D3 connections in the WNIT "Fab 4" + Part II of my final Top 25 ballot breakdown of 2024-25
The D3 ties to the last four teams still standing in the WNIT include Millikin graduate and former D3 All-American Elyce Knudsen
As I write this, the WNIT’s “Fab 4” is tipping off, with Cleveland State battling Buffalo at 6 p.m. ET, and Illinois State facing Troy at 7:30 p.m. ET. These are some of the country’s most competitive mid-majors this season, and interestingly enough, three of the four programs have multiple Division III connections. While the goal of this newsletter will always be highlighting the current coaches and student-athletes in D-III, it’s both relevant and noteworthy to make the connections between excellence in D-III and in D-I when possible. Not only is it a reminder of the role D3 basketball has played in shaping some of these coaches and players, but it is also simply cool to see people who were excelling inside D3 gyms a few years ago now coaching and playing on national television.
There are far more connections between D-III and D-I than the average fan might expect, and as I looked through the coaching staffs and rosters of the four remaining programs in the WNIT, I immediately noticed how many D3 ties were present. So I figured I’d quickly highlight that in this afternoon’s newsletter, before getting to the next five teams in my final Top 25 ballot of the 2024-25 season.
Cleveland State
Chris Kielsmeier – Head Coach
Kielsmeier gained D3 fame when he took Howard Payne to the pinnacle in 2008, going 33-0 with a 68-54 win over Messiah in the national title game. HPU is one of just three Region 10 programs to have won it all since 2000, and in total, Kielsmeier took the Yellow Jackets to the NCAA Tournament four times in his eight years as head coach. He was a two-time WBCA South Region Coach of the Year, leaving Brownwood with a record of 179-44. He then took over Division II Wayne State, leaving as the program’s all-time winningest coach to take his first Division I head coaching job at Cleveland State in 2018. The Vikings have won at least 20 games in each of his last five seasons (excluding 2020-21, which was abbreviated for Covid), including 27 or more in the last three.
Emily Taylor – Assistant Coach
Taylor is a D3 alum, having played three years at John Carroll from 2012-2015. A sharpshooter from beyond the arc, Taylor graduated with the ninth-most 3-pointers made in JCU history, and was key in the Blue Streaks claiming the 2014 OAC regular season title. JCU made two NCAA Tournament appearances during Taylor’s career, as she scored 14 points apiece in the Blue Streaks’ two tournament games in 2013 against Texas Lutheran and Thomas More. She then stayed with the program for three years following graduation, serving as an assistant coach before making the move to Division I. She was part of the coaching staff that led JCU to its first-ever OAC Tournament title in 2019.
Buffalo
Jacey Brooks – Associate HC
Brooks was actually announced as Northern Illinois’ new head coach on Tuesday following two seasons at Buffalo. But prior to her joining the Buffalo staff, Brooks led Cortland to three-straight 20-win seasons and three NCAA Tournaments in five years. In two of those three tournament appearances, Cortland advanced to the second round, and she went 79-32 while at the helm of the program. Brooks is also a D3 alum herself, having played at Buffalo State in the SUNYAC conference. She ranks seventh all-time in Buffalo State history in scoring, with 1,219 points, and holds the program’s single-season records for 3-point percentage (43.4%) and free throw percentage (87.0%), along with the highest career free throw percentage (84.5%).
Illinois State
Kristen Gillespie – Head coach
Gillespie has taken Illinois State to new heights since taking over in 2017, highlighted by three consecutive 20-win seasons and four WNIT bids in the last five seasons. But prior to that (and a stint as head coach at D2 Lewis), she spent four years as D3 Benedictine’s head coach. Her time in Lisle, Illinois, featured an 18-10 campaign in 2014-15, which marked the most wins for the Eagles since 2006-07. That same year, Benedictine reached the NACC Tournament final for the first time since 2010.
Scott Gillespie – Associate Head Coach
Gillespie, a cousin of ISU head coach Kristen Gillespie, comes from a D3 background as well. The son of famed Ripon men’s coach Bob Gillespie, Scott turned down Division I offers out of high school to play for his father in college, and rewrote the Redhawks’ record books. A 2011 graduate of Ripon, Gillespie set new records for career points (1,871) and career assists (602), earning All-America honors and the Midwest Conference Player of the Year award as a senior. He was elected to the Ripon Hall of Fame in 2021, and still holds the Ripon record for free throws made in a single game (21). Gillespie is in his eighth year on the ISU staff.
Drew Cole – Assistant Coach
Cole is another member of Illinois State’s staff with D3 ties. A 2016 graduate of Aurora University, Cole’s coaching career began as a student assistant with the Spartans’ women’s program. He was notably on staff in 2015-16, when Aurora reached the NACC Tournament for the first time since 2008-09, and beat both Lakeland and Concordia (WI) to advance to the 2016 NACC championship game.
Katrina Beck – Assistant Coach
Beck is the third ISU assistant with a connection to a Midwest D3, as she graduated from Illinois State in 2019 and spent her first two years of coaching at neighboring Illinois Wesleyan. While with the Titans as a graduate assistant, Beck contributed to IWU’s 20-9 season that ended with a second-round NCAA Tournament appearance.
Elyce Knudsen – Starting Guard, Graduate Student
Knudsen is both a D3 grad and a current contributor on the court for Illinois State, having made the most of her fifth season of college hoops. A graduate of D3 Millikin University, Knudsen has started all 34 games for the Redbirds this season, averaging a team-best 31.7 minutes per game, and became the first player in program history to convert 90 3-pointers in a single season in ISU’s win over Louisiana Tech last week. A four-time Division III All-American, Knudsen won the prestigious Jostens Trophy in 2023 and left Millikin with 2,274 career points in 101 games. Known as a top-tier scoring guard, she is currently the NCAA’s active leader in career scoring with 2,755 points, as LSU’s Aneesah Morrow and Murray State’s Katelyn Young — the two players ahead of her in career scoring this season — have already ended their seasons in the NCAA Tournament. Knudsen is undoubtedly an outstanding example of the excellence found in D3, between her All-American honors on the court at Millikin, her 3.90 GPA and First-Team Academic All-American recognition off the court, and her success this season at one of the top mid-majors in the Midwest.
Top 25 Ballot Breakdown: Final 2024-25 Ballot (Part II)
Taking a look at the next five teams in my final ballot of the 2024-25 season for the D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll. To read Part I, click here.
UW-Whitewater (24-7): There were times when I went back and forth on the Warhawks this season, but ultimately, they exceeded a lot of people’s expectations of what this year would look like. Without Aleah Grundahl, there was a question as to how well UWW’s offense would flow, and how Kacie Carollo would handle the added pressure. As it turned out, Carollo was terrific, UWW won the WIAC Tournament, and went all the way to the Sweet 16, losing narrowly to WIAC rival UW-Stout. Carollo carried the Warhawks in almost every way, leading the team in scoring, assists, rebounds, steals, 3-pointers made, free throws made, and field goals made. She was undoubtedly the pulse, but at the same time, it takes more than one player to make a run to the second weekend. I thought UWW only got better as the season went on, with visible improvement on both ends of the floor as the Warhawks navigated the WIAC gauntlet. With the way they played in the WIAC Tournament (beating two Final Four teams back-to-back), and then kept it going in the NCAAs, UWW’s team strength at the end was on a level that would’ve challenged just about any team in this Top 25 in a head-to-head matchup.
Whitman (27-2): This was a tough grade to make. Up to this point, every team I’ve discussed advanced to the second weekend. But Whitman notably came up short against an eventual Final Four team in UW-Stout, losing 75-69, in the second round. I won’t reignite the debate around this, but I do think Whitman was in that second tier of top-quality teams this season. If we look at their talent level, it was tremendous, something only strengthened by the fact that all five starters were seniors. When you combine that level of experience with the athleticism and size of a player like Korin Baker, you end up with a dangerous combination for any opponent in that team’s path. Natalie Lundberg was also huge in her role as Whitman’s point guard, and if you’ve read my work this season, you’ll know how much I value teams with quality point guard play. At the same time, I have to note that Whitman didn’t play the toughest schedule out there. Yes, they beat ETBU and UMHB (both at home, by the way) and won at SUNY Geneseo back in November. Those are three really solid wins, and against D3 opponents in the regular season, Whitman was 26-0. But in NWC play, they were rarely tested, and when they were, it resulted in three extremely close games against George Fox. In other words, you have to ask if those GFU games were a sign that perhaps Whitman was slightly overseeded in terms of strength (they were #5 in NPI), considering they never pulled away from GFU, even in the two games they played against the Bruins at home. That’s hardly a fluke. So I think No. 12 is a solid spot for Whitman considering that. They were experienced, gritty, and talented, and yet weren’t especially dominant in their few tests in conference play. I think there were signs that an early tournament exit was a strong possibility (regardless of where that opening weekend pod is played), similar to Gustavus Adolphus last year. But that doesn’t take away from the body of work throughout the regular season, which was certainly strong enough for Top 15 recognition. Like Baldwin Wallace, they may have had more close calls than anyone would’ve liked, but they still won those games in the end.
Ohio Wesleyan (25-4): The Battling Bishops had three fifth-year seniors return for one more crack at a deep tournament run this year, and that’s exactly what they did. After a first-round exit in 2023, and a second-round exit in 2024, OWU broke through to the second weekend this season. Prior to that, they went 14-0 in NCAC play, going perfect against the conference schedule for the first time in program history, and won 16 straight, breaking a win-streak record of 15 that had stood since 1978-79. Schipfer became the NCAC’s all-time leading scorer, Homan became the first player in NCAC history with 700 assists, and Macy Miller emerged as an All-American candidate with her inside scoring and rebounding ability. They had the starpower needed for a tournament run and accomplished that, while significantly adding to the program record books along the way.
Randolph-Macon (29-2): Similar to OWU, it was a sort of storybook season for RMC, as the Yellow Jackets’ senior-led squad reached a number of milestones along the way to their Sweet 16 appearance. They had the most wins in a season for RMC since 2004-05, reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2007, and won their 11th ODAC crown with a victory over Washington & Lee in Salem. Catherine Kagey had a senior year to remember after missing most of 2023-24 with a knee injury, as the fifth-year guard/forward started all 31 games and averaged a double-double (12.6 PPG, 10.1 RPG). The addition of Mount St. Mary’s transfer McKenzie Matheny proved to be huge as well, as Matheny finished second on the team in scoring (12.0 PPG) and rebounding (7.3 RPG) along with tallying 35 blocks, which gave RMC a stronger interior presence, especially on the defensive end. Aside from two losses to Gettysburg, RMC’s resume was perfect, highlighted by wins over Johns Hopkins, Rhode Island College, and Washington & Lee along the way. Similar to Baldwin Wallace, all three of those games were decided by a single possession, but the fact that they won all three seems to say something about the poise of the team and execution on both ends of the floor in late stretches. Let me also add that beating Elizabethtown in the second round was a significant win. Yes, the Yellow Jackets were at home, but with the way ETown had been playing in recent weeks (including a win over Scranton on the final day of the regular season), winning 62-56 and defending at the level they did was a massive win for the RMC program.
Johns Hopkins (24-5): Throughout the season, JHU remained one of the nation’s most efficient teams, and finished No. 7 nationally in overall efficiency. That was particularly true on the defensive end, where the Blue Jays were No. 3 in efficiency, only behind national champ NYU and sectional finalist Scranton. They really caught fire over the second half of the season, winning 15 of their last 16 heading into the Sweet 16, including a key victory over Carnegie Mellon in the second round of the tournament. A balanced scoring attack was led by three players who averaged in double figures — Michaela O’Neill, Macie Feldman, and Elisabeth Peebles — and the good news for JHU is that both Feldman and Peebles will be back for 2025-26, setting up the Blue Jays well offensively. And on the defensive end, senior Greta Miller tallied 70 steals, the fifth-most in the Centennial Conference. JHU didn’t have the strongest start, with early losses to Christopher Newport and Randolph-Macon, but proved to be a great example of the role cohesiveness plays in keeping a team moving forwards and pursuing improvement as the year goes along. With two seniors and three juniors composing the starting five, JHU closed the season well, pushing Scranton for four quarters in a 52-46 loss in the Sweet 16. With the way they played down the stretch, I felt confident with moving JHU up to No. 15 in my final ballot.