit back and reflect, how can you grow as a person? As a college athlete it’s hard because you’re like I need 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 seen a change in Taylor, as nicely. The smile she had when she left to go Texas as a freshman dimmed over time as she handled COVID-19 and being hundreds of miles from house. “I would tell my wife she doesn’t look like the same kid that went away to Texas,” Navarro mentioned. “The happiness, the smile, I don’t see that.”
When they visited Ohio State, he noticed it once more. For the first time in years, he noticed his daughter with the similar pleasure she had on the courtroom rising up.
“I think she’s at peace with what she’s done,” Navarro mentioned. “I think she connects with McGuff on a level that’s letting her be herself. She’s so comfortable and let go of trying to impress people or playing to get drafted. I think she’s just playing for herself and that’s what got her where she was at to begin with. She’s living in the moment.”
High expectations for Ohio State this season are motivation for Taylor. “People are expecting this and I’m always going to work my hardest to make it happen,” Taylor mentioned. “That’s what broke me last year after not beating Colorado. It was never about other people saying we had to win that game because we were the higher seed. It was me. I feel like I could’ve done more, but I did almost everything I could’ve done. I gave it my all. That’s all I expect out of myself.”
Taylor has helped lead Ohio State to a 9-1 document heading into Monday’s top-15 matchup in opposition to second-ranked UCLA. Win or lose, Taylor is at peace with herself, as a result of she has one objective. “Being happy,” she mentioned. “It’s about being happy in every moment.”
The relaxation can come later.
(Top photograph of Celeste Taylor: Jason Mowry / Icon Sportswire through Getty Images)
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