Green Street | Internet schedule sleuthing

Welcome to "Green Street," your dose of women's college basketball news from Illini beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Joe Vozzelli. He'll offer up insight on Shauna Green's Illini team and the women's game at large every week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

That the Illinois women's basketball team will play a home-and-home series with Florida State was the first — and only tidbit — of nonconference scheduling news to be officially released by Shauna Green 's Illini program so far this summer. The series will start with a Thursday, Nov. 7, home matchup for Illinois before the Illini play during the 2025-26 season at the Tucker Center in Tallahassee, Fla.

But some internet sleuthing will reveal a few of Illinois' other nonconference opponents. There's also one potential noteworthy omission.

The Illini are set to face at least two in-state teams in nonconference play this season. Eastern Illinois announced a Thursday, Nov. 14, date with Illinois at State Farm Center in Champaign, while Bradley did the same with the Braves visiting C-U on Thursday, Dec. 12.

Playing the Panthers would have given former Illinois coach Matt Bollant a chance to return to Champaign. Bollant was fired by the Illini after the 2016-17 season, two years removed from a major scandal involving allegations of player abuse that emerged in the summer of 2015. Nancy Fahey later replaced Bollant as Illinois' coach. Bollant, however, left EIU for Bryan College after a 15-18 season in year seven of his tenure.

The Kate Popovec-Goss era at Bradley, meanwhile, has gotten off to a slow start with the Braves a combined 10-54 in her first two seasons in Peoria.

A third known nonconference game for the Illini is a return game against Canisius on Monday, Dec. 2 at the Koessler Athletic Center in Buffalo, N.Y. Illinois rolled to a 90-58 win against the Golden Griffins at State Farm Center last November. The matchup at Canisius will represent a homecoming for not only Green but sophomore guard Gretchen Dolan , who is a Buffalo native and was a Big Ten All-Freshman Team selection last winter. Green played for the Golden Griffins and is still the women's basketball program's all-time leading scorer.

Now, to a possible omission ... the Missouri women's basketball team's nonconference schedule released last month did not show a game against Illinois. The two border rivals have played in six of the last seven years — a game didn't happen in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The women's braggin' rights games have taken place on campus sites, alternating between Columbia, Mo., and Champaign.

Whether that series continues is now in question.