Head coach Shauna Green is getting close to wrapping up her fourth season leading the Illini (21-11, 9-9). The Shauna Green era has brought an impressive resume to the program, and she now adds on another accolade: a fourth consecutive postseason appearance and a third NCAA tournament appearance.
Illinois earned a No. 7 seed for the NCAA tournament and will compete in Nashville, Tennessee, for the first round and second round if it advances. This is a huge improvement over its projected No. 8/9 seed. The Illini’s major 71-69 upset over the No. 18 Michigan State Spartans (22-8, 11-7) in the Big Ten Tournament may have been the deciding factor.
This was a pivotal rematch since Illinois, which had the No. 10 seed in the conference tournament, had previously faced and lost to the No. 7 seed Michigan State in January. That late-game thriller ended the Illini’s 11-0 run, but the conference tournament win was a needed chance to redeem themselves.
This is the Illini’s best seeding since Green took over. Last year, No. 8 Illinois beat No. 9 Creighton in the Round of 64 before falling to No. 1 Texas in the Round of 32. The year before, Illinois couldn’t get out of the First Four. The goal for the Illini now is to build on their previous success and win two games in the NCAA tournament.
These are high expectations, but big upsets are possible for this Illinois team. It just proved this with its conference tournament upset. The Illini have proven all season that they can play against anybody. Illinois’ loss to No. 2 UCLA (31-1, 18-0) was by only 13 points, while higher-seeded teams lost by 20 or more. In the Michigan State rematch, Illinois finally proved it can win close contests. These two games give the most insight into how dangerous the Illini could be in March.
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
Green compared the tournament environment to the one the Illini faced recently at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in their loss to the then-No. 7 Iowa Hawkeyes (26-6, 15-3) at the end of February.
“Let’s say we’re an 8/9 in the NCAA Tournament,” Green said. “You’re going to have to beat someone in almost that same environment to get to the Sweet 16. Unless you’re hosting, you gotta beat a top team in front of their home crowd, and man, I think that that game prepared us to do that.”
Lucky for Illinois, it won’t have to play in that risky matchup this year. That seeding puts teams in a position to face the No. 1 seed in the second round, and in women’s basketball, knocking off a top seed is nearly impossible.
But, avoiding a No. 1-seed early doesn’t immediately make the path easy for the Illini. Illinois will start by facing No. 10 Colorado (22-11, 11-7). Colorado fought its way to the Big 12 tournament semifinals, beating out Baylor (24-8, 13-5), which is another tournament team.
The Buffaloes are led by a duo of junior guards, Desiree Wooten and Zyanna Walker, who average 13.3 and 11.4 points, respectively. That backcourt will have to face Illinois’ dominant frontcourt leaders: sophomore forward Berry Wallace and freshman forward Cearah Parchment, who average 18.4 and 13.4, respectively.
If the Illini win, they will face the No. 2 Vanderbilt Commodores (27-4, 13-3), who are coached by former UConn Husky Shea Ralph. Ralph has transformed the program, especially in the last two years. She has now brought the Commodores to three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances.
Most importantly, if the time comes, Illinois will have to try to contain a National Player of the Year contender and one of the best sophomores in the country, sophomore forward Mikayla Blakes. She is the nation’s leading scorer, averaging 26.6 points, and has had 12 30-point games this season.
Now that Green has turned Illinois into an NCAA tournament guarantee in only four seasons, the next step up for her tenure is making it to the Sweet Sixteen. If Green can coach her team to consecutive second-round appearances, she will accomplish what only two other Illinois coaches have, one of whom is the program’s winningest head coach, Theresa Grentz.
Whatever the outcome, Green has turned around the program’s expectations from a 20-year drought of NCAA tournament appearances when she first arrived to a perennial March team. One of the most inexperienced teams nationally will go dancing and gain valuable playing time that could help boost the team to new heights in the coming years.
@briedirl
