In losing 86-84 to North Carolina on Monday night, the Ohio State played well enough late to make the final result a heartbreaker, something that would not have been expected after the way things started out. Kind of like the way the whole season unfolded.
Yes, if losing its second-round NCAA tournament game on a last-second shot was a surprise when the Buckeyes trailed at one point by 23 points, so too was the fact the Ohio State women's basketball team would end up earning a No. 5 seed in the tournament. Or finishing third in a loaded Big Ten for that matter.
There was a time the Buckeyes seemed unlikely to even qualify for the NCAA tournament or even avoid the first day of the Big Ten version. But there they were in Chapel Hill facing a traditionally tough Tar Heels team on its home court with a berth in the Sweet 16 on the line.
They got there because a young group grew together, learned to share and learned to win through the course of a rebuilding season that turned into one that should be a firm building block in head coach Kevin McGuff's program.
When McGuff, a southwest Ohio native who turned Xavier into a powerhouse before going to Washington for two years, took over two years ago, it was amid high expectations.
The OSU administration acknowledged in firing predecessor Jim Foster they were not satisfied with a team that won a lot of games -- and even championships -- in the regular season but didn't hang around for long in March.
With a local talent base that is the envy of many programs, Ohio State was often viewed as not a sleeping giant but perhaps one that had yet to truly find its footing in the years since Katie Smith led the Buckeyes to their only Final Four in 1993.
Of course, recruiting is the lifeblood of any college program, and McGuff proved right away he could do that by signing the No. 2 class in the country his first November in Columbus. A month later, he brought in two transfers who had been top-50 recruits the previous year.
Members of both groups were supposed to be key to success this season, but three were lost to knee injuries before the first game. Another veteran was unable to make it through the season before recurring soreness in a surgically repaired knee sidelined her, so Ohio State had to play most of the season with only eight available players.
The young squad did not only survive a winter that had a chance to be as long inside Value City Arena as it was outside but one that thrived on talent and growing confidence down the season's final stretches.
If their youth was on display in the first half against North Carolina, their precociousness was there to see in the second.
Talent was never really a question as Ameryst Alston, Kelsey Mitchell, Alexa Hart and Shayla Cooper were all highly regarded players in high school.
Athleticism? Yeah, they have that, too. But toughness, both physical and mental, was something they developed as the year went on, and they would need a lot of it as the minutes piled up. They went from a team that had a hard time putting failures behind it to one that did not seem to have any cares in the world. Weaknesses became something to ignore while strengths were emphasized on a nightly basis.
Of course Mitchell was the catalyst for the comeback. The freshman point guard showed anyone just tuning in because it's March why she was a phenomenon in high school and how she led the nation in scoring this season. Splashing threes and slicing through the defense, Mitchell finished with 25 points.
She figures to be even more dangerous as she gets more efficient (she missed 16 of 25 shots), but she doesn't have to look far for a great example of what that looks like. Alston, a junior already named to the All-Big Ten team twice, scored 30 points on 11-for-22 shooting. She had four assists and went to the free-throw line a game-high seven times, sinking all of them.
Hart and Cooper combined for 24 points and 12 rebounds, but that did not equal the night of North Carolina post presence Stephanie Mavunga, who looked unstoppable at times as she scored in transition and in the half-court.
The Tar Heels reinforced that Hart, a freshman, and Cooper, a sophomore, need reinforcements, but those are coming in the form of Makayla Waterman, a rugged 6-2 forward who redshirted this season with a knee injury and Theresa Ekhelar, a 6-6 center from New Jersey.
Like his counterpart in the football program, Urban Meyer, McGuff has talked extensively about establishing a certain culture that will lead to success. He seems to have done that as veterans Alston and fellow junior Cait Craft took on leadership roles this season to help the freshmen develop quickly.
Like his counterpart in the men's basketball program, Thad Matta, McGuff has recruited a transcendent talent in the backcourt from the class of 214. Of course Mitchell figures to be in Columbus much longer than D'Angelo Russell, and she will not be alone.
Amy Scullion is the only player to graduate from McGuff's second squad, and she was only a part-time contributor as she unexpectedly returned to the team after initially deciding to give up her last year of eligibility to concentrate on medical school. Her leadership and grit will be missed, but the Buckeyes will surely benefit more from being able to add multiple bodies to the rotation.
There is still a gap between Ohio State and the blue bloods of college basketball, but the Buckeyes showed even in defeat Monday night it is closing. How fast remains to be seen, but this group has shown it knows how to defy expectations both short and long term.
