NCAA tourney tidbits

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For the latest on Chester Frazier, click here

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Western Kentucky beat Louisville, the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament.

And the Hilltoppers lost to Murray State (by 28 points) and Evansville (by 32).

How to explain the odd results? Western Kentucky coach Ken McDonald said it was a transition process with the returning players and a first-year coaching staff.

"We need to know that we need to show up in the Louisville game, not like we did in the Evansville game," said McDonald, who showed a sense of humor and quick wit during a conference call with reporters.

Most important, "I think we're playing our best basketball right now, which is where you want to be," McDonald said.

Heading to Portland, Western Kentucky has won seven straight and 11 of 12.

"It didn't always make sense," Weber said. "But they sure have put it together here at the right time."

Bruce Weber agreed that Illinois went through a similar process when he took over from Bill Self in 2003. Those Illini dropped two of three to start the Big Ten season.

"Instead of motion (offense), they were calling it 'commotion,' " Weber recalled.

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John Gasaway, the statistics guru from College Basketball Prospectus, said Western Kentucky is not a particularly good defensive team (allowing 81.2 points in its losses), but the Hilltoppers can flourish from outside the three-point arc (37 percent).

"Now the surprise: they are a very strong offensive rebounding team, which is unusual for a group that shoots threes," Gasaway said Monday.

Gasaway said the most efficient player is Orlando Mendez-Valdez, the Sun Belt Player of the Year. The 6-1 senior is the linchpin that hits the big shots and makes the key pass.

"The good news for the Illini is that Western Kentucky is not especially strong on defense," said Gasaway, a UI grad. "I know they beat Louisville, but seeing the year as a whole, teams have had pretty good success from the outside against the Hilltoppers. And this is not a very tall team (with only one starter taller than 6-foot-5)."

As for the Illini, "The thing that's tough to gauge is the effect of (Chester) Frazier's absence."

"In both of the Illini's Big Ten tournament games, an amazing half put the game away," Gasaway added. "Illinois had an amazing second half against Michigan, and Purdue had an amazing first half against Illinois. So I still don't feel like I know what Illinois looks like, really, without Frazier."

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Despite the faraway locale, Weber expects a significant Illini contingent in the Rose Garden on Thursday.

"The last time we played Oregon in Portland, we had a lot of orange there and they came from all over the West Coast," he said. "We had a great showing. In fact, I still remember the Oregon people in amazement at how much orange there was in the crowd."

A representative of The Portland Illini Alumni Club said they distributed 280-300 tickets for the Illinois-Oregon game in 2005. The club said the UI Alumni Association shows about 2,000 alumni living in Oregon and southwest Washington, and the Portland Illini club has about 200 alumni on its mailing list.

Portland Illini Club representative Jill Townley said the club has tentative plans for Illini fans to congregate at The Agency Ultra Sport Lounge in downtown Portland to watch the game.

"I've been to Portland before," Demetri McCamey said.

"Jeff's been out there a few times," said Dominique Keller, referring to teammate Jeff Jordan, whose father has a shoe or two at the Portland-area's Nike World Headquarters.

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One of the dilemmas faced by the NCAA selection committee seemed to be filling out the 16 slots in Portland and Boise. Only two teams in Portland would be considered from the West (Gonzaga, Washington). Only two teams in Boise are from the West (Utah State, Portland State). Eight of the 16 teams are from the Midwest.

"Two-thirds of the teams that we were dealing with (in putting together the bracket) are east of the Mississippi," NCAA committee chair Mike Slive said Monday.

No. 4 seeds Gonzaga and Washington are considered the protected seeds in Portland and will draw the most fans.

"Sometimes you couldn't place teams where you would have liked to place them because you still want to protect the seed, because people earned competitive advantage by their body of work during the year," Slive said.

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On Monday, Weber's agenda included a boatload of media obligations.

According to the UI sports information office, Weber had nine radio interviews: WDWS/WHMS, XM satellite radio, Sporting News radio, ESPN radio in Portland, WSCR "The Score" in Chicago, KFNS radio in St. Louis, TBC sports, ESPN radio in Chicago and WGN radio in Chicago.

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Illinois will hold an open practice session at 5:10 p.m. (PST) Wednesday at the Rose Garden. Western Kentucky goes at 6:40. The practices are free and open to the public.

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You know you're going to Portland when ... the hotel offers a complimentary umbrella for its guests.

"Illini fans will face some typical Northwest spring weather in Portland coming up this week," KOIN-6 Portland weatherman Tim Joyce said Monday. "Believe it or not, Portlanders don't typically carry umbrellas, but you might need them this week."

Joyce expects "on and off" rain showers with something called sun-breaks – "You know them when you see them" – and 55-60 degree temperatures.

"Expect mild temps around 40 in the evenings for showing your orange-and-blue pride," said Joyce, an Illinois native from Oak Park.

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Weber was complimentary of Jordan, who played 34 minutes at the Big Ten tournament and figures to be line for similar playing time in Frazier's absence.

"(Jordan) was plus-10 and we lost the game by 10 (against Purdue)," Weber said of the team's plus-minus chart. "When he was in there, we did have some success."

Weber said Jordan has a 44-inch vertical leap, and coaches often tout his ability to adjust the game's tempo.

"The one thing he really does is push the ball," Weber said.

At the same time, Weber said he wants more from McCamey. The sophomore played only 20 minutes in a loss against Purdue.

"I just kind of challenged him without being too negative. He's supposedly one of our top players, he's all-conference," Weber said. "He can't have 20 minutes and zero points and four or five turnovers and nothing on the play-hard chart.

"We're going to go home if that happens. If you want to be considered a star or one of the top players, you've got to do it all the time."

pklee@news-gazette.com

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