Tate Checking in with the Illini women's sports
· Yahoo Sports
Jul. 7—Let's hear it for the women.
Look in any direction and you'll see them flexing their muscles in the sports world.
Visit betsport.cv for more information.
There is no greater example than our neighbor to the west where 15,000 basketball sellouts have led to unprecedented growth in the last half-dozen years at Iowa. The "Caitlin Clark effect" saw Hawkeye women outdrawing the men during the waning years of the Fran McCaffrey regime.
Call it a female revolution. This is the same backward state where, for decades, their high school association didn't want their girls to run full court. The half-court, 6-on-6 prep games weren't dropped until 1993, although half-and full-court tournaments were both permitted after 1985.
Point is: The wraps are off. Whereas an all-out commitment in behalf of women lingered throughout most of the past century, that is no longer the case. The gates are open, the dollars are flowing and eager women are pouring through a plethora of activities.
They've appropriated softball from the men, have many times the number in gymnastics, and have taken over college soccer and volleyball.
Keeping up with rest of league
The Athletic's Scott Dochterman, undoubtedly drawn into research by the Iowa phenomenon, found research showing that, just since 2021-22, basketball is up 38 percent, while other women's college advances in that time period find soccer 62 percent, volleyball 37 percent and softball 27 percent.
That's a lot of movement in less than five years. Locally, this means that while Josh Whitman is hiring new women's coaches in softball and tennis, and is searching for ways to invigorate UI volleyball, the Illini find themselves in deep water across the board against soaring Big Ten rivals.
Staying with basketball, Shauna Green's team has become increasingly popular but still face a steep ladder. Her young quintet was 9-9 in the 18-team Big Ten last winter while UCLA rolled to 37-1 and won the national title ... and continues to add punch with Finland's Elina Aarnisalo (a repeat transfer) and Donovyn Hunter from TCU.
Also in Los Angeles, JuJu Watkins returns from knee surgery as a projected All-American at Southern Cal, where Jazzy Davidson was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Michigan with four starters back from an Elite Eight team, and has signed Stanford transfer Courtney Ogden. Ohio State returns guard Jaloni Cambridge, who produced one of the great State Farm Center performances with 41 points last season.
With UCLA, USC, Michigan and Iowa so persistently strong, it's a tall order to challenge those leaders.
Push and pull
The same is true in other sports. Hard-working Illini gains are offset by extraordinary women's competition within the conference.
Nebraska went 20-0 in the Big Ten and Wisconsin reached the Final Four as the Big Ten continues to demonstrate extreme depth. Eastern power Penn State captured its eighth NCAA title in 2024.
Whitman has a new practice facility in mind, calling this necessary after Illini volleyball has fallen into the mid-range of Big Ten teams. They tied three others at 8-12 in standings last season while nine teams came in over .500.
Strong international recruiting in the field events has lifted Illinois, and coach Petros Kyprianou's team won the Big Ten Indoor in 2024 and finished second to Oregon in 2025. However, the outdoor version wasn't so proficient this year as Oregon women exploded with 121 points and Illinois tumbled to 10th place with 41.5.
For the record, no Illini women's team has ever won an NCAA team championship. Their most recent Big Ten titles, by sport, came in golf (2023), indoor track (2024), outdoor track (2007), basketball (a three-way tie in 1997), volleyball (1992) and gymnastics (1990). The sports of softball, swimming and diving, tennis, cross-country and soccer haven't been so fortunate.
The growth to an 18-team conference makes all sports more challenging. Nebraska, which joined the Big Ten member in 2011, won the Big Ten volleyball crown that year as the Illini reached the NCAA finals before losing to UCLA, then a member of the Pac-12.
New coach Katie Hultin got off to a stunning 7-0-1 start but fell back to ninth in the conference (5-4-2). Washington was the league and tournament champ and was one of six Big Ten teams in the Top 25.
Jenna Hall, returning to coach her alma mater, will be asked to pull Illinois out of the depths. Nebraska is here to stay, finishing 23-1 in league play this spring. Oregon took second at 20-4 and both Nebraska and UCLA reached softball's World Series.
So, no matter what gains the Illini women make in all these sports, rivals are improving as fast or faster as women's competition catches fire coast-to-coast.