Jada Peebles’ thought about what it would be like to play for Shauna Green long before she arrived to coach the Illini last March.
In fact, it was the possibility of playing for Green that contributed to the senior guard putting her name in the transfer portal after former Illini coach Nancy Fahey announced her retirement after 36 years on the sidelines.
Coming out of Wakefield High School in Raleigh, North Carolina, Peebles was being recruited by a number of schools, including Green’s former Dayton program. When the dust settled on her recruitment, Illinois held her commitment. Still, in the back of her mind, she thought about what it would be like to play for Green.
“Honestly, when I was in the portal when [Fahey] left, I was going to head to Dayton,” Peebles said. “The coach that [Green] was, I knew I was going to try and follow her wherever she ended up.”
A year after Green’s arrival — and Peebles’ removal from the portal — the Illini sealed their return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2003, earning a spot in the play-in game for the No. 11 seed (vs. Mississippi State, 6 p.m. Wednesday in South Bend, Indiana, ESPNU).
The feeling, Peebles said, is unreal.
“We never thought we would be here,” Peebles said. “We knew we would accomplish a little bit, but we didn’t think we would accomplish all of this.”
Green joined Illinois after a decorated career at Dayton. She led the Flyers to four NCAA Tournament appearances and compiled an overall record of 127-50 in six seasons.
Despite her success, the three-time Atlantic 10 coach of the year had no timeline for when she’d have her new program celebrating similar achievements. She only knew it would be an uphill battle, starting with reconstructing a roster that had players in the transfer portal, including Peebles.
“They went to Illinois because they loved the place,” Green said. “This is no disrespect, but it’s not like they went there because they were winning or had tradition. They hadn’t won in a while. When I got there and met with them, they really wanted to win and be pushed.”
Green had five players return and two follow her from Dayton, including leading scorer Makira Cook, a junior guard, to go with her first class of recruits.
The foundation she began to build started with trust. As the season inched closer, Green knew she had a solid group of players who had bought into her vision, but she didn’t know how many wins that would translate to. She knew her team was on to something in a preseason closed scrimmage against Notre Dame, now a No. 3 seed.
“We were down 17 points and came back,” Green said. “That performance right there was the first time myself and the team were like, ‘OK, if we can play with Notre Dame, maybe we have something here.’ ”
Confirmation came after Illinois’ four-point loss to Indiana in December. A month later, the Illini beat 2-seed Iowa 90-86 on its home floor.
If they’re being honest, the players didn’t expect to be competing on this stage this quickly. Now that they are, they’re committed to making it last.
“A cool thing about this team, even though we all just came together a number of months ago, we’re all fairly young,” Makira Cook said. “This group has the possibility of being together for a couple more years, and that’s a big part of success in basketball.”
