Live from Illini Madness

Jeff Jordan is back with the Illini. For more, click here.

For photos from Friday night's event, click here.

Listen to Friday night's basketball festivities here.

See what coach Bruce Weber had to say about the during Tuesday's media day here.

Live Report

Now it's a 15-minute scrimmage from the men. The lineups: Keller, McCamey, Paul, Cole, Tisdale in orange; Richardson, Legion, Bubba, Semrau, Davis in blue. Stan Simpson, Tyler Griffey, Joseph Bertrand started off on the bench. (Don't look too far into that. Just a scrimmage.)

Richardson hit his first shot, a 3 from the top of the key. Tisdale, the 7-footer, missed his first dunk attempt. He'll hear about that one.

-This place really cleared out. Guessing about 4,000-5,000 remain. Official attendance tonight: 7,632.

-Crandall Head and Jereme Richmond are here. They're sitting up in C section.

-Illinois recruit Meyers Leonard is enthusiastically pursuing 2011 prospect Bradley Beal. Meyers says he text messages weekly with the St. Louis-area star.

"I've been texting him and everything, trying to get him to come here," Leonard said. "And we've got big Tommy Hamilton here tonight. I'm going to work on him. And everybody, I'm trying to get them down here."

-Leonard's odds on Bradley Beal choosing Illinois: "He's an unbelievable player. We've got to have him. He had 53 in one game this year and won a gold medal. He's an absolutely incredible player. I've heard it's between us (Illinois) and Kansas. So that's a 50-50 shot. He talks to me all the time about coming here."

-Tommy Hamilton Jr., a 6-foot-8 15-year-old, enjoyed himself. He said Illinois is the only school he's heard from, and the only place he's visited.

"It's fun. It was very exciting," he said. I wasn't expecting it to be like this. I liked it a lot."

-Quick rundown of uncommitted prospects in attendance: Hamilton, Lorenzo Dillard, DeJuan Marrero, Bobo Drummond, Jay Simpson and a bunch of young guys in 2012, '13 and '14. There might be some others I listed below in the Live Report.

-Going to cut this off for now. Thanks for coming by, we appreciate it. Full report coming in Sunday's N-G and on HQ.

Klee

Live Report

-The shooting competition is underway. Billy Cole, Tyler Griffey, Bubba Chisholm (who does a killer Weber imitation) and Dominique Keller competed for the men. Jenna Smith, Lacey Simpson, Macie Blinn, Amber Moore competed for the women. Bubba/Blinn won their matchup; Smith/Keller won their matchup.

-Never too early to look ahead to future opponents. One of those is Utah, which plays Illinois in Las Vegas on Nov. 27. Mike Sorensen, who covers the Utes for the Deseret News, tells us that Utah lost its top four scorers and 70 percent of its scoring. Utah was picked fourth in the Mountain West preseason poll.

"The good news for them is that the whole league is down this year, but BYU, San Diego State and UNLV seem to be a notch above Utah," Sorensen said. "An NIT berth would be good for Utah this year, unless some of the new players step up more than expected."

- DeAndre McCamey is in his usual spot, over in the bleachers next to the Illinois bench. Demetri's little brother is a senior at St. Joe's and one of the nicest kids you'll meet. Except when he's critiquing big bro's game.

"He's always picking out the bad things. He probably won't pick out one single good thing, especially if you're playing one-on-one and trying to compete," Demetri said the other day with a laugh. "He'll never tell you good aspects. He's just been real helpful, as far as seeing the game differently, since he's been out a whole year. He just sits back and watches the game and has a different perspective on things."

-D.J. Richardson, Brandon Paul and Mike Davis are in the dunk contest, which is being judged by the Krush's executive board. The most creative - and dangerous, if you're talking about playing time - came from D.J. He jumped over three Bruce Weber bobblehead dolls before attempting a dunk.

-Jeff Jordan has joined the team on the bench. He's next to Sergio McClain's son and Jerrance Howard.

Back in a few.

Klee

Live Report

No. 10 Illinois finished off No. 6 Minnesota in three sets. The basketball is about to get underway. The men's squad is arriving in an Illinois bus with a police escort, and it's being broadcast on the video screen. Jerrance Howard tells me the arrival is modeled after a Jay-Z video.

-Caught up with Tracy Abrams, who's here but on crutches. The 2010 commitment said he sprained his right ankle during a pickup game at Ubben last week. Predicts he'll be off the court for about three more weeks.

Abrams also predicts big things for his Mt. Carmel squad: "A championship." Abrams, who is sitting with Meyers Leonard and Tommy Hamilton Jr., took Mike Davis in the dunk contest tonight.

-Other prospects in attendance: Peoria Central's Bobo Drummond (2012) and Whitney Young's Lorenzo Dillard (2013).

-The men's squad is being introduced by Mike Cation. Guessing about 7,000-7,500 in attendance, give or take. An Illinois gymnast dressed as Bruce Weber just ran out of the tunnel and onto the court doing back-flips. The real Bruce Weber now has the mic and is talking about tomorrow's football game at Indiana: "We can't lose to IU. Can't let that happen."

-Here's the link to the HQ photo gallery from Madness.

Back in a few.

Klee

Live Report

Illinois volleyball leads No. 6 Minnesota 10-8 in the third set. The Illini won the first two sets.

-The women's basketball team is here. The men have yet to arrive after their first practice.

-Here's the statement from Bruce Weber regarding Jeff Jordan's return:

"Jeff recently indicated his interest in coming back to the team. After meeting with him and discussing the situation, we are pleased to give him the opportunity. He has obviously missed a great deal of time away from the program the last six months, and he has a lot of work ahead of him. There are conditions Jeff must meet to fully earn his way back.

"At this time, his focus needs to be on his academics and catching up to his teammates in practice. Jeff is a determined young man, and he has expressed to us that he is willing to make the total commitment necessary for a successful return."

-UI ticket director Jason Heggemeyer informs us there have been about 2,500 student season tickets sold. That's an increase of about 1,000 from last season. Solid showing from the Krush tonight, too.

-Meyers Leonard (2010) and Tracy Abrams (2011) just walked in with Jerrance Howard. Tommy Hamilton Jr. (2013) is with them, as well.

Back in a few.

Klee

*****

Welcome to the first Live Report of the 2009-10 basketball season. Just finished a radio spot with Steve Kelly and getting ready for tonight's Spike the Record at Illini Madness. Feel free to send emails (pklee@news-gazette.com) with any questions. Might have a few updates on Twitter (/PKlee_IlliniHQ) as well.

-At 4:40 there was a line of about 200 people, mostly students, outside the Assembly Hall. Right now the A and B sections are almost filled with orange, with probably another 200 folks in C section. Steve Kelly's guess at the current attendance is 8,000. Klee's thinking 6,000 and people are still filing in.

-The NCAA record for attendance at a volleyball match is 13,780 (set in September at Nebraska). The UI volleyball attendance record is 4,316 (1992).

But only one of those records can fall tonight. Diane Nordstrom, a University of Wisconsin official who keeps track of these things, said in an email the NCAA will not consider combined events for NCAA attendance records. And tonight's event obviously would be considered a combined event.

So the NCAA record for volleyball attendance won't change, regardless of tonight's turnout, according to Nordstrom, who keeps track of volleyball attendance around the NCAA. It appears "Spike the Record" will only go for the Illinois record.

-Illinois officials were confident this would be a capacity crowd. Doesn't look like that will be the case, even though it's a solid turnout so far. There are plenty of seats remaining if you're still considering a trip over.

-The volleyball squad practiced at the Hall on Thursday to get a feel for the environs, since the Assembly Hall seats about four times more fans than 4,050-seat Huff Hall. The volleyball lines were made with black tape to distinguish them from the white lines on the basketball court.

-Jeff Huth detailed the event here (from Thursday's N-G).

-The Illinois basketball team held its first official practice of the season at 5 p.m. at Ubben. I'm told there were a number of recruits in attendance. We'll get those names to you when they arrive at the Hall.

-Bowman Academy's DeJuan Marrero just got here. He will be in the IlliniHQ.com Shootout at the Hall in December. Champaign Central's Jay Simpson is here too.

-Jeff Jordan is back with the Illini. More to come. Story's on HQ.

Back in a few.

Klee

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