Illini Women's Basketball 2025-2026
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I'm glad that Naomi got minutes and I think her physical presence and basketball sense will get her more minutes.She is a B1G player no doubt.When I look back,in my mind I just knew all the freshmen would see significant time .I thought they might all be on the floor at once,but it looks like the returners have held up the culture and the rest have accepted it.I kinda think of Cece as a returner because she was practicing with them most of the year.I thought her and Finney would hit the ground running because of that experience.
It was great. Should we be concerned that we have no recruits signed for 26/27 season.
uofi7477
- Silver & Gold Vandals
Yep, up to #33.
No. We currently have 15 players on the roster, which is the max allowed. The only one who completes her eligibility this year is Segura (and since she played at the Div. II level, she could possibly get an exemption to return). We likely have VERY limited room for newcomers unless we have players leaving for the portal. Shauna probably has a feel for who might leave but she has spoken often about trying to hold the roster together.
ptgrd23
- orange county CA
We have 8 players who you could start and nobody could really argue against
PG - Destiny Aalilyuh
2G/SF - Gretchen, Jasmine, Maddy
PF: Berry,
C: Cearah/Letty
Any of those might transfer next year over playing time
Barely seeing the floor
2G/SF Giselle, Mia (walkon)
PF Naomi
C Irena, Haven
We have 2 solid players coming of injuries/RS
2G Erica
C Manuella
The reality is Shauna like Brad is going to bring in talent and you have to earn your minutes.
I feel bad for Ty 20/20 hindsight he made a mistake RS last year. I hope he has learned a decent jump shot or he is not going to see much time this year either. The front court talent level elevated last year with Morez, Tre and Tomas. It has elevated even further with Big Z, Andrej and David. We are top 10 talent team now. Brad just has to put it together into ELITE.
Heck I wonder how KJ and Will would fair vs. Keaton and Andrej for playing time
PG - Destiny Aalilyuh
2G/SF - Gretchen, Jasmine, Maddy
PF: Berry,
C: Cearah/Letty
Any of those might transfer next year over playing time
Barely seeing the floor
2G/SF Giselle, Mia (walkon)
PF Naomi
C Irena, Haven
We have 2 solid players coming of injuries/RS
2G Erica
C Manuella
The reality is Shauna like Brad is going to bring in talent and you have to earn your minutes.
I feel bad for Ty 20/20 hindsight he made a mistake RS last year. I hope he has learned a decent jump shot or he is not going to see much time this year either. The front court talent level elevated last year with Morez, Tre and Tomas. It has elevated even further with Big Z, Andrej and David. We are top 10 talent team now. Brad just has to put it together into ELITE.
Heck I wonder how KJ and Will would fair vs. Keaton and Andrej for playing time
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That makes sense. I wish Shay Bolin would have stayed. I think we could have used her size and skill.
bdutts
- Houston, Texas
99.9% of us guys do/have…
MustangWally
- Mayfield
No shade in hoping for a top 5 finish, but the B1G is extremely good this year, as women's basketball goes. There are 4 teams in the top 10, 9 in the top 25, and Illinois is currently 12th highest in the NET and 12th highest in Torvik, even with the non-con they've had (which was very good!).
There's a possibility they finish 10th in the B1G and are still a top 25 team.
A top 5 finish in the B1G means they're hosting a regional.
ptgrd23
- orange county CA
We have 2 PGs who are great ball handlers, can fast break and defend Destiny and Aaliyuh
We have quality 2G SF - Jasmine (defense and rebounding, Gretchen (drive to hoop, scorer) and Maddy (1 woman FB, can drive to hoop and hit the 3, steals)
We have quality PF - Berry Wallace (scoring machine in the paint and with 3's)
We have 2 quality centers - Cearah (rebound, steals , can post) Lety (great size and defense)
7 deep
schedule vs ranked teams
host #7 MD
@#24 MSU
Host #19 OSU
@#6 Michigan
@#20 Neb
Host #4 UCLA
Host #17 USC
@#14 Iowa
9 against unranked B10 teams
11-1 today
8-1 against unranked B10 teams and split 4-4 vs ranked
My Illini WBB team forecast 23-6 (13-5 B10).
Last season 13-5 would have tied for 3rd in B10. 2024 MD was 13-5 B10 and #4 seed in NCAA
A record of 10 and 8 would get you a 5 seed...Can you look at the schedule and find 10..We have Northwestern twice and today Purdue with Indiana giving us a head start..
If they pull that off, they'll finish in the top 10.
According to Torvik's ratings, the Illini are projected to go 8-10 in the B1G at this point, as the #36 team in the country. That puts them safely in the tournament, in the 7-9 seed range. They already have one win in one of their projected favorable games.
Going by Torvik, the Illini are heavy favorites in just 4 of their remaining games: 2 vs Northwestern, vs Rurgers, and vs Wisconsin. Let's say they go 4-0 in those games.
They have 3 games where they're slight favorites: @ Purdue and @ PSU and vs Ohio State. Gotta go at least 2-1 in those, if not 3-0.
They have 4 games where they're slight underdogs: vs Maryland, vs Minnesota, vs USC, @ Washington. 1-3 in that stretch would be good, any better would be overachieving.
They have 6 games where they're heavy underdogs: @ Michigan State, @ Oregon, @ Iowa, @ Michigan, @ Nebraska, and vs UCLA. Going anything other than 0-6 in the stretch means they stole one.
Even an optimistic outlook on there, where they sweep every game they're favored, go 2-2 in slight underdogs games and steal one of the heavy underdogs games puts them at 11-7 in conference, which is still probably a 5 seed in the NCAA tournament.
If ILL goes 8-10 as Torvik predicts, it would be a good season. 11-7 is a great season, and 23-6 means we are expected to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament. We will have a much better sense in a couple of weeks after Maryland, Michigan State, and Ohio State. We are starting 2 freshmen, 2 sophomores, and a junior, and we played a light non-conference schedule. I am excited about the season, but the team is inexperienced, and expectations should be reasonable.
Love the analysis. I still think we are missing a tougher backup frontline player. Hoping Benson can be that player. Or maybe Haven
We do have multiple scoring options and from the teams we have played,we looked superior but we have a serious faltering issues in the 4th quarter so far.
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