CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The perception of the Big Ten Conference is changing right before our eyes. Back in February 2016, Josh Whitman was hired as the University of Illinois' 14th permanent director of athletics. During the 2022-23 athletics campaign under Whitman, Illinois was one of just 14 schools to have its football team play in a bowl game, and both its men's and women's basketball teams participated in the NCAA Tournament.
Illinois once again accomplished more than the average fan knows, but the rest of the Big Ten is taking notice. Winning matters to Whitman.
When he took the job, he said, “Illinois is a place where you can win championships; that's my goal here for all of our sports moving forward.”
What did Illinois do in 2023-24?
Baseball: Big Ten regular season champions (33-17, 18-6), closed out the regular season with an 18-10 victory over Purdue (33-22, 13-11) at Alexander Field. The Illini head to Omaha, Nebraska, where they will be the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Baseball Tournament presented by IFS.ai. They will take on No. 8 seed Penn State on Tuesday. The first pitch from Charles Schwab Field Omaha is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT.
Former Moline Maroon Brody Harding is the starting second baseman for the Illini. He is batting .309 and is fifth on the team in home runs with 10.
Women's Basketball: Illinois secured its first-ever postseason title with a win over Villanova in the WBIT. Kendall Bostic, Genesis Bryant and Makira Cook were all named to the WBIT's all-tournament team, while Cook was also tabbed the Most Outstanding Player.
Men's Golf: Illinois completed the program’s most overwhelming NCAA Regional win on its way to the NCAA Championships for the 15th time in the last 16 seasons. The three-day tournament represented the sixth NCAA regional title. The total of 36-under-par 804 is the second-best 54-hole score in program history.
Men's Basketball: Illinois secured its fourth Big Ten Tournament title in program history, taking down Wisconsin, 93-87, at the Target Center in Minneapolis. Terrence Shannon Jr. was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Shannon brought his weekend scoring total up to 102 points, the second-most by a player in Big Ten Tournament history.
Women's Track and Field: Former Rock Island Alleman’s Tori Thomas, junior pole vaulter, was named Women's Field Athlete of the Championships after winning the pole vault title with a new Big Ten Outdoor Championships record of 4.52 meters (14-10). She became only the second Illini woman to ever stand atop the Big Ten Outdoor pole vault podium.
The Illinois men's and women's track and field teams have both qualified for the NCAA West Preliminaries, hosted by the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark., from May 22-25. A total of 26 Illini will make the trip to Arkansas: 12 men and 14 women.
Illinois athletics is making its mark in the conference and nationally.
*Statistics provided by the Illinois Sports Department
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