The Illini are up next, and they won't be an easy puzzle to solve. They
have a great backcourt, with Dee Brown and Deron Williams. Luther Head,
aside from making the All-Name team, will likely chase Redick around all night.
James Augustine is 6-10, 225, and averages 9.5 ppg and 7.3 boards. He also
gets a blocked shot or so and gets halfway to fouling out most games.
Nick Smith, at 7-2 and 240, isn't a great player, but he's a great big
player. Good thing Shelden's got that 7' wing span!
It's not clear who they'll send out after Deng - maybe Roger Powell, who
handles a lot of their dirty work.
Class breakdown:
- seniors - 1
- juniors - 5
- sophs - 3
- frosh - 4
We haven't seen Illinois enough this year to know what to expect,
frankly. We would have known a lot more about Bill Self's team, had he
stayed, because he runs a pretty intense power game. We know Bruce Weber
runs motion offense and had a wonderful NCAA run at Southern Illinois, we know Dee Brown is hard to handle, and we know James
Augustine is in a bad mood pretty much whenever you mention Duke.
The funny thins is, last week the Illini got mad over Cincinnati talking
smack, but this week, they're doing it.
We think Duke has a pretty good shot at winning, but this is an athletic,
tough gteam, with nothing to lose. A healthy Duhon, a hot Redick, and a
Shelden Williams with less than three fouls late would help a lot. We'll
see in a few hours.