Jul. 13—CHAMPAIGN — This past week in the practice gym at Ubben Basketball Complex marked an important step for the Illinois women’s basketball team.
The Illini could finally practice some 5-on-5 work for the first time this summer.
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That progression gives Illinois coach Shauna Green a first true gauge of what her latest roster might look like on the court when the games actually count in four months time during the upcoming 2026-27 season.
Sure, Illinois had plenty of pieces come back with the top-nine players from last season’s rotation all returning after helping the Illini win 22 games and reach the second round of the NCAA tournament. But there’s enough new about this roster, especially with some key transfers and newcomers, to make summer 5-on-5 drills informative for Green and Co.
That it took some time for Illinois to get there was the result of injuries and other absences through the opening half of summer workouts, as guard Gretchen Dolan and forward Manuella Alves were still working back from knee injuries, while the Illini have also been without forwards Irene Noya Catoira (currently with Spain’s U20 team at the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket) and Cearah Parchment (participated on Team Canada’s training camp roster ahead of the FIBA Women’s Olympic Pre-Qualifying tournament) for at least part of the summer.
“From the start until now, we have continued to get better and better,” Green said last Thursday in the lobby at Ubben as the Illinois coach provided a summer update of where her team is. “We’ve had to take it pretty slow … and not really having 10 (players) that we could really compete 5-on-5 until the last couple days.
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“We had a really good competitive practice (last Wednesday) and I wanted to challenge them again with another really hard one and had a slow start, but I really liked their response. Those are good moments, too. We need it to where, ‘OK, we’re not where we want to be. We’re not to the standard. Who’s going to step up and be those leaders?’ Really good things throughout the summer, and I like where we’re at. … We finally got to compete a little bit, and it was fun. In five-on-five, when everyone’s going at each other, we have options.”
While Noya Catoira remained overseas in Lithuania through the weekend (Spain’s 81-59 victory against Belgium on Sunday secured a third-place finish), Parchment is back on campus — at least temporarily — after a week of training camp late last month in Montreal. Parchment has one more training camp session later this month in Victoria, British Columbia, before she will spend Aug. 17-23, in Guadalajara, Mexico, for the Olympic pre-qualifying tournament.
But all that mattered is Green’s Illini had Parchment on the court for them last week.
That and the fact Dolan and Alves got fully cleared to participate in 5-on-5 practices represented a major step in helping Illinois get some important work accomplished.
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Maddie Webber had a key takeaway from those first few 5-on-5 practices, too.
“I think our versatility and our athleticism is great,” the Illinois senior guard said of the early impressions she’s made so far from that full-team work. “I mean it’s great that we are able to do this now. But I know last year we weren’t able to do it so soon, and just the way we’re able to play together, because again we have a year under our belts, it’s super easy for us now.”
Where that could really show through this coming season is with the roster depth Illinois projects to have.
Particularly in the frontcourt.
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And on the wing.
Alves potentially offers something different with the 6-foot-3 forward, who missed all of last season with a torn ACL, affording the Illini more of physical presence in the post.
Green said the former four-star recruit in the Class of 2025 “loves contact.” That a 6-7 Lety Vasconcelos has progressed further this summer is notable given the center steady gained confidence in her surgically-repaired right knee throughout last season as her place and role in the Illini rotation started to become more well defined.
Alves and Vasconcelos — along with returning starters Berry Wallace and Parchment, both of whom collected postseason all-conference honors last season with Wallace a first-team All-Big Ten selection — could finally provide Illinois with some added versatility across its roster.
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“I think it’s really great. We can have a rotation — whether it’s me and Manu, me and Berry, like Manu and Lety,” Parchment said. “I think there’s a lot of possibilities and I think everybody brings something different. So, I think this year it’s going to be a lot more dangerous at the 5 position (for us).”
Still, Green said the idea of what Illinois could be is just that right now.
Green and her coaching staff have thought about that very topic.
But the Illini have yet to see how that might manifest itself on to the court.
That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as the Illinois fifth-year coach admits.
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“We haven’t gotten that far along where it’s like, ‘OK, let’s look at this. Let’s look at that. Let’s play really big.’ I’m just happy we have 10 out there,” Green said. “We can actually go 5-in-5 and go up and down. Because we maybe are a little bit behind in some of our conditioning, but that’s OK. We’re not playing a game right now. Hopefully, we stay healthy, so we have those options. If we stay healthy — I know I say this every year, I sound like a broken record, you hear me say this every summer.
“I love our depth, but unfortunately, the last few years, we’ve had some injuries and then that depth goes away. That’s the key.”
Destiny Jackson has allowed herself to consider what this version of the Illini might ultimately become.
The Illinois point guard could hardly contain her excitement last Thursday at the prospect.
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The Chicago native made clear she thinks “something is brewing that’s very good in Champaign” with a roster that has already had a taste of success — and is hoping for more during the 2026-27 season.
“I just can’t wait until we put it all together,” Jackson said. “By the time we get together (and play in games) in like November, December, I can’t wait to see how our team is.”
