On Sunday, the Illini were selected to be a No. 7 seed in the NCAA tournament, their second appearance in as many years. This is the first time that Illinois has made back-to-back tournaments since they made four in a row between 1996-2000.
The orange and blue are also the youngest of the 68 teams in the tournament with an average age of 19.83 years.
“I’m just so proud of these guys,” said Illinois head coach Shauna Green. “Just the entire year we’ve continued to grow, continued to get better, continued to get more
chemistry.”
With this selection, the Illini (21-11 11-10 Big Ten) will travel down to Nashville to match up with the No. 10 seeded Colorado Buffaloes (22-10 13-8 Big 12).
Colorado is an impressive team, securing four wins over ranked opponents this season and have a very balanced team.
The Buffaloes have three players averaging double digit points per game and six players averaging more than 8.5 a game.
A key player to watch out for in black and gold will be junior guard Desiree Wooten. Despite coming off the bench in most games, Wooten leads her team in scoring and assists and is a dangerous threat to always score the basketball.
Most of Colorado’s scoring comes from their guards which will mean that Destiny Jackson, Aaliyah Guyton, and Maddie Webber will need to bring their A-game defensively to mitigate their impact.
In contrast, the Illini score most of their points from their bigs: Berry Wallace and Cearah Parchment.
Parchment in particular will have her hands full with Colorado’s center and leading rebounder, six-footer, Anaelle Dutat.
When asked about the matchup Green said that she “feels great” and is excited for the game and opportunities to come.
The game tips off on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. CT.
If Illinois wins, they will advance and likely play the No. 2 seed Vanderbilt. This will be a tall task, as even though it is technically a neutral site game, the game is played in the Commodores home stadium.
In addition to this, Vanderbilt is also led by the nation’s leading scorer and national player of the year condender, Mikayla Blakes. The sophomore is averaging 27 points per game and has helped her team to a 27-4 record and the No. 6 team in the AP Poll.
Regardless of how many wins Green and her team get in this tournament, this season will still be a success for the program. With such a young team and so many new faces, expectations for the Illini were not very high coming into the season and they smashed all expectations.
