ST. LOUIS  It was here where Albert White first caught our attention, a slick prep star turning heads at the 1995 McDonald''s All-Star game.

   So it was fitting the Kiel Center served as host for his re-emergence on the college basketball scene after a frustrating year off.

   ST. LOUIS  When Jarrod Gee piles up the fouls, his pals pay for it.

   "We don''t have a lot of presence in the interior," Illinois coach Lon Kruger said. "When we don''t have Gee in there, especially from an offensive standpoint, we get very perimeter-oriented."

ST. LOUIS – Well, we can't blame the TWA Dome.

The rims at the Kiel Center proved to be just as evasive.

Illinois and Missouri are brave enough to meet each year in a hotly contested and widely anticipated nonconference showdown. Here are 10 rivalries we'd like to see take place alongside the Border War:

ST. LOUIS – They don't have a national ranking, a quality win or a Steve Stipanovich, but Illinois expects nothing less than an eye-gouging, elbow-spearing, 12-round battle royal tonight from Missouri's Tigers.

This is, after all, the Border War.

ST. LOUIS – Kelly Thames is pulling for 6-foot-11, 335-pound Monte Hardge.

If Hardge, the monstrous junior from Jefferson City, Mo., can settle in at Missouri's center position, Thames doesn't have to do the Show-Me version of Illinois' Jarrod Gee. The 6-8, 220-pound Thames wouldn't have to repeat last season's experience of battling taller, heavier athletes in the post.

CHAMPAIGN – Tom Penders probably won't recommend any trips to Big Ten country to his friends.

   CHAMPAIGN  If Lon Kruger were writing a story about Illinois'' 105-80 toasting of Texas, he wouldn''t get too technical.

   "I''m kind of disappointed that the drift of everything is going toward the technicals," Kruger said Saturday.