ANN ARBOR, Mich. – When Robbie Reid played for BYU, he got razzed regularly for his surfer dude hairdo, his father the coach, even his Mormon faith.

Big Ten crowds have laid off the Michigan guard.

   CHAMPAIGN  Jerry Hester and Brian Johnson aren''t the envy of their Illinois teammates anymore. The rest of the Illini finally have a win over Wisconsin.

   It had been almost four years since the Badgers lost against Illinois. That was Hester''s freshman year. Johnson''s, too.

   CHAMPAIGN  Illinois'' Sergio McClain and Wisconsin''s Mark Vershaw saw each other in the hallway after Wednesday''s game. They exchanged "good job" nods of the head. Then they went their separate ways.

When Lon Kruger's Fighting Illini turned into the New Year, it looked like it would take a 30-point game from Kevin Turner to beat anybody.

His 32-point effort carried Illinois within a three-pointer of felling UCLA at Pauley Pavilion, and his 35 points rocked Indiana 74-72 Jan. 3.

He looked unstoppable.

   CHAMPAIGN  Illinois finally won a football game Wednesday night.

   Or at least that''s what the knock-down, drag-out royal rumble at the Assembly Hall seemed like.

"Wisconsin could be a better basketball team without Sam Okey."

Sounds unlikely, doesn't it? Okey was 1996 Big Ten Rookie of the Year and a second-team All-Big Ten pick last season. Still, that was the off-the-cuff comment of Michigan State coach Tom Izzo last weekend.

CHAMPAIGN – The Big Ten's two toughest brick walls to crash through for recent Illinois basketball teams have been Wisconsin and Michigan.

No one's given them a harder time than those two, the Illini not beating the Badgers in four seasons and dropping 10 of their last 12 to Michigan.

MADISON, Wis. – His sweetheart didn't dump him.

His parents didn't disown him.

In fact, the only folks who had a problem with Mark Vershaw's choice of college were a few of you.