Monday, March 16, 2009 11:48 AM CDT
Illinois gets No. 5 seed, will face Western Kentucky
By MARK TUPPER, Staff Writer
mtupper@herald-review.com
CHAMPAIGN -- Bowling Green, Ky., is still a special place for Bruce Weber.
It’s where he got his first college coaching job.
It’s where he got his taste of what it means to play in the NCAA Tournament.
It’s where he proposed marriage to his wife, Megan, in part because he didn’t think he could make it on his own with a $2,000-a-year salary as a graduate assistant coach.
So when Bowling Green-based Western Kentucky University became Illinois’ first-round opponent in the NCAA Tournament Sunday, the irony was not lost the Illini head coach.
“I did my grad work there, got my masters there and Western Kentucky gave me an opportunity to get into the coaching world,” Weber said Sunday. “A lot of good memories.”
Illinois drew the No. 5 seed in the South Regional and will take on 12th-seeded Western Kentucky Thurs-day in Portland, Ore. Game times were to be announced Sunday night.
The Illini team gathered at Memorial Stadium to watch the Selection Show on CBS and cheered loudly, Weber said, when their name was flashed onto the screen.
“You wait and you wait and the knot in your stomach gets bigger,” Weber said. “You get so nervous you have to get up and walk around. Then when our name came up there was so much excitement in the room.”
Weber said he was hugging his wife and didn’t hear CBS analyst Seth Davis announce that he was already picking Western Kentucky to upset the Illini.
“That’s good for us,” Weber said. “It will give us some motivation.”
Within minutes, Weber and his assistant coaches were on the phone with Southern Illinois coach Chris Lowery, a former Weber assistant. Western Kentucky beat SIU 79-70 in November.
“They’re a guard-oriented team that shots a lot of 3s,” Weber said. “We saw tape of them when we were preparing for Georgia. They’d played Georgia two days before our game.
“I hope we have an advantage with our big guys.”
Illini assistant Wayne McClain said he was in charge of preparing the scouting report. “I don’t know much about them yet, but I’ll have tapes of them on my desk within an hour,” he said.
Western Kentucky’s claim to fame is a surprising 68-54 victory over Louisville back on Nov. 30.
At the time, Louisville was ranked No. 3 in the country and when the NCAA Tournament bracket was un-veiled Sunday, Louisville emerged as the No. 1 seed in the entire tournament.
After missing out on the NCAA Tournament last season, many of the Illini players are preparing for something they’ve never experienced.
“It’s my first time to play in it so I’m really excited,” said Illini sophomore Mike Davis. “I didn’t think it would get to me this way, but I can’t get the smile off my face.”
Also excited is senior Chester Frazier, who spoke to the media Sunday for the first time since a hand in-jury put the remainder of his season in jeopardy.
Frazier said he’s going to have his right hand re-evaluated by doctors today and hopes to begin testing the hand in practice on Tuesday. “It’s going to be my decision,” he said. “I’m still hoping I can play.”
Weber said the staff has talked about designing a padded glove that could give the hand, which was subjected to a surgical procedure on Thursday, some protection.
Seven Big Ten Conference teams made it into the field with bubble team Penn State left out of the field.
Michigan State was seeded No. 2 in the Midwest and is being sent to Minneapolis.
Purdue, which won the Big Ten Tournament Sunday, also is a No. 5 seed and will be joining Illinois in Portland, although the Boilermakers feed into the West Regional.
Ohio State is a No. 8 seed in the Midwest Regional, Minnesota is a No. 10 seed in the East Regional, Michigan is seeded No. 10 in the South and Wisconsin is seeded No. 12 in the East.
mtupper@herald-review.com|421-7983
About Western Kentucky
LOCATION: Bowling Green, Ky.
CONFERENCE: Sun Belt
RECORD: 24-8, 15-3 conference.
BEST WINS: Beat Louisville 68-54, beat Georgia 67-63, beat Southern Illinois 79-70.
WORST LOSS: Lost to Evansville, 72-40.
COACH: Ken McDonald, first year after four seasons as assistant at Texas.
OF NOTE: Won both the Sun Belt conference championship and the conference tournament title. Reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament last year when (also as the 12th seed) they upset No. 5-seed Drake 101-99 in overtime, then beat San Diego before falling to top-seed UCLA.
Probable starters
Player Ht. Yr. PPG
A.J. Slaughter 6-3 Jr. 15.8
Orlando Mendez-Valdez 6-1 Sr. 14.0
Steffphon Pettigrew 6-5 So. 12.7
Sergio Kerusch 6-5 So. 11.2
Jeremy Evans 6-9 Jr. 8.7
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