Illinois' central focus

When Illinois players walk into their locker room, a simple question greets them on the greaseboard: Boys or men? The words were put there by Illini coach Bruce Weber last spring after his team's season ended ignominiously with a quarterfinal loss in the NIT. Weber recognized that his players had talent. What they lacked was toughness, physical and especially mental. That's why they folded down the stretch, dropping five of their last seven games to miss out on the NCAA tournament.

"Talent doesn't mean anything," Weber said. "When we played good teams last year, especially on the road, we just couldn't defend well enough to win. Part of defense is toughness and pride and just wanting to fight. We didn't always have that."

Seth Davis