Remembering 2004-05: UI climbs to No. 1

Remembering 2004-05: UI 91, Wake Forest 73

Remembering 2004-05: UI 89, Gonzaga 72

Remembering 2004-05: UI 87, Delaware State 67

Remembering 2004-05: UI 92, Lewis 61

Remembering 2004-05: UI 78, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville 58

Remembering 2004-05: N-G front pages

Remembering 2004-05: Midnight Madness

Remembering 2004-05: Orange & Blue Scrimmage

EACH WEEK, WE'LL TAKE A LOOK BACK AT A MEMORABLE MOMENT IN ILLINI HISTORY, THANKS TO THE WORDS OF THE NEWS-GAZETTE

This week: Chicago got a taste of No. 1, Dee Brown and Co. showing up Oregon — and showing off their Final Four potential — on the team's annual trip to the United Center.

Date: Dec. 11, 2004

Headline: Duck for cover — Illini dispatching foes with talent, hard work

By BRETT DAWSON

CHICAGO – Some teams dazzle you with their talent. Some teams frazzle you with their hard work.

And then there's top-ranked Illinois.

After the Illini dispatched Oregon 83-66 on Saturday at the United Center, it became clear that Bruce Weber's team is a touch of each, high-flying one minute, down and dirty the next.

Just call them orange-and-blue collar.

"I think it's a mixture," Weber said after his Illini improved to 9-0. "I think we have some pretty good talent, but we mix in some blue collar. I allow a lot of freedom, but I say that in return, you've got to play hard."

It's a balancing act that's leaving Illinois' opponents off-kilter.

The Illini's latest rout – a game in which Illinois shot 58 percent from the floor, held Oregon to 29 first-half points and scored 38 points in the paint – was another in a string of examples of just how well Weber's team can toe the line between overwhelming and overworking.

"We have a lot of talented players," said guard Luther Head, who led all scorers with 23 points.

"We're definitely a lunch-pail, hard-working team," said forward Roger Powell Jr., who had 12 points.

And maybe they're both right.

"We have the talent to compete with anyone," senior forward Jack Ingram said. "But the thing that separates the great teams from the good teams is, can you be that team that's going to grind it out and be tough and maybe win ugly sometimes? There were times (today) when things were going smoothly and everything looked good, and then there were times when we had to really grind it out. I think we kind of have that duality to us."

That duality has made Illinois singularly impressive this season. Three wins in one week – on three different courts – virtually assures the Illini a second consecutive week atop the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today coaches polls, the longest No. 1 stint in team history.

At this rate, the Illini could stay there a lot longer than that.

Just ask anyone who's faced them.

Opposing coaches are running out of superlatives for Illinois, praised for its 'throwback' approach to the game: focused, unselfish and above all, hard-working.

Add Ernie Kent to the fan club.

"They understand the mentality of how to work you every single possession," the Oregon coach said. "Very rarely do they take a play off offensively or defensively. They're one of those teams that if you stay at that level and work with them, you'll have an opportunity to hang with them.

"But if you have any type of slippage whatsoever, they really make you pay because they're so well-coached, they're so experienced and they're playing with such a swagger."

That swagger, though, hasn't given way to cockiness. Illinois is self-assured but not self-satisfied, and that might be what pleases Weber the most about his team as it heads into a weeklong break for final exams.

Illinois is enjoying its moment as the nation's No. 1 team, he said, without embracing it.

"Sometimes we don't even realize we're No. 1 until people keep telling us and putting pressure on us," guard Dee Brown said. "We just keep playing and working hard."

When Weber was hired from Southern Illinois two years ago, the best-case scenario went something like this: What if he could get more talented players to play the same way he got his best Saluki teams to play? What if he could take A-list talent and make it play with the same hunger he brought out in a program fighting for table scraps?

In Year 2 of the Weber era, Illinois is starting to look a lot like that team of its fans' dreams.

"(At Southern), we didn't have the talent or depth that we have here, even though maybe those guys would tell you something different," Weber said. "But this year, I think the difference is them buying in, them playing hard. They realize that it makes the difference that can give us an edge in a game."

So hard work provides the edge.

Or is it talent?

"I don't think people realize until you play us that we are athletic, we are pretty quick," Weber said. "And then you add playing hard onto that, it's tough to deal with."

Oregon never found a way to deal with it.

The Ducks (4-1) came in undefeated and ready to run, but by the time the game was over, Kent said his young team was taught a lesson in hard work. It's a lesson that can't be taught on the practice court.

"The way we play – how hard we play on 'D,' how active we are, our traps – I don't think you can simulate in practice," Weber said. "I think we hit people with a little bit of a shock treatment and get after them."

They got after the Ducks early and often, forcing 15 Oregon turnovers (nine in the first half)and jumping to a 12-2 lead that never was threatened.

Oregon was within four points with 12:56 to play in the first half before the Illini ripped off a 10-0 run, and the Ducks never got closer than eight points in the final 25 minutes.

That's because even with a lead – even in blowouts – the Illini keep working.

"We're going to keep playing hard, no matter if we win by one or we win by 20," Head said.

If they keep that up, lopsided wins might continue to be the norm.

Too talented? Too hard-working?

Maybe it's all of the above.

"I just think we're good, and if we play the way we're supposed to play, we're going to win games," Deron Williams said. "Our defense hasn't let up, and that's the main thing. When our defense is strong like it is, I don't think there's too many teams that can hang with us."