Elite 5-star point guard keeps Illinois basketball in top 5

The women’s Illinois basketball team is in the hunt for another top recruit.

Shauna Green has done amazing work with the Illini program. She came in as head coach and took us to the NCAA tournament in year one, a feat that hadn’t been achieved in decades.

Last season, while the regular season record didn’t mirror year one, Illinois did finish strong with a win over No. 14 Indiana by 20 points down the stretch. This strong finish enabled us to get into the inaugural WBIT, in which the Illini won five straight games to take home the championship.

This type of winning isn’t just great for optics on the court. It isn’t just going to keep Green’s job. It will also help off the court with recruiting. While Green is a master in the transfer portal, she is also great at recruiting up-and-coming talent.

Green is now closer to landing another great recruit. On Thursday, Destiny Jackson took to social media to announce that she had cut her list down to just five programs. The five teams still in the running for Jackson’s commitment include West Virginia, North Carolina, Arizona, Baylor, and Illinois.

On top of Jackson’s announcement, Dushawn London of 247Sports reports that Jackson is taking an official visit to Illinois on July 23-25. He reports a commitment will then come in August.

Shauna Green continues to recruit and land quality talent who can make an immediate impact on the Illinois basketball team

Landing Jackson would be huge for the Orange and Blue. She is a 5-foot-6 point guard from Whitney Young High School in Illinois. Premier Basketball Report has Jackson rated as a five-star recruit and ranked as the No. 24 player in the class of 2025.

Needless to say, pulling in five-star recruits will make Illinois competitive year in and year out. Green has been able to recruit well since coming to Champaign, and in each class, she has pulled in quality talent that has contributed right away.

Green’s first class consisted of Cori Allen and Gretchen Dolan. We got to see Allen in 16 games, and you can tell her potential is high. Dolan is going to be a star for the program. If we didn’t have so many upperclassmen on the team, Dolan would have had a huge freshman season. She still impressed with her energy and shooting ability.

The second class for Green hasn’t stepped on the court just yet, but you better believe they will be big-time contributors. Hayven Smith enters as a 6-foot-6 center who is going to be the transition from Kendall Bostic. This is Bostic’s final year, so having Smith waiting in the wings is crucial.

And then Illinois has Berry Wallace coming into the program. A former five-star recruit, Wallace will be great for the Illini on the wing, as she can do it all on the court. We have a Swiss Army Knife coming into the program.

Green is loading up on talent, and the future is so bright for this program. Don’t expect the talent in-flow to slow down anytime soon either.