Big Ten primer: This should be fun

Illinois. It is impossible to say enough about what Illinois coach John Groce has done in his first half-season in Champaign. In the matter of a few months, he transformed senior guard Brandon Paul from an inefficient gunner to an All-American, totally revamped not only Illinois' style but its overall approach, made a team of little-used role players into one of the scariest offensive squads in the country, won the Maui Invitational and beat Gonzaga at Gonzaga, and almost single-handedly revived one of the nation's best fan bases out of its previously depressed stupor. Will the Illini -- who live and die by the 3, in every sense of the cliche -- be able to sustain this pace? Maybe not, but I won't bet against them.

Eamonn Brennan