Illini

ST. LOUIS - Illinois had just completed yesterday's public practice at the Edward Jones Dome. Coach Bruce Weber nodded to the next team to take the Final Four floor, when North Carolina point guard Raymond Felton stuck out his right hand in a more formal greeting. Louisville, Michigan State and history contend that that handshake will not repeat itself Monday night, when the NCAA decides its men's basketball champion. Oddsmakers and common wisdom may point to a final between No. 1-ranked Illinois and No. 2 North Carolina, but it's been 30 years since college basketball's championship game matched its top-ranked teams, and tonight's semifinal favorites are confronted by opponents capable of extending that drought.

They look nothing alike, the three guards of Illinois, yet people have the darnedest time separating them. Which is the best? The most indispensable? The best shooter? The toughest defender? The top NBA prospect? There is Dee Brown, the Big Ten Player of the Year, a streak shooter with braids, a bright orange mouthpiece and the quickness to pick a player's pocket with the game on the line. There is Luther Head, who escaped a controversial scrape with the law after a burglary at an off-campus apartment before last season to remain on the team - and became not only the Illini's leading scorer this season, but their most productive three-point shooter as well.

The Final Four has a tough act to follow. A one-possession game with less than a minute remaining, North Carolina-Wisconsin in Syracuse, N.Y., was the least dramatic affair of the past two days. The NCAA tournament got three overtime regional finals for the first time. The survivors move on to St. Louis, where one semifinal will pair the comeback kids of Illinois and Louisville. The other appeared headed to a clash between the game's two greatest bluebloods until Michigan State persevered in Austin, Texas.

ROSEMONT, Ill. - Most of the nearly 17,000 orange-clad fans inside Allstate Arena never gave up on the No. 1-ranked team in America, but you have to think the rest of America had. If the word "frauds" hadn't already escaped the lips of millions watching Arizona slowly pull away from Illinois, viewers knew that they'd be able to say it in only four more minutes. Yet in the blink of an eye, the flash of a white jersey, the flick of an orange-banded wrist, Illinois had restored its reputation and probably convinced a lot of fans for good.

ROSEMONT, Ill. - Their basketball lives depended on every second and every play. Illinois players made the most of every one of them to stage one of the most thrilling comebacks in the history of college basketball. Trailing third seed Arizona by 15 points with 4:04 left in regulation, Illinois mustered every ounce of energy it had and channeled it into a 90-89 overtime victory over Arizona in the NCAA tournament's Chicago Regional final at Allstate Arena last night. "Unbelievable game," Illinois coach Bruce Weber said.

CHICAGO - Illinois' journey to the Final Four may be a matter of style. The guard-oriented Illini matched up with a speed team in Wisconsin-Milwaukee and shot the smaller Panthers out of the tournament Thursday night, 77-63. To win the Chicago Regional final tonight, Illinois must cope with Arizona, which outrebounded and outmuscled a physical Oklahoma State team, 79-78, to reach the Elite Eight. The third-seeded Wildcats are big and physical, and they like it. "The fact that people consider us bangers is definitely kind of nice," 6-foot-10 center Channing Frye said of himself, 6-10 forward Ivan Radenovic and 6-4 forward Hassan Adams.

ROSEMONT, Ill. - Wisconsin-Milwaukee came into last night's regional matchup against No. 1-ranked Illinois with a reputation as being one of the better pressuring, attacking defensive teams left in the NCAA tournament. The No. 12 seed Panthers, in fact, succeeded in taking Illinois out of its game early, ironically without its feared press. It didn't matter as the top-seeded Illini eventually romped, 77-63. Illinois began the game with all the look of a team expecting to be pressed. The normally pass-intensive team made six of its first eight shots, but took all but two of those shots within the first 10 seconds on the shot clock.

ROSEMONT, Ill. - With a completely straight face, Bruce Pearl told a roomful of reporters yesterday that with his Wisconsin-Milwaukee sneaking into the Sweet 16 to face top-ranked Illinois, "There are so many great story lines on this team, I don't even know where to begin." OK, Coach. How about the story line where you ratted out a Big Ten competitor 16 years earlier, helped get it on probation, nearly ruined a coaching colleague's career and got yourself exiled to the backwaters of the game, only to return to the big time, lead a Cinderella team into the NCAA tournament, pull off a pair of upsets and face ... the school you ratted out all those years ago?

INDIANAPOLIS - Nationally acclaimed Illinois guards Dee Brown, Luther Head and Deron Williams were the supporting players yesterday. Forwards James Augustine and Jack Ingram stepped into the starring roles in the top-ranked and top-seeded Illini's 71-59 victory over ninth-seeded Nevada in their NCAA tournament second-round game at the RCA Dome. Augustine scored a career-high 23 points, 17 in the first half. In addition to making nine of 11 shots and all five of his free throws, the 6-foot-10-inch junior grabbed 10 rebounds.

CHICAGO - With his eyes moist and puffy, Illinois coach Bruce Weber offered a slight wave to thousands of fans who honored the memory of his mother, Dawn, with a moment of silence yesterday at the United Center. Weber's older brother, Ron, who was sitting a few rows behind the Illini bench with other teary-eyed family members, began to sob. Bruce Weber, too, succumbed to the tribute with tears and then bottled his grief over the death of his mother to direct No. 1 Illinois in its 64-56 victory over Minnesota in a Big Ten tournament semifinal.