Women play Wednesday at 6pm on ESPN2
McDonald's All-American Game with Berry Wallace Tuesday at 5:30pm on ESPN2 if want to pass some time
McDonald's All-American Game with Berry Wallace Tuesday at 5:30pm on ESPN2 if want to pass some time
Illini Women's Basketball 2023-2024
- Status
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
The 1996-97 team were Regular Season Conference Champions (3 way tie)
Cupboard is empty otherwise....no Big Ten Conference Tournament Championships even (runner up 3 times, twice with Grentz)
Grentz brought relevance to this program but she fizzled out after 5 seasons. Last 7 seasons we only made the Big Dance once.
Newcomers watching this program think it's been a bad 10 year stretch. It has been more like a decent 10 year stretch (in random years) over 43 years of play in the Big Ten. I am counting both Shauna Green years as better years in program history.
Baseless speculation: all three entering the portal, perhaps? Jackson's the puzzler.
That would make sense. Agree about Jackson. She seems to have more potential than the others. Could she still be a redshirt candidate?
1974-75 season was the first year Illini WBB was an NCAA sanctioned team. So this season marks 49 years. The WBB program honored that first team on the 45 year anniversary and brought back Coach Steve Douglas from California. Steve was a Political Science professor on campus. Title Nine required that coaches had to have coached a women's team to be hired. How Karol Kahrs tracked him down is pretty amazing. He was a terrific coach for two years. If you are not familiar with him do a little research. Last night I watched three terrific WBB games in a row. How wonderful to enjoy the level of play and see the fan interest. Let's not wait until next season's 50th anniversary to win another title. Bring home the hardware tomorrow Illini!
Last edited:
Im sure winning the title has some kinda recruiting benefits,although i believe that if we keep this front 7 we have and Shay Bollin can come out of the clouds and back into her potential,with our 2 new incoming this team can start next year very very competetive....Shauna Green seems to be an excellent choice of a coach....
I saw the first 3 qtrs. Recording ended before 4th qtr started. She played 5 mins each qtr. Missed an open layup and another contested layup and made a layup. I think she had 3 rebounds. One of her rebounds there was a foul called so I dont know if they counted it or not. Another was on an air ball. She rarely had the ball in her hands. Fed the post once for an assist. Her team won.
Yep definitely a team player. Also, she looks like she is physically ready to compete in the Big Ten.
NCAA doesn't recognize any Women's Championships in Basketball until 1982. Basically had the AIAW and NCAA duke it out. Is crazy if you look back at the 70s, more than half of them were won by now Division II and Division III teams. Grentz won I believe 3 as a player and one as coach at Rutgers in AIAW. 1982 the AIAW was won by Rutgers(Grentz coaching) and NCAA won by Old Dominion.
Illinois had 3 coaches during 8 seasons in AIAW(Schroeder coached few seasons in AIAW and transition into Big Ten play)
Wallace basically played the last 5 minutes of each quarter on the 2nd team. First half it was just street ball with the ladies around her. They played a little more together in the 2nd half but just one of those exhibition games.
Wallace looks up to speed compared to the players on the roster. Illini need to land a starting 5 in transfer portal so Wallace can come off the bench and contribute her first season.
Several years ago, a film called "The Mighty Macs" provided a slightly dramatized version of the Immaculata teams where Grentz (then Theresa Shank) was an All-American and won three national titles in the early '70s. Almost certainly the most unique college-sports dynasty ever. Former Penn State coach Rene Portland was on the team as well.
NEIlliniFan
- No longer in New England
UConn Associate Head Coach Chris Dailey was the captain of that '82 Rutgers squad
Game Day baby! Lets get ourselves a title for this group of very deserving young women and the coaching staff. ILL!!!
uofi7477
- Silver & Gold Vandals
Thank you Dan for listing this game under Upcoming Games on Homepage. We can see the interest increasing in Women's Basketball in general with Caitlin Clark, and here with the Charisma of Shauna Green and the Two Year Miracle Turnaround of the Illini. It does not take much to get hooked with the effort, skill and cohesiveness shown by this team now and indeed, in the bright future.
- Status