Green Street: Illini women’s basketball and the WNBA draft

Jun. 28—You have to go back to 2010 to find the last time the Illinois women’s basketball team had a former player as a WNBA draft pick.

Fourteen years and counting.

The 2024 version, which took place on April 15 in Brooklyn, N.Y. and saw Iowa star guard Caitlin Clark go No. 1 overall to the Indiana Fever, was the 14th draft since Illinois Hall of Famer and ex-Illini center Jenna Smith was the 14th overall pick (second round) of the Washington Mystics in the 2010 WNBA draft. Smith is still the highest-ever Illinois WNBA pick with Angelina Williams (18th overall to Phoenix in 2005), Cindy Dallas (No. 21 overall to San Antonio in 2004) and Tauja Catchings (No. 37 overall to Phoenix in 2000) the only other Illini to hear their names called during the WNBA draft.

The task of ending that 14-year absence now falls on Shauna Green, the third-year Illini coach, who has successfully reversed decades of futility in C-U during her first two seasons leading the program. Green, after all, is 41-25 as Illinois’ coach with the Illini making a long-awaited NCAA tournament appearance in Green’s first season before a 19-15 campaign in year two led to Illinois missing the Big Dance for a second consecutive year. The Illini did end on a high note, however: the inaugural WBIT title.

Truth is, acquiring the talent like Illinois did this offseason with the addition of five-star, top-25 Class of 2024 recruit Berry Wallace is the only way for the Illini to possibly have a future WNBA draft pick.

The eligibility rules are different in the women’s game with non-international players required to have their 22nd birthday in the same calendar year as the WNBA draft AND either (1) have completed a college degree, (2) have earned a bachelor’s degree or be scheduled to receive such a degree within three months of the WNBA draft date or (3) be at least four years removed from high school graduation.

Wallace is one of the most hyped players to arrive on the Illinois campus in a while with the Pickerington, Ohio, native — a 6-foot-1 forward/wing — ranked No. 22 overall in the final ESPN HoopGurlz rankings for the 2024 class after playing in the McDonald girls’ basketball All-American Game.

Green is hoping Wallace is just the start of the Illini’s climb toward stacking strong recruiting classes. That top players often procure four years of college experience before turning pro gives Green and her coaching staff the chance to potentially develop the next Illini WNBA player.

The Class of 2025 is one Green has targeted as key for Illinois.

A few names to watch for the Illini include Divine Bourrage, a 5-10 guard out of Davenport, Iowa, who is No. 5 overall in the 2025 class per ESPN’s HoopGurlz, with Illinois also heavily linked to Destiny Jackson, another five-star recruit with the 5-6 point guard from Whitney Young No. 24 on espnW’s 2025 board.

“Recruiting is crazy and it’s so up and down, but I feel really good about it,” Green said. … “Obviously, we still haven’t had a commitment (in the Class of 2025), but I think we’re in a really good place with a lot of high-level kids. I love the kids in that class. Each kid brings something that we really, really need. If we can get it done and get a few of them, hopefully, we can get an early commitment to get it all rolling. I like where we’re at right now. You just never know. These things go down to the very wire with all these recruiting battles, but we’ve got to win some.”