Dolan working toward getting ready for start of 2026-27 season
· Yahoo Sports
Jun. 19—CHAMPAIGN — Gretchen Dolan wasn't wearing any kind of protective sleeve on her surgically-repaired right knee as the Illinois women's basketball team guard answered questions from the assembled media in the lobby of Ubben Basketball Complex late Thursday morning.
No outward evidence was there to show what the 5-foot-11 redshirt junior has been dealing with the last four months since the Buffalo, N.Y., native had surgery to address a torn meniscus in her right knee on Feb. 23.
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But make no mistake: Dolan's rehab process is ongoing.
"I'm feeling good," Dolan said minutes after her and her Illini teammates wrapped up Thursday morning's practice. Illinois is currently in week one of eight of summer workouts.
"I think every day I am just progressing more and more and starting to get more confident and everything feeling better," the Illinois guard continued. "So, I think this time since I've had my surgery has been good, and I have been progressing."
Dolan has now missed part of back-to-back seasons because of knee injuries. Dolan had a medical hardship waiver for the 2024-25 season approved by the NCAA after playing in only eight games before her season ended with a left-knee injury.
Her torn meniscus from this past season had more of a stop-start nature to it. Dolan missed her first game with the injury on Jan. 15 in an 85-69 loss at Michigan. A brief return on Feb. 1 during a 75-66 victory at Washington — where Dolan played just four minutes and sat out the entire second half — was the last game Dolan played for the Illini this past season. Dolan ended up suiting up for Illinois in 18 games and averaged 12.9 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.2 steals.
Recovering from a second successive knee injury has been "tedious."
"As soon as you do get a taste of on-court stuff, you immediately want to play 5-on-5 but you know that's not really the case," Dolan said. "You have to be diligent. What I do every day, pre, post practice, my recovery and then making sure I am getting what I need on the court. Being smart with my ramp-up.
"I think just reminding myself to take it one day at a time is all I can do and just focus on that day and what I have. It's something that I have learned. Things can be taken from you in an instant. So, I think that's happened by just realizing I have this day, and I am going to pour everything into it and go about that process the right way."
Dolan admitted it's the mental side of coming back from an injury that takes the most time. Dolan said "your brain is what comes second."
Even if Illinois has been meticulous in how it's approached Dolan's path back to the court.
Recently, Dolan has worked on "change of direction stuff" and has found physical therapy helpful in getting the mental and physical aspects of her injury recovery to be more in sync.
"It's definitely a work in progress," Dolan said. "It's taking a little bit of time for me to restructure some kinds of things and how I am moving. Like I said earlier, just taking it day-by-day and make sure my body is really in line and I am feeling confident in whatever I'm doing on the court. I don't want to step on the court and do something that I haven't done. We have been doing a really good job of that in my (physical therapy). I feel good in everything and everything feels good from left to right. It's something that gets better from day-to-day."
Illini fifth-year coach Shauna Green was asked to come up with words to describe Dolan.
Specifically what Green has learned about Dolan given the adversity that has struck the redshirt junior the last two seasons.
Resiliency.
Toughness.
Loyalty.
That's what sprung to mind for Green in referring to Dolan.
The first two are clearly in reference to the multiple knee injuries Dolan has suffered through. The loyalty word wasn't misplaced, though. Dolan wanted to run it back for another season with Illinois despite what she had gone through. Retention was a key effort by the Illini this offseason, and Illinois retained its core with the top-nine players in the rotation all coming back from a 22-win team that reached the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Dolan didn't go into specifics but did say "all of us have had to make sacrifices to stay at Illinois."
"She's been through a lot," Green said of Dolan. "It's so unfortunate. You just feel bad, really for her. But she gets knocked down and she gets back up and she keeps fighting. That's the main thing. ... We're trying to progress her back as slowly but as surely as we possibly can for her to be able to play this year. That's what she wants. That's what we want. That's what we're working towards.
"Gretch is not out there full. ... We're being very intentional with the plan and her progression. We don't want to do too much too early, and then have a setback. We're going to probably take it very, very slow, so we know when she gets back out there she's confident, and she's strong and physically able to sustain everything that she needs to. Yes, trying to take it as slow as we can but still continue to progress and take those steps."
Dolan knows what's she's coming back to: A team and a program with perhaps the highest level of expectations it's had in the Green era. That comes with the territory after what was the youngest roster in the 68-team NCAA tournament field got a taste of what postseason success looks like in March.
And Dolan is itching to play a role in Illinois repeating that — and accomplishing even more as a team during the upcoming 2026-27 season.
"Even watching the team on the sidelines last year, we have a lot of talent on this group," Dolan said. "Doing whatever they need me to do. Whether that's game-to-game. If they need me scoring, defending, being a playmaker, whatever it may be, it's an exciting group that we have and a lot of talent and a lot of pieces. I am excited to see how we will gel together."