Every Illinois basketball fan is celebrating the men’s program right now, but what the women did on Saturday night was impressive.
The Illini entered the NCAA tournament as a No. 7 seed, which was the highest the program has been in the postseason since the 2000 NCAA tournament, when we entered as a No. 6 seed.
This is honestly the first time Illinois has actually had expectations. Shauna Green has helped lead her Illini squad to the NCAA tournament in three out of the last four years, but the first two appearances had different goals.
In 2023, Illinois was just happy to be there. We lost in the First Four, but that was a taste of success. In 2025, it was about winning a game. Illinois beat a No. 9 seed in the first round.
This season, Illinois snagged the No. 7 seed. Winning in the first round was a must. Now we get to take on No. 2 Vanderbilt on Monday. There are expectations with this team and this game.
Illinois needs to compete with the Commodores. We have the talent from top to bottom, and now let’s make one of the best teams in the country sweat a little bit. Shoot, why not shock the world and pull off the upset? We have competed with some of the top seeds this season already, so why not finish one off?
What is crazy is that this Illinois team wasn’t supposed to see this type of success this season. Over half the roster was turned over because of graduation. Illinois was relying on youth and newcomers to keep us in the conversation for the NCAA tournament, let alone making it and winning a game.
On Saturday night, the Illini took it to No. 10 Colorado and beat them 66-57. We led for nearly the entire game, and it was Cearah Parchment, a freshman, who was the lead dog for the Orange and Blue. She dropped 21 points, five rebounds, and one assist on 8-of-10 shooting from the floor and 2-of-3 from three-point range.
While Parchment was lighting up the scoreboard, Destiny Jackson, another freshman, was doing it all. She had an incredible game, finishing with a near-triple-double of 16 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists. Think about that for a second. 5-foot-6 and pulling down 11 rebounds. Wild.
This Illinois basketball team is way ahead of schedule, and I am loving every second of it
As I mentioned before, Illinois shouldn’t be here right now. We lost four out of our five starters from last year’s team. That is usually a death sentence for any program.
It is not like Illinois just went into the transfer portal and built a new roster. Green did this thing from the ground up.
Illinois had seven players compete against Colorado, and only two of those players are newcomers via the transfer portal. The starting rotation features a junior in Jasmine Brown-Hagger, two sophomores in Wallace and Aaliyah Guyton, and two true freshmen in Parchment and Jackson.
At the beginning of the season, I would have been thrilled just to be in the conversation for the NCAA tournament. Relying on two true freshmen to be in the starting lineup usually means the struggle bus.
There weren’t expectations for this squad. That quickly changed throughout the season, and now the expectations are to make the heart of No. 2 Vanderbilt skip a few beats. It is crazy what the Illini have done this season, and we are way ahead of schedule. Just think what this team could do next year and into the future. Great things are to come.