The Illinois State women's basketball team has it sights set on another postseason run in 2027. Head coach Kristen Gillespie and the Redbirds prepare for another season amidst a changing landscape in college basketball.
The Redbirds come off a 24-14 overall record in 2026. A 13-7 Missouri Valley Conference record that saw a second-round exit in the MVC conference tournament in Coralville, Iowa. Illinois State went on to a runner-up finish in the 2026 WNIT. The Redbirds advanced to the WNIT semifinals in 2025.
ISU opens the season at 7 p.m. Monday against Chicago State at CEFCU Arena.
Gillespie, who is beginning her 10th season on the bench at ISU, expressed "cautious optimism" for the upcoming season. She pointed to hard work throughout the offseason and a new group of players with a shared goal to reach "a different tournament."
"I like where [we are] right now, but you never know. You never know until you put those jerseys on and get out in front of fans," Gillespie said on WGLT's Sound Ideas. "Just the feel of this team, their character, everything is going really well, and I just love how hard they work."
Eight newcomers
The team saw the addition of eight newcomers, including transfers Chloe Spreen, Hannah Chicken, Zanyra Adams and Ella Mason along with freshmen Danyella Mporokoso, Kennedy Stowers, Madison Young, and Austrian Christina Koppel. They join a strong returning seven headlined by guard Trist Fayta and Nevaeh Thomas, who returns from a season-ending injury.
With a new-look roster, Gillespie said the team's main focus remains on daily improvements.
"I really believe if we can live in the space of, Are we reaching our potential? Are we working every day to become the team that we know we can be?" she said, "I think the results will take care of itself, and the results that we want, we want to win a championship. We want to get back to the NCAA Tournament."
Gillespie returns for the 2027 season coming off her third 20-win season in four years. The path to repeat that will require the team to navigate an increasingly challenging and changing landscape.
With an NCAA Tournament expansion from 68 teams to 76, the possibility of an at-large bid for an MVC team presents itself. Gillespie said a challenging nonconference schedule is the way a team like ISU can make their case for an at-large bid.
"This is the most challenging nonconference schedule we will have," Gillespie said. "The big metric this year is wins against the bubble. So you try to predict teams that like top 100 teams. So we have a bunch on the nonconference schedule. If you can beat teams that are on the bubble, that's what puts you in in those conversations."
The winner of every Division I conference tournament receives a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Historically, teams from the power four conferences — Big Ten, SEC, ACC, and Big 12 — receive the most at-large bids.
An expanded NCAA Tournament model doesn't guarantee a mid-major like ISU a spot in the tournament. Gillespie said she doesn't believe those added spots are likely to go to mid-majors.
Still, Illinois State's goal remains the same: winning the MVC tournament. Gillespie feels the changed tournament rules for the MVC Conference tournaments will help.
"The big shift going from the 10 teams with the double-bye is to protect your one and two seeds," Gillespie said. "We need to be a Saturday team. You know, we need to be a one or two seed. There are so many benefits to that. You get a little wiggle room. There's little room for error right now with the top two teams."
In 2027, the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament also will change. On both the men's and women's sides, the top 10 teams after the regular season will make the tournament, with the top two seeds after the regular season being rewarded by advancing directly to the semifinal.
In 2026, the MVC men's tournament final saw none of the top four ranked teams play while the women's tournament saw No. 10 Evansville make the final.
Five-in-five
Another major shift in the climate of college sports was the introduction of the 5-in-5 rule. The NCAA adopted the age-based eligibility rule in 2026, giving student-athletes a single continuous five-year window of eligibility that begins at full-time college enrollment, or the academic year after their 19th birthday.
Gillespie said she welcomed the change, adding that she thinks the rule not only clarifies the rules for coaches, but eases the minds of athletes when it comes to the time they have to play.
"I like that. It provides a lot of clarity," she said. "You know, you see some players that still are playing. It's their seventh year. You know, they're 32 years old and they're still suiting up, and you're just like scratching your head, how is this happening?"
Transfer portal
The landscape hasn't stopped changing though. Ideas to regulate and limit transfer opportunities have also been brought up. The age of Name, Image and Likeness [NIL] sees players transfer seemingly all of the time with decisions based on playing time, money or a coach's departure.
Gillespie worries about the education of the athletes, pointing to those who may be on the move every year.
"I think what's being lost in the shuffle with the transfer portal is these young people are at our universities to get a college degree," Gillespie said. "I worry, what is that teaching this generation? You know, when things get hard or something's not going your way, you can just jump ship. And how are we getting these young people degrees if they're going to four schools in four years. I just don't understand how that works."
Mid-major programs like Illinois State often get caught in the shuffle when athletes have the chance to move up or make more money. Gillespie believes ISU has situated itself well when it comes to recruiting and retaining athletes, but she said the current times still benefit the largest and most financially capable universities the best.
"It is such an uneven playing field right now. I mean, basically the rich just keep getting richer," Gillespie said. " We're almost becoming a farm league, a minor league, or a junior college per se."
ISU faces a challenge that extends beyond the court, field or pitch. A constantly changing landscape of collegate athletics makes the lines blurry, and the competition means even more.
For Gillespie and her Redbirds, the priorities remain the same. Develop, improve and win.
