Unbeknownst to most of Illini Nation, Bruce Weber's quintet could run into a hornet's nest tonight.

Richmond has been on a roll. The Spiders won two straight Thanksgiving tournaments, beating Purdue 65-54 last year in Chicago and whipping Missouri 59-52 in 2009 at the South Padre Island Shootout. The Spiders reached the NCAA Sweet 16 (lost 77-57 to the Kansas team that eliminated Illinois) last season, concluding two exceptional campaigns with 55 victories and consecutive 13-3 audits in the Atlantic 10.

During this span, they're 5-1 against teams from BCS conferences, displaying wins against Vanderbilt (in the NCAA tourney), Arizona State and Florida.

Before you run and hide in the closet, the Virginians graduated four starters who compiled 5,000 career points, an offsetting fact for the UI's loss of 69 percent of its scoring. Both clubs are operating with a new cast of characters, each asking the top reserves from last season to become leaders in 2011-12.

"Our 6-7-8 players from a year ago are now carrying the load," Richmond publicist Mark Kwolek said. "We blew the doors off Sacred Heart Saturday (83-58). We're more physical than last year, and we have a speedy freshman — Kendall Anthony is no taller than 5-6 1/2 — who scored 18 points in the second half."

Said Richmond beat writer John O'Connor: "It usually takes a new opponent a while to probe Richmond's switching defense. Some teams don't know whether to run a zone offense or a man-to-man offense."

Deep thoughts

Richmond is adept at slowing the pace and will be the first genuine test to see where Illinois is headed.

The UI's three second-half romps didn't reveal much except that center Meyers Leonard hasn't resolved his early foul tendencies, the 55 turnovers vs. 35 assists emphasize the concern over ball handling, and three-point shooting was a meager 31.5 percent. It also appears the injury-hampered freshmen aren't quite ready for center stage.

Nor do we know how Weber is going to handle substitutions in the close games. The coach, who'll seek his 300th career win, is embarking on a new policy of going deep off the bench. This seems like a good plan, but there were no indications that the first three opponents were negatively impacted by fullcourt pressure. OK, maybe it helped to wear them down. But that's about all. Heavy subbing did not help the Illini in their halfcourt offense.

Strange things tend to happen in early road tests. Richmond shot 35 percent and was outrebounded 33-22 in a 74-61 loss at Davidson. Even in that baptism of fire, the Spiders' lone loss in four games, their guards repeatedly penetrated. This is a guard-oriented team, and two of them, Anthony and 6-foot sophomore Cedrick Lindsay, have attempted 54 free throws in four games. If they get a dribble edge, they tend to draw contact. This dribble-drive skill appears to be of greater concern than Richmond's modest post-up game.

The Peoria pipeline

When D.J. Richardson and Sam Maniscalco combined for 32 points in Thursday's 79-64 defeat of Lipscomb, we were reminded that Peoria continues to be a strong pipeline for Illini basketball. Though not a Peoria native (like Richardson), Maniscalco spent four seasons at Bradley.

But it's time to ask questions: Has Peoria ceased to be a hotbed of high-level prep basketball? Has the state tournament there lost its luster?

Chuck Buescher, who coached two Peoria Central state champions, attended Thursday and offered a learned opinion: "There was a period of 16 years where Peoria teams competed in the state championship game nine times, won six titles and turned out an extraordinary number of major college players. It was an incredible run, over the top, really. It couldn't continue at that level."

The 1990s will surely never be matched. The UI capitalized by attracting Jerry Hester and the trio of Frank Williams, Sergio McClain and Marcus Griffin. Mobile stars like Howard Nathan, Brandon Hughes, Mike Robinson and A.J. Guyton attracted droves of recruiters. And it continued with Shaun Livingston starring for Buescher at Central, and the Illini adding Brian Randle, Jamar Smith and Bill Cole.

Now it seems to be turning in the other direction. The quality of Peoria quintets has slipped, and the state tournament is losing attendance. Basketballwise, Peoria ain't what it used to be.

Loren Tate writes for The News-Gazette. He can be reached at ltate@news-gazette.com.