The women’s Illinois basketball program can’t stop winning this offseason when it comes to the retention of their roster.
The Illini, which finished last season with a 22-12 record, were able to reach the second round of the NCAA tournament with one of the youngest rosters in the country. They put the entire college basketball world on notice and proved that they are the future of this sport.
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Shauna Green and the Illinois basketball program are on the rise, especially after finishing their fourth straight season with a winning record. They have been on an absolute tear, and just recently, fans got their first look at the roster for next season.
The Illini are in a very favorable spot as a program, as they will be returning 11 players from their 2025-26 team. The only player from last year’s team who will be making her debut will be Divine Bourrage, after she transferred in from LSU this offseason.
Illinois will be bringing back a dynamic collection of scorers, which is led by superstars Berry Wallace and Destiny Jackson. They will also see the return of Gretchen Dolan and Manuella Alves, who were both sidelined last season due to injury.
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The entire country is jealous at the position the women’s Illinois basketball program has put themselves in
When it comes to this new era of college sports, a head coach would love to have the retention that Green had this offseason. They would love to see roughly 90% of their roster return, so that they could build off of their successes from the previous year.
This is an absolute dream, and it is something that Green and Co. are living out right now. They get the chance to bring back a large contingency of last year’s roster who’ve all bought into the culture that she is building in Champaign.
The Illini have built this through a methodical way of doing things under the tutelage of Green, which led them to set program records in free throw percentage (81.5%), fewest turnovers per game (12.38), and longest winning streak (11).
Now, Illinois basically gets to run it back with all of their key players still intact, with the inclusion of a star five-star talent in Bourrage. The Illini have basically taken the same core unit that they built an identity with last season, and added a dynamic 20-point scorer who can help them space the floor.
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Simply put, 2026-27 is going to be a special season, and the country needs to be prepared for what is about to happen. The Illini are coming, and they’re going to be making some noise come March.
This article was originally published on www.writingillini.com as Illinois basketball is living every programs dream with massive offseason.
