ILLINOIS FIGHTING ILLINI
 Coach: Bruce Weber  |  Record: 25-6

 
Overview: Illinois lost half its scoring output from a team which finished as national runner-up a season ago. So what does head coach Bruce Weber do as an encore? He fashions a 25-5 record and Illinois finishes second in the Big Ten. So much for a drop off. Illinois, Duke and Oklahoma State are the only three teams to advance to the Sweet Sixteen in each of the last two seasons. This team is holding the opposition to 40% shooting and a paltry 58 points a game.

Potential Difference Maker: James Augustine does two things really well: he sinks most of his shots and he grabs a lot of rebounds. He ranks second in the conference and eighth in the nation in field goal percentage at 61.9%. He is also third in the Big Ten and 34th in the nation in rebounding, pulling down 9.1 rpg.

On Offense: The run a very fluid motion offense in which the players must read the defense. Their set plays are more like motion plays and they do a great job of running sets into their motion. The big men set a lot of screens high on the perimeter giving them room to cut to the basket.

On Defense: Illinois is a great man-to-man team defensive team. They are very aggressive on ball screens and try to disrupt offenses by extending on sets. Brown and Augustine are terrific at making plays on this end of the floor.

Strength: One of the best defensive teams in the country allows them to be in every game. They play with great patience and feed off of the energy that James Augustine and Dee Brown bring.

Weakness: Outside of Dee Brown, they have no players that create scoring opportunities off of the dribble. They can be one-dimensional offensively when Augustine is not scoring and they are a very poor free throw shooting team.

Keys to Success: Their role players have to step up, as this team struggles when Brown does not score. Brown will have to make the most of his opportunities. In the Illini’s 6 losses Brown averaged 10 points per game and shot 25% from the field. Their defense has to create some offense for them.

How to Beat Them: Take care of the ball so Illinois does not score off their defense and control Brown on the perimeter. Try to go at Augustine inside and control the boards.