As Kendall Bostic approached the half-court line to prepare for tip-off against Mississippi State on Wednesday night, it finally felt real. The Illini's 20-year NCAA Tournament wait had come to an end.

The opening tip-off not only marked the program's first tournament appearance since 2003, but it signaled the first action of the 2023 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship, giving Illinois the opportunity to perform on a national stage.

"All eyes are on that game. It's the first game in the women's tournament. Everyone's watching, so our program is going to be out there," said head coach Shauna Green. "They're going to see what we're about and our style of play. It's great for our program to put it out there and that national exposure that we're getting."

The Illini's First-Four matchup aired nationally on ESPNU, giving the team the ability to show out in front of a bigger audience. Green admits she did not expect to be playing in the NCAA Tournament in her first year at Illinois when she stepped foot in Champaign for the first time, but the Illini bought in to the new coaching staff and turned the program around.

The team's 15-win improvement from one season ago marks the best one-year turnaround in program history and the third-best in Big Ten history. Bostic, one of the few returning players from the 2021-22 Illini roster, has thrived under the new staff, averaging a career-high 29.2 minutes and 10.2 points per game. The 2022-23 season has put the Illini back on the map, both in the Big Ten and the NCAA, Bostic says.

"I know it's crazy from the outside, but being able to play this season has been really great," Bostic said after the First-Four game. "I know for recruits and for our fans that traveled here, it's got to be really cool from the outside looking in. I think it will be really, really good for the future knowing this program is only going up. That's got to make people excited."

Jada Peebles has also been through the highs and lows after joining the Illini as a freshman in 2019. She was not sure where she would end up after Illinois made a coaching change prior to the season, but Peebles quickly trusted Green and opted to stay in Champaign.

Her roles on and off the court have been huge, and she registered a career-best 43% field-goal percentage and 45.2% 3-point percentage this season. After winning five total Big Ten games across three seasons heading into the 2022-23 campaign, Peebles has played a big part in rewriting the script and changing the program's reputation.

"I definitely think this year really shocked everybody, and it shocked recruits coming in as well," Peebles said. "Seeing how we changed the culture ourselves with being in this culture for only a year, I think it's only up from here. We made a huge impact in a year, so there's just so much to look back on."

While the Illini won 22 games during the 2022-23 season, their third-highest mark in program history and their most since 1999-2000, Green knows there is still a lot of work to do. A sixth-place finish in Big Ten play and an NCAA Tournament berth are signs of progress, but Green is not satisfied yet.

"It's great for this program, especially with where we're at, trying to build it, trying to get people aware of 'OK, this the first time we've been in the NCAA Tournament in 20 years,' Green said. "From here, hopefully we're not talking about the first time in 20 years. Now, let's just worry about the present and worry about where we're gonna go from here."

Green's recruitment pitch has significantly changed since she was named the program's head coach on March 21, 2022. With the Illini set to bring back a majority of its roster and welcome in talented new faces into the program next season, Illinois is back and better than ever.

"We've been a top-25 team for multiple weeks this year. We made the NCAA tournament. We've been a top-five team in the country, and we were right there with multiple others," Green said. "The pitch is just more factual. There are numbers behind it. There's proof in the pudding a little bit.

"We're not where we want to be. There's still a lot of growth ahead, but I've seen it and hopefully it continues to go that way. We're starting to move the needle where people are really believing in this program."