Chester breaks down the Illini

For Klee's story on Chester Frazier, cilck here

Paul Klee sat down with Chester Frazier earlier this week to discuss Illinois basketball:

I've always found Chester Frazier to have a unique insight into the game and the Illini. He knows his words carry weight, and he breaks things down as though he's watching film. As a player he viewed a win or a loss almost through the eye of a coach, kind of in an analystical sort of way, so it's not a surprise he's headed toward starting a coaching career as a student assistant coach.

Frazier has been playing and working out with your next Illini since the season ended, and with the four freshmen for about the last two weeks. He dropped a few nuggets on me today, including his early take on the three guards that just entered the program:

Chester Frazier on D.J. Richardson: "He's the most game-ready guy right now. As far as playing both ends of the court and hustle and scrappiness, he could step in and do my role right now. It will be interesting to see how quickly he develops and starts thinking about the game and picks up the motion offense. The ability for him to play some point guard is going to be key for us."

On Brandon Paul: "Freak athlete, lights-out shooter, good size. The best thing he provides is offense. Even if he doesn't start he could come off the bench and be our scorer off the bench. He's one of those guys that just has a knack for scoring. It's tough to guard him. He's got good spring on his shot. He's a tough guy to guard. He gets off his shots."

On Joseph Bertrand: "He just has to settle into a spot because he's so versatile. He can play some point, he could be a bigger 2, he could be a solid 3-man. We don't know what position we'll need next year with him, but he will have to play some minutes. The biggest thing is he'll have to put on some weight and he'll have to rebound, so he can play a bigger spot, maybe like Calvin (Brock) did last year. He could be one of those utility guys, get to the basket, get out on the break. That's why I'm a proponent of pressing next year and getting out on the break, because we've got those kinds of athletes."

- Also asked Frazier to look back at Illinois' loss to Western Kentucky in the NCAA tournament. You'll remember a broken hand kept him on the sideline and Illinois was beaten 76-72 in Portland.

With a healthy Chester in the lineup it's up for debate if the result would have changed, but he's fairly certain of the result.

"Without a doubt we would have beaten Western Kentucky by 10-15 points if I would have played in the game," he said. "That's because of the guard matchups. All year long me and Trent were matching up with the two best guards. And then Demetri would get a not-so-good player."

- Was that the biggest difference in the game, how you guys defended (Western Kentucky)?

"That, and having somebody to get our big guys the ball. They (guys like Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale) thrive on penetration and kicks. You can't just dump the ball into those guys and expect them to get 20 (points)," he said. "Those guys float around and find open spots and they shoot their jump shots. The movement aspect, just watching it, was a lot different than it was with me in the game. We just couldn't take advantage of our size. And our defense on the other end was lacking."

- The day Chester sustained the injury, they didn't know how bad it was, but practice was gloomy and it felt like it was a bigger deal than they were letting on. Frazier said he had surgery on the broken hand the day after the injury.

"I was glad they did it (surgery) when they did. I was in a lot of pain," he said. "Doc did a good job. It's healed up now. Surgery took about an hour and a half, two hours. I was still traveling with the team. I was still a little groggy. But it went well."

- Frazier's term as a student assistant coach doesn't kick in until the start of the 2009-10 academic year, according to the UI's director of compliance, Chris Peacock.

He's had about two weeks to witness the next Illini - sans injured Mike Davis (ankle) - and said the personnel lends itself to an up-tempo style of play.

"Well, you have to play to your strengths. With this team I would like to see them get up and down a little more. Full-court pressure, maybe," he said. "We have a lot of guys in the rotation, so we could play an up-tempo game, kind of like Missouri plays. It would give us a chance to rotate guys and get more guys in the game."

 

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