Could be a 'quiet' recruiting season. Segura is the only current player who completes her eligibility this year. I'd expect other players to leave, as well, but it makes pursuing early commitments complicated.
I feel this. A young team this year with a lot of depth. Not a dream scenario for most prospective recruits.
I look at the roster right now and think that point guard and post player are the positions we could add depth for '26-'27, but it's really early to form such opinions-- won't know till the end of this season; and the transfer portal is, of course, a looming pool of potential Illini.
Anyway, I think these days you just add any HS recruits that fit your program's culture and system and fill roster needs via the portal.
Landing Trinity Jones could be another watershed moment pushing the program forward, but the vibes I am catching suggest that there's not much confidence we'll get her commitment.
As usual, there isn't a whole lot of reporting on Illini women's basketball recruiting. The
WBBBlog website lists some offers and finalists, and shows that we are involved with a few players from Texas:
-Rieyan DeSouze, 5'7" PG (commited to Texas A&M)
-Amayah Garcia, 5'11" CG
-Kamora Pruitt, 6'2" SG
Above 3 all in
ESPN's top 100 ranking.
There are a couple uncommitted state of Illinois senior point guards in the ESPN top 100:
-Danyella Mporikoso, 5'6" PG Waubonsie Valley HS
-Shania James, 5'7" PG Example Academy (alma mater of Mia Zenere)
I'd assume we're at least keeping in touch with them.
I have a feeling the ESPN rankings overlook a lot of good players. The top 20-30 is probably pretty accurate, but then I find that the remainder of the ranking tends to favor a limited number of regions. I have to think there are scores of equally promising girls not yet getting attention. Maybe like boys basketball in the past, before an explosion of recruiting attention and club basketball events gave us all more access to recruit info.