Shauna Green and the women's Illinois basketball program put the entire country on notice this past season with their run to the NCAA tournament.
The Illini showed the world that the future is bright for this team, especially after finishing last season with a 22-12 record and their third trip to the NCAA tournament in four years. It was a special time for the Illini. The early development of stars Destiny Jackson and Cearah Parchment capped off the great campaign.
This team is special and has a lot to look forward to for being the youngest team in the Big Ten last season. The Illini have a chance to do something that this program has never done before, and ESPN is taking notice by ranking Illinois No. 16 in their way-too-early top 25 rankings for next season.
Early recognition from ESPN 📈 pic.twitter.com/9jnAMxj41Z
— Illinois Women's Basketball (@IlliniWBB) April 6, 2026
Illinois, led by standout Berry Wallace, was ranked as high as No. 25 in the country during their 2025-26 campaign. They flirted with the national rankings regularly, especially during their 11-game winning streak between November 18 and January 1.
The Illini turned heads on multiple occasions, with wins against No. 7 Maryland and No. 18 Michigan State highlighting their season. Granted, they did have struggles during conference play, but their moxie and togetherness on the court were able to keep them in the hunt.
Illinois' No. 16 ranking comes with little roster turnover through the transfer portal
The Illini will be walking into the 2026-27 season with basically their entire roster still intact. Their entire starting five is destined to return, led by Wallace and the experience of Jasmine Brown-Hagger.
Illinois will, however, be without two members of their frontcourt, as Hayven Smith and Naomi Benson have departed. The underclassmen are the first two Illini to test the transfer portal, with Smith announcing her decision on March 27 and Benson on April 1.
It was hard to see Smith and Benson go, especially given the amount of potential the two of them have, but with the logjam that Illinois has in the frontcourt, it made complete sense for them to test the waters elsewhere.
This could all change in the blink of an eye once the transfer portal officially opens this week. Green is currently in the enviable spot of possibly having all of her key players return for a second straight season. She has a chance to run it back with a group of women who already know the system, and every coach in America would kill to be in that situation.