Maddie Webber has been a delight to watch ever since she hit the transfer portal and joined the Illinois basketball program from Villanova.
The Bridgeville, Pennsylvania, product has been a major cog in the wheel for Shauna Green's squad and has turned into the perfect spark off the bench for the Illini. Webber has an uncanny ability to create shots at all three levels and is the perfect veteran to add to a very young roster.
Webber has been an absolute threat in all facets of the game. Her quickness and athleticism on both ends of the floor give her the ability to create significant scoring opportunities for herself and the team.
Check out these moves from Maddie Webber 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/4BwvopX6mj
— Big Ten Women's Basketball (@B1Gwbball) November 5, 2025
A McDonald's All-American nominee in high school, Webber was one of the most sought-after recruits when she was coming out of high school. In 2023, she was named the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Player of the Year after averaging 17.3 points and 4.2 rebounds per game in her senior year.
Webber would end up committing to head coach Denise Dillon and the Villanova Wildcats, where she would have a monstrous start to her college career. The accolades rolled in rather quickly for the 5-foot-11 guard, as she was named to the Big East All-Rookie Team as a freshman and the All-Big East Second Team as a sophomore.
Her skills were prevalent, with Webber becoming the second-leading scorer for Villanova as a sophomore with 13.3 points per game. That is why when she decided to enter the transfer portal, Shauna Green made a big push to get her to Champaign.
When Green was asked by the Illini Inquirer about Webber's first month on campus earlier this year, she was ecstatic, saying;
"In the first two weeks, she has just blown me away in terms of her motor," Green said earlier this month on the Illini Inquirer podcast. "She has one of the best motors I've ever seen in terms of every single possession working and giving everything she has. She will literally push herself to exhaustion, which is unbelievable. I love that. I love that work ethic. She's hungry and eager to learn. She's going to bring a lot of different things to us."
"She's going to bring a lot of different things to us," and she certainly has. Through her first 10 games with the Illini, Webber is averaging 10.9 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game. As of writing this, she is currently averaging the fourth-most points on the team while coming off the bench.
What does this mean for Maddie Webber's success long term?
Webber is a prolific talent off the bench for Coach Green, who allows the Illini to extend games while giving its starters rest along the way. She allows this team to not be dependent on a few players, but instead be well-rounded in all facets of the game.
She is an absolute treasure, and dare I say, is in the running for the Big Ten's Sixth Player of the Year. That may be a biased take because of who I am and the page that I am writing for, but the fact of the matter is that Webber is one of the most consistent players on the floor on a nightly basis.