Nobody really knows what the future holds for John Groce's first Illinois team. But the Illini will start learning more when they take on USC, coached by former Northwestern coach Kevin O'Neill, in the Maui Invitational on Monday (11:00pm CT, ESPN2).

"Our system is relatively new to these guys," Groce said Sunday. "We're an older team, so that allows them to pick up things more quickly. At the same time, everything's new. When you play in a tournament like this, you can get exposed in certain areas where your system is not rock-solid yet. That's going to be good for our team moving forward."

Herb Gould