Ardent Illini women's basketball fans will have plenty to watch this weekend regardless of how Jolette Law's team fares at the Big Ten tournament. Friday and Saturday is the Class 3A and 4A state tournament in Normal, and Illinois signee Adrienne GodBold will be leading her Chicago Marshall team in its defense of last year's 3A championship. Marshall faces Peoria Richwoods at noon Friday. You can watch the games on WCFN and the IHSA Web site.

Richwoods has a UI connection. The Knights' best player is 6-foot-1 sophomore Mariah Smith, a second team Associated Press all-stater and a highly recruited player with great potential. Smith's father is the late Mark Smith, who died at age 41 after a history of drug use. Mark Smith was one of the best players in UI history, joining Eddie Johnson in the late '70s/early '80s to form a dynamic tandem for Lou Henson.

Here's a story in which Smith mentions her interest in the UI.

Other UI angles this weekend:

--Springfield, which plays in the other 3A semifinal, features freshman guard Zahna Medley, whom UI assistant coach Patrick Klein watched at last week's sectional in Lincoln. Medley is one of the state's top prospects in the Class of 2012.

--In 4A, Bolingbrook features four players who have received scholarship offers from the UI: sophomores Marissa Taylor, Taylor Tuck and Ariel Massengale and freshman Morgan Tuck.

Morgan Tuck, a 6-2 center, is the jewel. She's the fifth-ranked freshman in the country by Blue Star Basketball.

--Bolingbrook's opponent at 6:30 p.m. Friday is Wheeling, which features Purdue signee Ashley Wilson. Wheeling also is the alma mater of UI freshman Lana Rukavina.

More news and views:

--UI recruit Destiny Williams scored 26 points in Benton Harbor's 66-29 victory against Jenison in the Michigan district playoffs Monday night with Jolette Law in attendance. Williams' next game is Wednesday. Benton Harbor is 19-2.

--Every year, it seems, I just shake my head when I get my first look at the coaches' selections for All-Big Ten.

I shouldn't be surprised. As I've said before, the coaches' purpose in this vote is self-serving. The coaches aren't interested in honoring the players who had the best seasons. Their intent is to honor the best players from the best teams. That way, they can grab a copy of the all-conference list and march into their next team meeting to say, "See! I told you! With team success comes individual recognition."

The coaches miss the point. These are individual honors, not team awards. The team award is a big, fat, tall trophy that says "Big Ten champions" on the side of it. The coaches consistently try to twist the awards to serve their own purposes which, unfortunately, results in the best players being punished if they don't happen to play on a good team.

My biggest beef with the coaches' picks? As Big Ten Network analysts Vera Jones and Stephanie White expressed Monday night, Lacey Simpson deserved the Defensive Player of the Year award. (The media doesn't have a separate vote for this award.) The coaches gave it to Shavelle Little, who just happens to play for the league champions.

Little, to be certain, is a fabulous defender. But Simpson does it all. There's more to playing defense than just staying in front of your opponent and preventing her from scoring. There's rebounding. (Simpson was fourth in the Big Ten). There's steals. (Simpson led the Big Ten.) There's blocked shots. (Simpson was fourth in the Big Ten.) But why let facts get in the way of an opinion?

The coaches also tend to favor older players, which is the only reason I could possible think of for the coaches' snub of Ohio State freshman Sammy Prahalis. The media put her on the second team (I had her on the third.) The coaches made her honorable mention. Prahalis was no worse than the second-best point guard in the league behind Kristi Smith.