A few items gleaned from Bruce Weber's press conference today...

- Super Pantry presented a giant check for $120,000 to Coaches vs. Cancer. Tri Star Marketing (Super Pantry) CEO Jon Stewart was on hand, along with representatives from the American Cancer Society. As you know, aiding the Coaches vs. Cancer cause has been one of Weber's foremost missions. The coach lost a high school teammate to brain cancer about 18 months ago, another example of how the disease has hit home.

- With its quarterfinal opponent undecided - it will be No. 7 Michigan or No. 10 Iowa - Illinois is preparing for both by mixing in different parts of their respective schemes. In practice, the coaches don't necessarily announce which team they're practicing for, but the players can pick it up.

"They're smart enough to know Michigan plays zone and Iowa doesn't," Weber said.

- Three of the coaches said they don't prefer one or the other, Michigan or Iowa. In Iowa's case, the UI coaches voted for point guard Jake Kelly on their all-conference ballot. (Not sure which team.) In the case of Michigan, "They have two of the best players in the league (in Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims)," Weber said.

- Weber has plans to attend Whitney Young's sectional semifinals game tonight against Berwyn-Cicero. Here's a guess you'll see Jerrance Howard at Waukegan's game Wednesday. The other coaches will be out this week - before the Big Ten tournament - as well.

- The Illinois coaches watched the Youtube video of Jereme Richmond's technical foul. Predictably, they were pleased with the IHSA's decision to reinstate the Illinois recruit. (Here's Michael O'Brien's article on the reinstatement.) There were no phone calls made from the UI basketball offices to anyone in the IHSA offices.

My question: if this weren't a high-profile player, an Illinois recruit, would the decision have been the same? It appears to be basketball justice, just playing devil's advocate here.

- Weber's take on Illinois' potential NCAA seeding, as it stands now: "I think the highest we were a couple weeks ago was a 4-5. Now you may be drifting to a 5-6. I think you can float down a little more if you're not careful. I think if we have some success on Friday, Saturday, we can work our way in."

- Illinois is hoping to fuel another Big Ten tournament push based on two events: a heartbreaking loss to Penn State in the regular season finale, and its improbable run at Conseco Fieldhouse last season.

"I hope the negative of the Penn State game becomes a positive, with some urgency, some hungriness going into it," Weber said. "I asked them, ‘Wasn't it fun?' I mean, it was a blast (last season in Indy). You go back to the hotel and the fans. Just to keep playing, and the attention you get. I said, ‘Man, wouldn't you like that again? I hope in that way, it adds to the hungriness of being ready to play."

More to come later when Klee returns from practice, thanks for reading.

pklee@news-gazette.com