Nov. 5—CHAMPAIGN — Kendall Bostic, Genesis Bryant and Makira Cook always had it in the back of their minds that they would return to Illinois for another season.
They had a conversation among the three of them during the course of last season to that effect, where Bostic, Bryant and Cook all made it known to each other that they would end their college careers in an Illini uniform.
That the three now-fifth-year seniors on the Illinois women’s basketball team chose to announce those plans separately came down to personal preference.
Cook announced her decision before the Illini’s five-game WBIT championship run. Bostic and Bryant, meanwhile, waited until a few days after Illinois’ 2023-24 season to finalize their plans.
What that has resulted in is an Illinois team that Illini fans are very familiar with and a core group that will have been together for three straight seasons.
A veteran group that has again fueled a much-anticipated season for Illinois women’s basketball.
Shauna Green’s latest Illini team is well known.
It has a fourth-year senior that has only ever played for Illinois in Adalia McKenzie, who like Bostic, was a holdover from the unsuccessful Nancy Fahey era.
An experienced guard in Bryant, who reinvented herself in Champaign, after averaging only 2.1 points in 5.4 minutes as a sophomore during her final season at North Carolina State.
A well-spoken forward in Bostic, who brings a level of consistency that Green marvels at any chance the Illinois coach gets to speak about the Kokomo, Ind., native.
And, lastly, two players in Cook and Brynn Shoup-Hill that followed Green from Dayton to Illinois before the start of the 2022-23 season. The soon-to-be 23-year old Cook has thrived in Green’s system with both the Flyers and Illini, while Shoup-Hill is back healthy and looking to return to the player she was two seasons ago, as Illinois aims for a return trip to the NCAA tournament.
That quest starts at 6 p.m. on Thursday when the Illini tip off the 2024-25 season with No. 19 Florida State (1-0) at State Farm Center in Champaign.
One last ride
Green has said repeatedly this five-player senior group of Bostic, Bryant, Cook, McKenzie and Shoup-Hill is “really special” to her for a lot of reasons. Namely for how “they are the ones who believed when they had every reason not to believe.” That the turnaround the Illinois program has undergone — 41 wins in the past two seasons — is a credit to that group.
But what has made this senior group able to gel together so well? Especially with how they didn’t all start their college careers in the same place — and with the same level of success.
“I would say time,” Bryant said of the process that led to a well-connected Illini team. “It wasn’t always like this. First year, we were just learning each other, learning the system, everything was just so new. Second year, we went through adversity, injuries, a lot of things that were happening. I felt like this third year we had a full summer under our belts. We were able to really gel outside of the team, outside of practices. I feel like we just have a common respect for each other, and I feel like that’s really what you need on a team. … You may not hang out every day, but as long as I can respect you, and as long as we are on the same page, I feel like that’s going to help us this year.”
Bostic had a similar sentiment to Bryant. How the fact the Illini seniors have now been together through three offseasons of summer workouts and official practices has fed into the chemistry that has been built among them.
But Bostic said, too, it’s more than just that. That some of it comes down to the finality of this being their last season together.
“That collectively already brings us together a little bit,” the 6-foot-2 forward said after Illinois’ 80-53 victory this past Friday night in an exhibition game against Lewis, the final tune-up before the season opener against the Seminoles. “We go out there each game with: This is the last time we’re going to play this team. This is it. This is the last exhibition game that we’re ever going to play. So I think everyone having that in their mind, there’s no opportunity for us to just kind of be lazy. We have to win at everything we can.
“Overall, as a group, we want to take it game-by-game. Just go 1-0 and do the best we can every opportunity. Obviously, our biggest goal is to make the NCAA (tournament). The WBIT was great last year, especially because we won it. … This senior group, we’re super capable of (getting back to the NCAA tournament), and that’s what we want.”
Handling expectations
Whether it’s been overt, there’s a sense that this Illini team is motivated somewhat to put right what happened last season. Sure, the WBIT title was a significant accomplishment. It was, after all, the first postseason tournament title in program history.
And one that Green and the Illinois program have touted with a WBIT championship banner displayed above the women’s basketball practice court at Ubben Basketball Complex. The Illini received their championship rings on Saturday and were recognized during the football team’s 25-17 loss to Minnesota later that day at Memorial Stadium. Illinois will also celebrate its WBIT title with a banner unveiling this Sunday night when they host Marquette at State Farm Center.
But a disappointing regular season last winter and a short stay at the Big Ten tournament in Minneapolis ensured that Illinois wouldn’t see its name show up on Selection Sunday as one of 68 teams in the NCAA tournament. Like it did in 2023.
That the Illini will run it back with basically the same roster — center Camille Hobby and guard Jada Peebles are the only offseason departures that were in the top eight of Green’s rotation last season when Illinois finished 19-15 — has kept expectations heightened in Champaign for women’s basketball.
The adversity the Illini went through last season, including injuries at different points of the year to Cook, Peebles and Shoup-Hill, they say, have them better prepated to handle the pressure that comes with high hopes for the program this coming season.
How Illinois starts the season will be key, though, with Bostic quick to point out that a sluggish opening few months put the Illini in a tough spot last year.
Scheduling tough
With a roster loaded with veteran experience, Green has opted to challenge her latest Illinois team in the nonconference scheduled. Two Top 25 teams in Florida State and No. 22 Kentucky await — the Illini are set to face the Wildcats on Nov. 27 at the Music City Classic in Nashville, Tenn. — along with other November home matchups against Marquette and Oregon State. The Golden Eagles and Beavers, like the Seminoles, were NCAA tournament teams last winter.
“I think we take a lot from the (WBIT) tournament, too,” Bostic said of how the highs and lows of last season can prepare this Illinois team for what’s to come during the next five months. “That was some of the best basketball that we played as a group. But we can’t wait until that late in the season to play that kind of basketball.
“And so, knowing as a group, as starters, we don’t have the best track record for starts. That’s on us to get ourselves together, and we have to have better starts. That’s something that we really learned last season. I mean, there were multiple games we dug ourselves holes in the first quarter and then we’re just clawing our way back and then we lose by three. It’s like if we would have done a couple more things in the first half, or the first quarter, we wouldn’t be here right now. Taking all of those (things) and keeping that in the back of your mind … being aware of everything from last year (and) making sure we make an effort to change it this year.”
Coaching them up
That focus on the details has also been a talking point for Green.
That Green had to be “process” oriented with her team throughout the summer and early fall. That having a veteran-heavy roster is good. But that can also lead to complacency, with experienced players that just want to get to the start of the season. But Green has continued to emphasize that the reps Illinois is getting in the practice gym will help when the games finally arrive.
It’s that mindset that seems to be hitting home for her players.
“I feel like it makes you focus more on the little things,” Bryant said. “I feel like last year we kind of got away from those little, small details that do add up as the season went on. I feel like now we’re nipping them in the bud. We’re so on it. Maybe we’re on it too much, but I feel like it’s still good, because we’re focused on winning. We’re focused on doing it the right way. We’re doing it the one way, shoutout to Coach Green. Last year really prepared us for this year, for sure.”
Probably music to the ears of Green with the Illinois coach making “#OneWay” a staple of her social media posts the past two-plus years in Champaign.
Now, Green is trying to win at an even higher level after a strong debut campaign and a second season marked by inconsistencies. She’s got the roster to do it with. Getting old was the term Illinois men’s basketball coach Brad Underwood has coined recently. But Green has that this year with a roster filled with known commodities and a chance at a re-do after what Green admitted was one of her most challenging seasons as a head coach.
Two days from now, the Illini have the opportunity to open the season with a defining Top 25 early win against the Seminoles. A season Illinois hopes will be a special one when it’s finished up. With a senior group looking to leave their final mark.
“This is why you coach,” Green said. “This is why you do what you do. I have unbelievable relationships with all those (seniors). I trust them. I believe that they trust me, and when you have that, now you can get somewhere. I’m going to coach them hard. I’m going to love them up. I’m going to challenge them. I’m going to be there, but I know what they’re capable of doing, and for those five, I want them to have the best year that can possibly have, and I tell them every day I’m going to continue to push them … because I want to see them succeed. They deserve it. They deserve it for so many reasons. I love that group to death, and really, they have put this program back on the map and made this program relevant again.”
