Few college basketball teams are still playing in April.
Illinois State University is one of only two institutions that can boast that it had both of its programs playing in the national semifinals. Connecticut, whose teams advanced to the NCAA Final Fours this weekend, is the other.
While the ISU men bowed out of the semifinals of the NIT on Thursday, the Redbird women look to become just the third national champion in ISU athletics history, following the 1969 Division II baseball title and last season’s College Basketball Invitational Championship for the men.
Kristen Gillespie’s Redbirds [24-13] hope to bring the CEFCU Arena magic that has carried throughout the season to Huntington, West Virginia, for the WNIT championship game at 2 p.m. Saturday at Marshall. The Thundering Herd [27-9] finished fifth in the Sun Belt Conference this season.
The Redbird women won 17 of 18 games at home this season, including WNIT wins over Texas-Rio Grande Valley, Abeline Christian and George Washington.
Making their second straight appearance in the WNIT Fab Four, the Redbirds pulled away for a 67-60 win at South Dakota on Wednesday in Vermillion. Doneelah Washington, the Missouri Valley Conference’s Most Improved Player this season, led ISU with 21 points to ensure the Redbirds their first-ever trip to the WNIT title game.
ISU men
The Redbirds carried the longest active postseason winning streak into fabled Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Thursday. After a run to the CBI title last season, the Redbirds dispatched Kent State, Wake Forest and Dayton before getting over matched by top-seeded Auburn, 88-66, in the NIT semifinals, ending the program’s longest NIT run in history.
The Vidette reported fourth-year head coach Ryan Pedon struck an upbeat tone after the loss as he reflected on a 23-13 campaign, the first in Redbird history that ended in April.
“I’m very proud of my team, for a season and a run that was a lot of fun,” Pedon said. “I think this experience can do a lot for our program as a whole, but also individually for the guys coming back.”
The Redbirds hope their late-season run will carry over into next season, as their top-three scorers — Chase Walker [first-team all-Missouri Valley Conference], Johnny Kinziger and freshman Ty’eek Coleman — all have eligibility remaining.
The basketball teams are building on the success of the ISU football team that played in the Football Championship Subdivision title game in January.
That gives ISU the distinction of bring the only Division I program to play in the national semifinals of all three sports.
