Saturday night special
February 7, 2010 12:12 AM
With the strides of a smooth athlete, Brandon Paul raced to the hoop and flushed a SportsCenter-worthy dunk that sent the Assembly Hall into a tizzy.
Barely two minutes later, D.J. Richardson slammed another one, and the 16,618 went bananas. And that's why these buzzworthy freshmen faxed a letter of intent to Bruce Weber's office 15 months ago: to rebuild Illinois basketball into what it used to be.
"I saw Illinois slipping down. I didn't want that. I wanted to come in here and help the program," Richardson said after Illinois beat No. 5 Michigan State 78-73. "All four freshmen, we believed in that. We knew we could get it back."
Klee
Barely two minutes later, D.J. Richardson slammed another one, and the 16,618 went bananas. And that's why these buzzworthy freshmen faxed a letter of intent to Bruce Weber's office 15 months ago: to rebuild Illinois basketball into what it used to be.
"I saw Illinois slipping down. I didn't want that. I wanted to come in here and help the program," Richardson said after Illinois beat No. 5 Michigan State 78-73. "All four freshmen, we believed in that. We knew we could get it back."
Klee
Filed under: Illini Basketball, Michigan State Spartans
