CHAMPAIGN  At midnight, Gary McQuay and his Purdue teammates prefer to be in bed, not on a basketball court.

   That, the Boilermakers say, is incentive enough to play hard whenever their coach is looking.

   The crystal ball reported the Fighting Illini without a center or point guard as they entered this basketball season, and that''s a partly accurate summation.

   Regarding the latter, there''s no all-seeing Richard Keene dishing out laser feeds, no Kiwane Garris wilting the defense with tenacious dribble penetration.

CHAMPAIGN – They've been around long enough to remember when the football team was going to bowl games and women's basketball was going nowhere.

But there are some sights that Jarrod Gee, Matt Heldman, Jerry Hester, Brian Johnson and Kevin Turner still haven't gotten a chance to see on the University of Illinois campus.

   CHAMPAIGN  On Saturday night, Jarrod Gee went to town against last season''s All-Big Ten center.

   So anyone who''d followed the Illinois center''s roller coaster ride of a career had to know what was coming next.

   URBANA  Illini basketball coach Theresa Grentz earns a fourth as much as her male counterpart, Lon Kruger, but she could soon make up some ground.

   After a 0-4 start, the homecourt has come flying back as a major factor in Big Ten basketball games.

   Hosts have won 10 of the last 13, Illinois defying the trend with wins at Iowa and Northwestern. In hosting Purdue tonight, Illinois also has a string of 12 straight Assembly Hall triumphs.

CHAMPAIGN – Dick Vitale named him to his "All-Blender Team" for being one of college basketball's top role players.

Gene Keady named him a co-captain for his spirit and spunk.

Purdue fan Zac Laugheed named him "Citizen Pain," the winning entry in a Lafayette, Ind., newspaper contest that drew 260-plus entries.

But Brian Cardinal never dreamed about being called what Illinois coach Lon Kruger came up with Monday.

For now, they're through pestering Illinois State. The doctors (for the players), the suitors (for the coach), the pollsters (for the program).

Life has become less complicated for the Redbirds, who have thrived since the distractions dissipated.