Let’s start this piece off with a blind sampling…

Player A: 18.1 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 2.8 APG

Player B: 19.9 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 3.6 APG

Player C: 18.8 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 7.6 APG

Players A and C are nationally recognized guards that are some of the biggest names in our game right now.

Player B is doing much of the same, except you may not know her all that well.

The numbers tell one story, the narrative tells another.

Player A is UConn’s Azzi Fudd. Player C is TCU’s Olivia Miles.

Player B is Ohio State’s Jaloni Cambridge.

So what gives? Why are we not seeing a bit more hype out of Columbus? Ironically, some of what UCLA head coach Cori Close was complaining about this weekend is directly correlated to the lack of energy around Cambridge as a player. With Ohio State football sucking up so much of the media oxygen until mid January at the latest, what is left for Buckeye women’s basketball?

It’s not as though the numbers and performances aren’t there. In her freshman debut last season, Cambridge scored 31 points and tallied 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals on 12/14 shooting. She was in double-digits in every AP Top 10 matchup last season, with her high watermark being a 33 point performance in an 89-78 victory over Michigan State. This is a player that was one of the top five recruits in the nation coming out of high school, mind you.

Is it really that simple? That football has just swallowed up so much of Columbus’ media ecosystem that a star like Cambridge can’t break through? It’s been hard in the past for the Buckeyes under Kevin McGuff to really make waves, even in their best years. The atmosphere within the arena isn’t the issue, as Cori Close said on Sunday.

So let’s change some of that narrative right now and start talking about Jaloni Cambridge as a potential Big Ten Player of the Year candidate.

Alongside older sister Kennedy Cambridge and backcourt running mate Chance Gray, the Ohio State sophomore knows much of the Buckeyes team success falls to her.

“This year, with the team we have, I have to do more, and I’m OK with that,” she told Brianna Mac Kay of the Columbus Dispatch back in November. “I’m surrounded by good people, both teammates and coaches.”

She’s being asked to do much more, particularly with initiating the offense and attacking the boards. In addition to her scoring (15.4 PPG to 19.9 PPG), her averages in the defensive metrics (rebounds and steals) have improved. While her assist numbers have dipped slightly, her efficiency is way up year over year so far.

“She’s obviously a great player,” said head coach Kevin McGuff after the Buckeyes Sunday loss to No. 4 UCLA. “We rely on her for quite a bit. I think you’re seeing her start to blossom as a leader now too and she’s got a really high basketball IQ and the respect of her teammates, so we need to her to continue to flourish in that role.”

Cambridge herself believes that this Ohio State team isn’t too far off.

“We were right there,” she said of the UCLA game, “We just have to make more shots.”

While Cambridge isn’t a super dynamic three point scorer — she’s averaging just 15% from deep so far this year — her ability to finish inside is unparalleled. There’s a few smaller guards in the game, from Ta’Niya Latson to Hannah Hidalgo, that have proved there’s still a place for slashers and drivers in women’s basketball. But the challenge for her and this Ohio State team will be in how they’re able to manage teams that are deep in the frontcourt. The Buckeyes play fast and small-ball by design, overwhelming opponents with full court presses and traps, but there’s proven to be a limit to that when you get into the NCAA Tournament.

Sometimes a truly elite guard can overcome a schematic disadvantage like that, and it feels as though that’s what will be asked of Cambridge this year. To be something of a Hannah Hidalgo or JuJu Watkins-like figure in order for the Buckeyes to make a serious run into the second weekend of the Tournament. But, if the early returns are any indication, Jaloni Cambridge has the capability and ceiling to do it.