Jun. 25—CHAMPAIGN — Illinois women’s basketball coach Shauna Green does not feel the need to repeatedly bring up big-picture aspirations with her team this summer.
What is, of course, implied in that statement is that the Illini know what they hope to achieve during the upcoming 2026-27 season.
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A new season that will start just over four months from now with outsized expectations after an offseason of retention that came together perfectly for this Illinois roster.
The Illini retained the bulk of a 22-win team that reached the second round of the NCAA tournament as the youngest roster in the field of 68.
So, what is possible for Illinois this season? A preseason Top 25 ranking? Likely yes. Finishing the season in the AP Top 25 for the first time since 1998? Certainly possible if all goes well. Making it to the second weekend of March Madness? That’s the goal, as only two Illinois teams have accomplished that feat with back-to-back Sweet 16 trips in 1997 and 1998.
“We all know where we want to get,” Green said, with the Illini coach now in her fifth year in C-U and having led the program to three NCAA tournament appearances during the last four years. “And I think you have to know that, but we don’t talk about it a ton. I think, if you get so caught up and talk about where you want to get, you forget how to get there. We’re super process-driven and day-by-day, rep-by-rep. That’s all I preach. If you stack days, if you stack reps, we truly believe that outcomes take care of themselves.
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“There’s no question we know where we want to get, and we want to take a step in that from last year. But we have got to be locked into the day. Today’s the only day we’re guaranteed, and we have got to attack it and win it. So, that’s our mindset. That’s what I want them to think.”
What separated Illinois from an even better 2025-26 season was a number of close losses — especially in the second half — as a young core went through some expected growing pains after a 13-1 start. The Illini had seven single-digit losses in a 15-game stretch after a 73-70 upset of Maryland on Jan. 1. A stretch that took Illinois out of contention for a better seed at the NCAA — and Big Ten — tournaments.
That dictated a tougher path for the Illini, who still managed to reach the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis. A run at Gainbridge Fieldhouse that gave Illinois some confidence heading into March Madness, with the Illini defeating Colorado in the first round of the NCAA tournament before a season-ending defeat at Vanderbilt, as Mikayla Blakes, Justine Pissott, Aubrey Galvan and the rest of the second-seeded Commodores proved too much for the seventh-seeded Illini in handing Illinois a 75-57 loss.
Still, the calluses of an abrupt end to the 2025-26 season — that while successful might have been much more if not for a bad first quarter against Vanderbilt — have stuck with this Illinois team three months later.
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As a source of motivation.
“Especially how the season ended, we’re always bringing that up to fuel us,” Illini junior forward Berry Wallace said. “We’re not bringing it up every single day, but we all know, and we all care so much that sometimes we don’t even have to talk about it because we all care so much that we lost, that we want to get better and we want to be the best we can be. It’s a little bit of both: talking about it and that internal drive.”
But it is more than that, too.
Green has repeatedly used the phrase reference points. It’s a chance for Illinois to go back to certain moments — good or bad — and either build on that or go about correcting mistakes.
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That can happen this summer as the Illini currently go through week two of eight weeks of summer workouts and then hope to carry that over into preseason practices and then later in the season itself. It helps that the majority of the Illinois roster has gone through those experiences together.
“Now, we have been through those moments, we understand, ‘OK, we need to be better at taking care of the ball or more disciplined.’ Whatever it is, we can reference those moments,” Green said. “And learn from those and hopefully not make the same mistakes again. Experience is so important, and you saw that last year without some of that experience.”
Aaliyah Guyton had a similar thought process. The Illini junior guard believes going through a full season together — and the ups and downs — will help this roster in those tense moments of the game to handle situations better.
Especially when it comes to better communication among the players and coaching staff.
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“We’ll be in a better position overall with the team,” Guyton said, “and even the (coaching) staff just knowing what to expect from us. Maybe they come up with better game plans for the end of those tight games. Maybe they might have different decisions to make. Just knowing that they have those expectations of us is a good thing.”
All with the goal of reaching new heights for this Illinois team that returns its top eight scorers from last season, as Big Ten All-Freshmen Team selections in forward Cearah Parchment and guard Destiny Jackson are back alongside key rotation players like Guyton, Wallace, Jasmine Brown-Hagger, Gretchen Dolan, Maddie Webber and Lety Vasconcelos.
“I think (high expectations) allows us to set goals for ourselves that we probably really didn’t think of,” Guyton said. “And, I think that’s just the beauty of the game is you’re doing things that you’re like, ‘Dang, I did that. That’s really cool.’ And then you do it again and you do it even better.”
