Finding that player that will take those big shots at the end of close ballgames isn't the easiest thing for a coach to do.
Fortunately for Oklahoma State Cowgirls basketball coach Jacie Hoyt, she has an embarrassment of options.
Because of the way the Cowgirls approached the offseason, going into the transfer portal and landing the No. 1 class in the country, Hoyt has a group of players who are highly experienced in these moments. Some can dominate and take over games while others can take clutch shots at the end of ball games.
In those close games and in those big moments who were the three players most capable of either taking the game over or closing it out?
Clearly the No. 1 ranked transfer is at the top of the list. Audi Crooks has played in the Big 12 for three years with the Iowa State Cyclones. She has a long history of taking over games and dominating. Last season she averaged 25.8 points and 7.7 rebounds and was named an honorable mention all-America. She averaged nearly a point per minute last season.
Crooks can work the post as well as any center in the country. She has great fundamentals, understands body placement in relation to the basket, positions herself well for drop steps and knows how to get and hold position for an entry pass.
She said she wanted to come to Oklahoma State to learn how to play faster. She wants to stretch the floor a little bit. She wants to work more in the screen-and-roll. Hoyt wants all those things too.
But when it matters, when the Cowgirls really need a basket down low, that's where she's going to be and that's where the ball is going. Good luck stopping it.
Liv McGill was the No. 2 ranked player in the transfer portal, was also a honorable mention all-American and like Crooks knows something about taking over a game. She averaged 22.5 points, 6.1 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 2.6 steals per game for Florida last season.
With so many people fixated on scoring, McGill can take over a game several ways. Yes she CAN score. But she's a solid rebounder at 5-9. She's a great passer, though she does need to trim the turnovers (5.3 per game a season ago). She's an adept penetrator who draws additional defenders and knows when to kick the ball out. She can dominate a game simply by dictating its pace.
In some ways, she's a higher-scoring version of the point guard that Crooks played with as a freshman at Iowa State, Emily Ryan. There will be nights that Hoyt puts the basketball in McGill's hands and lets her work.
There may be no player on the team that will benefit more from the gravitational pull that Crooks and McGill will put on opposing defenses than Ellie Brueggemann, the Owasso, Okla., native who returned home after three seasons at Lindenwood.
Hoyt's other significant mission in the portal was to surround Crooks and McGill with shooters. That's Brueggemann, who fired a career-best 44% from the arc last season. She's been building to that since her freshman year and last season her ability reached a critical mass. The best part? She's a better shooter with less volume than she was as a freshman.
If Crooks and McGill are going to work the pick-and-roll, there will be times it's defended well and it will be McGill to drive and find a secondary option. Brueggemann should be the one that benefits most due to her shooting ability. Hoyt can put her on the opposite side of the floor and a pass from McGill should put her in the right rhythm to shoot.
Brueggeman's shooting volume has gone down and her shooting percentage has gone up every season. That has the potential to make her a deadly one-possession option in critical moments.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/oklahomastate as Who Should Close Games for Oklahoma State Cowgirls Basketball? The Toughest Decision Facing Jacie Hoyt .
