Illinois Basketball: Illini women have a decent path in Big Ten Tournament

The women’s Illinois basketball team had one of the best seasons in program history.

This historic run by the Illini has done wonders for the confidence of the fanbase and the status of the program.

For most of my lifetime, the women’s program was an afterthought to the Illinois fanbase, but it was only that due to it being an afterthought to the Illinois athletic department. How could you expect a fanbase to care about a program when the school doesn’t?

One top-five finish in the Big Ten in a 15-year span is nothing to write home about. In the seven seasons before Shauna Green took over, Illinois had won a combined 12 Big Ten games. Let that sink in for a second. That means we were averaging less than two Big Ten wins a season.

In steps Green. Without her first recruiting class and with only a few transfers, Green was able to take, basically, the same roster and form it into a 21-win squad. 21 wins. That is just one win shy of the past three seasons combined.

Illinois hasn’t seen 21 wins as a program since the 1999-00 season. Geovana Lopes is the only player on the roster who was alive that season. Superstar center Kendall Bostic was still a year and a half away from being born.

Illinois basketball drew the best road they could in the Big Ten Tournament

With 21 wins comes a lot of Big Ten triumphs. 11 Big Ten victories are the most for the Illinois basketball team since the 1999-00 season as well.

These 11 wins in the conference earned the Illini the No. 6 seed in the Big Ten Tournament that starts on Wednesday. With that No. 6 seed comes the best road possible for Illinois.

We were never going to get to the top five in the Big Ten this season. The top five teams are all insanely good, and they all have a legit shot to bring home a national title. All five programs – Indiana, Maryland, Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan – are ranked inside the top 17 in the country.

But, if you wanted hope that Illinois could make a run in the Big Ten Tournament, you couldn’t ask for a better draw.

When the Illini open up on Thursday, we will either get No. 11 Rutgers or No. 14 Northwestern. Illinois matches up much better with the Scarlet Knights, as we are 2-0 against them and have beaten them by an average of 20 points in each game. The Illini are also 2-0 against the Wildcats, but those games have been much closer.

If Illinois can advance out of that Thursday game, then we would get No. 3 seed, Maryland. The Terrapins, currently ranked No. 5 in the country, were tested by the Illini just a couple of weeks ago. We had the lead at halftime in that game by nine points. We actually beat Maryland in three out of the four quarters. If it wasn’t for a 31-8 third quarter, the Illini would have won that game.

Hypothetically saying Illinois gets past the Terrapins, we would then likely take on No. 2 seed, Iowa. The Hawkeyes are the No. 7 team in the country. In the lone game between Illinois and Iowa this season, the Illini were able to get the best of the Hawkeyes. We beat them, 90-86.

Going on this type of run is going to take some special play from multiple Illini players. Winning games in the Big Ten Tournament will not be easy, but this is the best draw Illinois could ask for.