It was a great year for head coach Shauna Green and the Fighting Illini in 2022-23. Illinois capped a historic 22-10 (11-7) season with its first NCAA tournament appearance since the 2002-03 season. Though the season ended in a crushing defeat at the hands of Mississippi State in the First Four, Illinois returns its top six players in minutes per game for a chance at a happier ending this time around.
“I’m excited about this group, and it’s nice that we have a year under our belt with returners coming back that understand expectations, our standards, our system and our style,” Green said at Big Ten Media Days. “It’ll hopefully be a great year … It’s gonna be a tough battle every single night with every single team in this conference.”
Among those returning and expected to make an impact are the Illini’s big four of senior guard Makira Cook, senior guard Genesis Bryant, junior guard Adalia McKenzie and senior forward Kendall Bostic. Also returning are significant contributors junior forward Brynn Shoup-Hill and fifth-year guard Jada Peebles. These six players alone accounted for 83.6% of all the Illini’s total minutes and 89.5% of the Illini’s total points last season respectively.
Green is not taking the extra experience for granted, even in the slightest.
“Our core group and even the three that are here today (Bostic, Cook and Bryant), their leadership has taken us to another level,” Green said when asked about her veterans. “I firmly believe that is going to pay off on the court.”
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Cook specifically has received tons of preseason coverage and rightfully so. The senior guard is entering her second year at Illinois after following her head coach from Dayton in the summer of 2022. Cook has been voted on to the preseason All-Big Ten Team by both the coaches and the media, coming off a season where she was already named first-team All-Big Ten. If Cook can up her efficiency from a middling 50.2% true shooting percentage — for reference, Iowa star Caitlin Clark had a 62% TS last season — she can genuinely cement herself as a force to be reckoned with not only in the Big Ten but nationally come March.
The returning Illini are joined in their winning ambitions by a few new faces as well. Fifth-year transfer from North Carolina State, center Camille Hobby and sophomore transfer from Duke, forward Shay Bollin can provide some much-needed depth that Illinois lacked last season. Also new to the program are freshman guards Cori Allen and Gretchen Dolan who both come to Champaign as top 150 recruits in the class of 2023.
Defense and depth are the two things Illinois lacked most last season, but it feels like Green and her staff have done everything in their power to address those issues throughout the offseason. The defense should only improve with an extra year of experience for everyone on the perimeter as the Illini already have Kendall Bostic in the middle, who quietly became one of the best defensive anchors in the conference last season. With the additions made in the transfer portal and the retention of key players with experience under Green’s system, the expectations are higher than they’ve been in a long time.
Illinois enters the season ranked No. 21 in The Athletic’s Preseason Top 25 Poll, No. 23 in the AP preseason poll and looking for its first consecutive NCAA tournament appearance since 1997-98. It’s going to be an exciting season at the State Farm Center this year, but only time will tell if the Illini can live up to these lofty expectations.
Illinois opens with an exhibition against Truman State at the State Farm Center on Oct. 30 at 6 p.m. before the official start of its season on Nov. 7. They host Morehead State in Champaign for a 6 p.m. tip. Both games will also be broadcast on the conference’s streaming service Big Ten Plus.
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