Heading into Friday's centennial season opener, Bruce Weber was still only four days removed from an appendectomy.

"I was hoping I didn't have to yell so much tonight and get mad," Weber said after Illinois routed Delaware State 87-67. No such luck.

CHAMPAIGN – Illinois raised its 2004 championship banner Sunday.

And in their exhibition finale, the Illini didn't do anything to lower lofty expectations.

CHAMPAIGN – Shaun Pruitt wants to leap into the fire. Calvin Brock is content to simmer a while longer.

Illinois whipped Southern Illinois-Edwardsville 78-58 in Friday's exhibition opener at the Assembly Hall, but the story of the night was the divergent paths chosen by the Illini's freshman duo.

CHAMPAIGN - You put the All-Big Ten backcourt on one side in an intrasquad scrimmage, and it's supposed to cruise.

So in the last of three 10-minute Orange and Blue scrimmages Saturday night, an Orange team featuring Dee Brown and Deron Williams — the 2003 and 2004 preseason Big Ten players of the year — should've cruised, right?

Luther Head used a couple of nifty off-the-glass slams to claim Saturday's dunk competition, returning to the perch he earned early in his career.

"I had to go out with a bang," said Head, who topped Roger Powell Jr. in the finals. "It's my last year. I couldn't let them outdo me this year."

The process came to a close late Monday night, when Shaun Pruitt became the first high school basketball player to give an oral commitment to Illini coach Bruce Weber.

"I still haven't called Coach Izzo yet — that's going to be the hard part," Pruitt said. "Once that's done, I'll really be relieved. But I feel good knowing that I'm committed to a school I want to go to and where they want me."

EVANSTON — The mass of cameras and reporters crowding Ron Turner after Saturday's game didn''t get an answer about his job status. But there were hints.

"It's never any easy situation," Turner said. "Regardless of what happens, I'm awfully proud of these guys. I know they're going to be a helluva team in the future."

Once a month, we'll take a look back at memorable Illini moments through the covers of News-Gazette sports sections.

Today: No one graced as many News-Gazette covers as Dee Brown, the face of Illinois basketball while he was helping win Big Ten titles and make NCAA tournament marches.