Tickets to "Illini Madness" – the men's basketball team's first practice of the season – will go on sale Saturday to the general public.

   With the 10th anniversary of Lou Henson''s Final Four team fast approaching, The News-Gazette wants to know what your favorite memory of the 1988-89 season was.   Let us know, in 100 words or less. We''ll pick out the best ones and run them throughout the basketball season as part of our tribute to Anderson, Battle, Gill & Co.

   You can e-mail us at

sports@news-gazette.com, fax us at (217) 351-5374 or write to Final Four Tribute, P.O.Box 677, Champaign, IL 61824-0677 and give us your opinion.

In his 25 years on the job, Illinois trainer Rod Cardinal has watched Illinois basketball practices in every local gym this side of the "Y."

   With the 10th anniversary of Lou Henson''s Final Four team fast approaching, The News-Gazette wants to know what your favorite memory of the 1988-89 season was.   Let us know, in 100 words or less. We''ll pick out the best ones and run them throughout the basketball season as part of our tribute to Anderson, Battle, Gill & Co.

   You can e-mail us at

sports@news-gazette.com, fax us at (217) 351-5374 or write to Final Four Tribute, P.O.Box 677, Champaign, IL 61824-0677 and give us your opinion.

It wasn't just seven stress fractures in one shin, and several more in the other. Headaches were also a problem.

"It's a family thing," Arias Davis said Monday.

Illinois forward Jerry Hester was selected by the Rockford Lightning with the 60th pick in Tuesday night's Continental Basketball Association draft.

MAHOMET – Brett Melton was struggling, forcing up shots in the first quarter of an intense matchup with Corn Belt rival Pontiac last season.

Mahomet-Seymour coach Randy Sallade responded by pulling his standout sophomore out of the game.

Statistics don't tell the whole story.

In drilling 92 treys as a Mahomet-Seymour sophomore – one less basket than he made inside the arc – Brett Melton canned three-pointers at a 42.8 percent rate.