Transfer point guard Myah Taylor is where she probably should have been all along. “Coach Yo is a blessing for Ole Miss.”

Blake Jones didn’t want to sway Myah Taylor one way or another, only for his star point guard at Olive Branch to make the best decision for her promising basketball future. 

But he was frustrated. Taylor’s family was, too. She had no shortage of options as a five-star prospect in 2017, but if given the choice, she’d have preferred to stay close to home. Ole Miss was right up the road and she liked the Rebels, even if they hadn’t had much success at all since their Elite Eight run 10 years prior. 

Quite frankly, then-head coach Matt Insell didn’t try all that hard. Mississippi State, which made back-to-back National Championship appearances, including Taylor’s freshman year in 2018, certainly did. So she signed. Of course she did.

Yolett McPhee-McCuin wouldn’t let Ole Miss make the same mistake twice. 

McPhee-McCuin landed Taylor out of the NCAA Transfer Portal on Monday. Tayor, a graduate transfer, has one year of eligibility remaining. She’ll arrive in June and is expected to start at point guard for the Rebels.

“I think her and her family, they’re some of the smartest people I’ve ever met,” Jones, now the head coach at Hernando, said. “I know she wanted to hang close to home, but also make the best decision for her.” 

Taylor played in 115 career games at Mississippi State.

She made 81 starts, including all 29 last season. Taylor averaged 8.0 points and 5.5 assists per game. She also finished sixth in program history in assists, and her 2.36 assist/turnover ratio ranked fourth in the SEC and 29th in Division I in 2020-21.

Jones, an Ole Miss alum, rolled out the red carpet for Insell and the Rebels. Olive Branch played in Insell’s summer league, and Jones, time and again, practically begged the Ole Miss coaching staff to come watch Taylor play.

Nothing. Meanwhile, legendary Mississippi State coach Vic Schaffer flew a private jet with his wife and daughter to watch Taylor’s home games.

“Coach Yo is a blessing for Ole Miss in women’s basketball in general, and I think that connection was there as well,” Jones said. “It had to be a good family, a good head coach. For her to decide to stick it out at home, I think it’s going to be great.”

Jones’ parents live in Oxford and don’t miss a single home game for women’s basketball. Now they’ll once again have a front-row seat to a player they all but watched grow up in the game — at the school where she probably should have ended up to begin with.

“I think she brings a lot to the table,” Jones said. “She’s going to be more of a leader at Ole Miss, possibly. She was a leader at State, but she’s going to be able to come in and make an immediate impact around the perimeter. If coach Yo let’s her shoot the ball a little more, basically turn her loose like I did and say, ‘Go, play and go get it’ … 

“Maya isn’t the best when it comes to running set offense, set plays every time down the floor. She’s more of a transition shooter, transition runner, create-your-own-shot type of guard. I think it’ll really expand there.”

Jones, with Taylor leading the way, took Olive Branch to consecutive MHSAA 6A state championship game appearances in 2014 and 2015. 

It was the first time the Lady Quistors had ever reached the state 6A finals. Taylor was Mississippi Gatorade Player of the Year. Jones’ teams were ranked as high as No. 4 at one time by USA Today.

He still vividly recalls how Taylor’s first recruitment played out. Her second? Well, he’ll simply say his one-time star pupil has found the perfect home, even if she had to take a roundabout route to get there.

He could see Taylor potentially taking her game to new heights under McPhee-McCuin.

“State, they ran a lot of sets and were kind of restricted in certain things they could do offensively,” Jones said. Ole Miss is coming off a 23-9 season in which the Rebels reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 15 seasons. 

“But if coach Yo keeps doing what she’s doing and let’s the kids play, and as long as she gives her a lot longer leash than she had at State, I think she’ll really go off for some higher numbers, especially in the assist category.  If she turns her loose in a dribble-drive offense like coach Yo likes to do kind of, I think it’ll be beneficial for her and the program.”