Green ‘scaled back’ nonconference schedule in year three with Illini

Jun. 28—CHAMPAIGN — The Illinois women’s basketball team’s nonconference schedule has yet to be finalized. Or at least be officially announced. But it’s clear Shauna Green took into consideration how tough the third-year Illini coach expects the Big Ten to be next winter — especially with the additions of Southern California and UCLA — as she formulated a plan for the ideal nonconference schedule.

Without a doubt, Illinois was hurt — at least seeding-wise — by a weak non-Big Ten schedule in Green’s first year when the Illini made a return trip to the NCAA tournament but had to play in one of the First Four games as a No. 11 seed.

This past season, Illinois struggled early against a more challenging nonconference schedule. Makira Cook’s concussion, which forced the Illini point guard to miss three games in November, contributed to that slow start. Still, Illinois failed to take advantage of key nonconference opportunities against the likes of Marquette, Notre Dame, Missouri and Arkansas. Losing all four saw the Illini enter the Christmas holiday with a 6-5 record.

And Illinois really hovered at or just below .the 500 mark the rest of the regular season.

With that in mind, Green admitted earlier this month she’s been forced to rethink how she puts together a nonconference schedule after her first two seasons with the Illini.

“Last year, I think we scheduled right,” Green said. “I think we had some, maybe bad luck, with some injuries, at certain times. I also think it was a little too hard for that year. I think we have dialed it back a little bit. Our conference we’re going to have all the opportunity that we need for NET games and top-25 games, especially with the new four (teams) coming in. So I really looked at that and maybe scaled back a little bit with not playing as many high-level Power Five (opponents). But still we want to play good competition. We don’t want to go and blow everybody out. That’s not going to make us better, either. We’re trying to find that…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/green-scaled-back-nonconference-schedule-144700221.html

Author : The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.

Publish date : 2024-06-28 14:47:00

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