Illini basketball gets early jump on practicing

CHAMPAIGN -- Most Division I men's basketball programs must wait seven more weeks to conduct their first official practice.

Not Illinois.

Because the Illini scheduled a Labor Day weekend in Ottawa and Montreal, Bruce Weber can run as many as 10 practices to prepare for the five-games-in-four-days swing through Canada.

So there were 16 sweaty players Thursday afternoon at the Ubben Center -- a group that included redshirt Jamar Smith but not freshman guard Quinton Watkins -- fighting through a two-hour workout well ahead of the normal calendar.

"I told them at the end of the practice, we've set some goals for why we're going," Weber said. "Part of it is re-establishing the veterans, getting confidence. And new guys getting a feel."

Of the 15 Illini likely to make the trip, seven have never played a minute in the school's jersey.

Five players, meanwhile, took part in last year's NCAA Tournament first-round loss to Virginia Tech that provided a fitting coda to Illinois' star-crossed 2006-07 campaign.

"The big thing is improving," Weber said. "I talked to the guys, 'You can't do the same thing you did last year. You can't have Brian Randle foul 95 feet from the basket. We can't have Chester (Frazier) take spinning shots with the shot clock going down. … You know, Shaun Pruitt's got to make free throws.

"You can go down the line and that's part of this trip, I hope, that in these practices maybe we make some improvement. It's almost like a sneak preview of what's going to happen, so I think in the long run it will really benefit us."

With the exception of junior-college recruit Rodney Alexander, who has been sidelined for a few days by a sprained left foot, every Illini appeared healthy and in shape.

That included Randle, the fifth-year senior who spent nearly all of last season battling torn groin muscles that limited his athleticism.

Randle delivered the play of the day when he resoundingly rejected a dunk attempt by 7-foot-1 freshman Mike Tisdale, who had built a good head of steam coming down the lane.

"I get a chance to play healthy, as healthy as I've been in the past year-and-a-half," said Randle, summarizing what the Canada tour means to him. "And it's going to be a chance to see what (the young guys) are about, see how we mesh."

Illinois could be one young guy short for the Canada tour, if not the entire season, depending on how the NCAA's Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse handles Quinton Watkins' transcripts.

While freshman Mike Davis, who also hasn't been certified by the clearinghouse, has been attending classes and practices, Watkins has returned to his home in Southern California to wait out the process.

"If you are on campus the first day and you are in school and go to class, your (eligibility) clock starts," Weber said. "You lose the year (if you're not eligible). You've got to make a decision: Do you really think he can get cleared?

"If you think he can get cleared, then you come here and you start school. … But if there's really some questions and some doubts about things, that's a reason why you might not have them come stay in the dorms and go to class."