Illini Women's Basketball 2023-2024

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#351      

GILL-INOIS

G
GILL-INOIS
ptgrd23 said:
Agreed we are 3x better than under Fahey. But we were one of worst D1 programs in the country under Fahey.
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It's not just under Fahey. We had a good stretch under Grentz(not all those years) and that is it. This program was in disarray the years before Grentz and 15+ years since Grentz. One more win this season and she will have the 1st and T-2nd most conference win seasons by the program in the past 10 seasons. Pretty freaking good!!!

ptgrd23 said:
I would like to be upper division B10 next year. Going to be tougher with UCLA and USC joining.
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Think we all share in that sentiment. Going from a bottom dweller to upper division doesn't tend to happen in a short period. Green is building this program the correct way. They have some high character ladies on this squad.


ptgrd23 said:
Compared to top B10 teams we play weak defense and are ineffective offensively. The transfer portal is best way to rebuild on the fly. We need good upperclassmen to mix with recruits. We need guards that can pass and defend.
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No doubt and she has done that since she got here. It is fine complaining about Cook and Bryant(I have done it) but they are better than what she inherited. Green brought both of them in. I like Peebles but she wasn't a high level Big Ten starter. Likely would have had Peebles, Oden and Rhodes as your rotation guards if she didn't bring Cook/Bryant in. Ouch!

Green has already brought this program out of the cellar. It will just take time to keep building this thing up.

The extra Covid year and seeing who transfers out will be huge this offseason to see just how many options we have to bring in. It is easy to say we need this position and that. We have no idea how many scholarships will open up yet. We all want the best but this snowball needs to get bigger before we go full-speed.
 
#352      

BRucks

BRucks
BRucks
ptgrd23 said:
Agreed we are 3x better than under Fahey. But we were one of worst D1 programs in the country under Fahey.

I would like to be upper division B10 next year. Going to be tougher with UCLA and USC joining.

Compared to top B10 teams we play weak defense and are ineffective offensively. The transfer portal is best way to rebuild on the fly. We need good upperclassmen to mix with recruits. We need guards that can pass and defend.
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Underwood won 4 and 7 conference games in his first two seasons with us before he turned the corner. It takes time to resurrect a program that was as down as the one that Green inherited (though it can be done more quickly now, with the portal).
 
#353      

WeWillWhen

WeWillWhen
WeWillWhen
GILL-INOIS said:
Not sure if we will land Bourrage but definitely think we will be one of the finalists for her. I find it more impressive Green is already bringing in top recruits to check out this program. Bourrage came in December and already back again in February. Bourrage is a top 10 prospect and made these comments lately.....

“I like to make a name for myself, all these programs have a lot of big-name athletes going there. I like to think I'm a big-name athlete myself. I want to help make a school big. I feel like I could help make a program name big and mine." - Divine Bourrage ‘25



On a sidenote to what you put....Iowa has a real nice recruiting class coming in next season. Clark needs to leave! Big Ten will only get stronger/harder next season with addition of USC/UCLA. Clark is the biggest name, but JuJu Watkins is putting on a show at USC and will see her more next season firsthand.

JuJu Watkins FR 6'2 guard

27.7 points/gm

6.9 rebounds/gm

3.5 assists/gm

2.6 steals/gm

1.7 blocks/gm
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I’ve known Juju since 8th grade (my son was a classmate through Soph year) so I’ve seen a lot of her. She’s a generational talent. No hyperbole. It’s been obvious for years. Doesn’t have the shooting range of Clark (who does?) but is just super all around and unstoppable off the bounce. She will be the best player in Women’s college basketball for the next three years. Book it.
 
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#354      

Luwdoo

L
Luwdoo
WeWillWhen said:
I’ve known Juju since 8th grade (my son was a classmate through Soph year) so I’ve seen a lot of her. She’s a generational talent. No hyperbole. It’s been obvious for years. Doesn’t have the shooting range of Clark (who does?) but is just super all around and unstoppable off the bounce. She will be the best player in Women’s college basketball for the next three years. Book it.
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With Hannah Hidalgo right behind.
 
#355      

GILL-INOIS

G
GILL-INOIS
WeWillWhen said:
I’ve known Juju since 8th grade (my son was a classmate through Soph year) so I’ve seen a lot of her. She’s a generational talent. No hyperbole. It’s been obvious for years. Doesn’t have the shooting range of Clark (who does?) but is just super all around and unstoppable off the bounce. She will be the best player in Women’s college basketball for the next three years. Book it.
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Very cool! No doubt she is living up to the bill of being the top recruit coming out of high school. USC has a MONSTER class coming in next season
 
#356      

GILL-INOIS

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GILL-INOIS
Luwdoo said:
With Hannah Hidalgo right behind.
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Hidalgo is also a beast. Good example of elite talent coming out of high school and having success right away. Plenty of room to add another 5'6 guard to our roster if she would want to transfer :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
 
#357      

BRucks

BRucks
BRucks
Penn State uses a lot of players - 11 or 12 in most games. No one gets more than 30 minutes (though Valladay was just lost to injury a couple games back). Jayla Oden is getting about 15 minutes per game, a little less than she averaged with us. Wonder of Green tries to go a little deeper into the bench.
 
#358      

ptgrd23

ptgrd23
ptgrd23
Last year we surprised a lot of teams early in the season since we were so bad for last 10 years.

This year people are ready for us, and we are improved from last year we are not 2X better.

Shauna has to play the bench more so they can develop. If she is unwilling then she needs to get a new bench from the transfer portal.
 
#359      

BRucks

BRucks
BRucks
ptgrd23 said:
Last year we surprised a lot of teams early in the season since we were so bad for last 10 years.

This year people are ready for us, and we are improved from last year we are not 2X better.

Shauna has to play the bench more so they can develop. If she is unwilling then she needs to get a new bench from the transfer portal.
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We put a real beatdown on these guys last year at our place. Both teams return pretty much intact.
 
#360      

GILL-INOIS

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GILL-INOIS
BRucks said:
No one gets more than 30 minutes (though Valladay was just lost to injury a couple games back).
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Valladay was a big loss for them. Legit outside shooter and team is 0-3 since she went down. Penn St 11-2 at home and always tough to win a conference game on the road. See which team shows up tonight.....bring some fight! Come in as a road dog and take a bite

laser pointer GIF
 
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#361      

battle

battle
battle
Gretchen with back to back 3's. WOuld be nice to know the score ... but big ten plus isn't showing it at all ... but its 15-15 ... now down 15-17
 
#366      

battle

battle
battle
Up 62 51 at end 3. We have exploited our speed advantage all night. Shooting well, psu is not
 
#372      

GILL-INOIS

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GILL-INOIS
GILL-INOIS said:
Green is always working......

Anyone else notice top 25 recruits in 2025 class Divine Bourrage and Destiny Jackson at the last game?
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Here is what Divine Bourrage aunt said after that last visit by the ladies...Bourrage top 10 recruit and Jackson top 30 recruit

"Coach Green is determined to win here. She's committed to working hard to attract players like my niece and the (Destiny) Jackson girl to join her program. In my eyes, recruiting is key. We know she can coach; she's a winner. After her speech, it was so powerful that she had a few of us in the room ready to throw on a uniform and hit the court." - Devon Binion

Excited Season 4 GIF by The Office
 
#373      

WyattEarp

WyattEarp
WyattEarp
GILL-INOIS said:
Here is what Divine Bourrage aunt said after that last visit by the ladies...Bourrage top 10 recruit and Jackson top 30 recruit

"Coach Green is determined to win here. She's committed to working hard to attract players like my niece and the (Destiny) Jackson girl to join her program. In my eyes, recruiting is key. We know she can coach; she's a winner. After her speech, it was so powerful that she had a few of us in the room ready to throw on a uniform and hit the court." - Devon Binion

Excited Season 4 GIF by The Office
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Adam Sandler Put Me In Coach GIF
 
#374      

pruman91

pruman91
Paducah, Ky
pruman91
Great game by the ladies tonight...
Balanced scoring throughout the lineup and excellent defense played.....
McKenzie is so talented...wish she had grown 3-4 more inches , but she makes up for it with her determined and hustling effort....

Go Illini !!!
 
#375      

GrayGhost77

GrayGhost77
Centennial, CO
GrayGhost77
Nice game from the ladies, but a real tough stretch coming up against teams all ahead of us in the standings. If we could snag two W's out of that group I'd be feeling pretty good about how the season finishes.
 
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