Suzie McConnell-Serio is a former American women's basketball coach and player. She was the head coach for the women's basketball team at the University of Pittsburgh from 2013 to 2018. In 2004, she was named WNBA Coach of the Year as coach of the Minnesota Lynx. She was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.
Brian Joshua Cook is an American former professional basketball player. He was drafted out of the University of Illinois with the 24th overall pick in the 2003 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers.
Kimberly Duane Mulkey is an American college basketball coach and former player. Since 2021, she has been the head coach for Louisiana State University's women's basketball team. A Pan-American gold medalist in 1983 and Olympic gold medalist in 1984, she is the first coach in NCAA basketball history to win national championships as a player, assistant coach, and head coach. Since the inception of the NCAA women's tournament in 1982, Mulkey has participated as a player or coach every year except 1985 and 2003.
John Graham Kerr, also known as Red Kerr, was an American basketball player, coach and television color commentator who devoted more than seven decades to the sport. The affable 6'9", 230-pound center starred for the University of Illinois (1951-1954) before he became a three-time All-Star and one-time league champion in the NBA (1954–66), primarily as a member of the Syracuse Nationals.
The Illinois Fighting Illini are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports.
Thomas Dwight "Dike" Eddleman was an American athlete who was generally considered the greatest athlete in the history of athletics at the University of Illinois. Eddleman participated on the university's basketball, track and field, and football teams between the years of 1942 and 1949. Eddleman earned a combined 11 varsity letters in his career at the university, during which he also became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. Eddleman was born in Centralia, Illinois, and attended Centralia High School. On October 24, 2008, Eddleman was named a Distinguished Alumni of Centralia High school. He, along with five others, including James Brady, were the first to be named Distinguished Alumni. His wife, Teddy Eddleman, accepted his award.
The State Farm Center is a large dome-shaped 15,544-seat indoor arena located in Champaign, Illinois, owned and operated by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The arena hosts games for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball, women's basketball, and wrestling teams. It also doubles as a performance and event center, and is one of the largest venues between Chicago and St. Louis. It opened in 1963 and was known until 2013 as Assembly Hall until State Farm Insurance acquired naming rights as part of a major renovation project.
Cindy Stein is a former basketball coach. She was the head women's basketball coach at Southern Illinois University Carbondale from 2013 to 2022. She is the former coach of the Missouri Tigers women's basketball team at the University of Missouri from 1998 to 2010 and at Illinois Central College from 2012 to 2013. She was the head coach for the Cougars from April 3, 2012, until April 2, 2013, when she was named head coach of the SIU Women's basketball team.
The Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team is an NCAA Division I college basketball team competing in the Big Ten Conference, that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Home games are played at the State Farm Center, located on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's campus in Champaign. Illinois has one pre-tournament national championship and one non-NCAA tournament national championship in 1915 and 1943, awarded by the Premo-Porretta Power Poll. Illinois has appeared in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament 34 times, and has competed in 5 Final Fours, 10 Elite Eights, and has won 18 Big Ten regular season championships, and 4 Big Ten Tournament Championships.
Charles Roslyn Carney was an American football and basketball player.
The 1951–52 Illinois Fighting Illini men’s basketball team represented the University of Illinois.
Jenna Smith is an American former professional basketball center. She was drafted in the second round of the 2010 WNBA draft by the Washington Mystics, having previously played college basketball for the University of Illinois Fighting Illini where she earned First team All-Big Ten honors in 2008, 2009 and 2010. In 2016, she was named assistant coach of the Indiana State Sycamores women's basketball team.
The 2009–10 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in the 2009–10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. This was head coach Bruce Weber's seventh season at the school. They are members of the Big Ten Conference and played their home games at Assembly Hall. The Illini finished the season 21–15, 10–8 in Big Ten play and lost in the semifinals of the 2010 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament. They were invited to the 2010 National Invitation Tournament where they advanced to the quarterfinals before falling to Dayton.
The 1952–53 Illinois Fighting Illini men’s basketball team represented the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.
Bradley Cole Underwood is the current head coach for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team. Previously, he served as head coach at Oklahoma State, Stephen F. Austin, Dodge City Community College, and Daytona Beach Community College and assistant coach at Western Illinois, Kansas State, and South Carolina.
The Illinois–Indiana men's basketball rivalry is an intra-Big Ten Conference, college sports rivalry between the Illinois Fighting Illini and Indiana Hoosiers. Multiple factors have played into the creation of the games between the two schools; Illinois and Indiana share a state border and are located about 153 miles (246 km) apart, they share recruiting ground, and for many decades both teams played in a facility named Assembly Hall.
Mary Eggers Tendler is a volleyball coach and former volleyball player. She is the head volleyball coach at Elon University and played collegiately for Illinois where she was a First-Team All-American and winner of the Broderick Award in 1989 as the nation's top collegiate female volleyball player.
The 2022–23 Illinois Fighting Illini women's basketball team represented the University of Illinois during the 2022–23 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Fighting Illini were led by first-year head coach Shauna Green, and they played their home games at State Farm Center. This season marked the program's 41st season as a member of the Big Ten Conference.
Ryan Gensler is an American women's basketball coach. He is currently the women's basketball head coach at the University of Akron.
The 2023–24 Illinois Fighting Illini women's basketball team represented the University of Illinois during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Fighting Illini were led by second-year head coach Shauna Green, and they played their home games at State Farm Center. This season marked the program's 42nd season as a member of the Big Ten Conference.
