The No. 1 college basketball team in the country returned all five starters from a year ago, including perhaps the nation's best backcourt and a deep bench. But much to the surprise of nearly everyone on Tobacco Road, the No. 1 team in the country isn't from the ACC. It's Illinois, which is off to a 7-0 start entering tonight's game against Georgetown at MCI Center.
With its 91-73 thrashing of then-No. 1 Wake Forest on Dec. 1 -- Illinois led by 21 points at halftime and by 32 in the second half -- the Illini moved from No. 5 to No. 1 in this week's polls. It's only the third time in school history the Illini have been ranked No. 1 and the first since 1989.
"It feels great," Illini guard Luther Head said. "We've just got to stay on top. Being number one is a great thing, but if you don't play like it, it doesn't mean anything."
The Illini have certainly played like they deserve to be No. 1. In seven games, they've trailed only 10 minutes, 12 seconds of 280 possible minutes. Their average lead at halftime has been more than 19 points, and they beat No. 24 Gonzaga by 17 points and much-improved Arkansas by 12 on the road.
"We felt from the beginning that we had a chance to be a Final Four team, that we're in that elite, special group," Illinois Coach Bruce Weber said. "Because of that, there's no added pressure to being number one . . . Our pressure is that we want to get better. If we start getting satisfied, that's when somebody's going to catch us."
Georgetown, off to a 3-1 start under John Thompson III -- in his first season coaching the Hoyas -- hasn't beaten a top five team since 1990 and hasn't beaten a No. 1-ranked team since the Patrick Ewing-led Hoyas defeated St. John's, 85-69, on Feb. 27, 1985.
"I really don't think about the number they are," Hoyas forward Brandon Bowman said. "Coach told us especially not to. As far as I'm concerned, they're another team coming in here playing us at home. We're feeling confident about ourselves, and we're going to step it up so we can get another victory. It's good they're number one."
Illinois' transition from former coach Bill Self (now at Kansas) to Weber has been remarkably seamless. Weber, 48, is 33-7 in his second season at Illinois, after leading the Illini to their first outright Big Ten championship in 52 years last season. Weber was an assistant under Purdue's Gene Keady for 18 years and then led Southern Illinois to consecutive NCAA tournament appearances in 2002 (when the Salukis upset Texas Tech and Georgia to advance to the round of 16) and 2003.
"It wasn't as easy as it looked," Head said. "When Coach Weber first came here, everybody was a little shaky and didn't know what to expect. He's kind of just grown on us."
Weber's spastic, trapping defense and up-tempo offense grew on the Illini late last season, when they won 10 consecutive games, including six on the road, to win the Big Ten title. Illinois, a No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament last season, lost to top-seeded Duke, 72-62, in the semifinals of the Atlanta Regional.
With its top 10 scorers returning this year, the Illini were a popular choice to win the Big Ten again, but they were overshadowed outside the Midwest by Wake Forest and other ACC teams. But Illinois' victory over the Demon Deacons -- its first a top-ranked team since beating Michigan State and Earvin "Magic" Johnson in 1979 -- validated the Illini as a favorite to reach the Final Four.
"I don't think there are very many schools in the country where the first team could be as skilled and as quick as Illinois' second team," Wake Forest Coach Skip Prosser said after the Illini beat his team in last week's ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
Certainly, very few teams have as many talented guards as Illinois. Head and juniors Deron Williams and Dee Brown have accounted for 52 percent of the team's scoring, 77 percent of its three-pointers made and 80 percent of its assists. Williams, the preseason Big Ten player of the year, is one of only three players to lead the league in assists in his first two seasons. Brown, "Mr. Basketball" in Illinois as a senior at Proviso East High outside Chicago in 2002, has made more than 50 percent of his three-point attempts this season.
The biggest surprise has been Head, who nearly left the team last season after he was suspended six games for two separate incidents (an alleged burglary for which he was never charged and his arrest for driving on a suspended license). He leads the team in scoring with 15.9 points per game. Senior forward Roger Powell Jr., who became a licensed minister in the Pentecostal church during the offseason, is averaging 13 points and 5.4 rebounds.
The most impressive thing about the Illini, Chicago State Coach Kevin Jones said, is their unselfish nature. Illinois beat the Cougars, 78-59, on Monday night, their first game after being ranked No. 1. Entering tonight's game, the Illini had assists on nearly 70 percent of their baskets.
"They don't have egos," Jones told reporters after Monday night's game. "They're a close-knit team, and it shows out there on the floor. You've got one guy who's open for a shot, he passes it up to give it to somebody else. And then he's wide open, but he'll give it to another guy for a shot. You don't see that in today's game."