Illini are underdog to win their first championship

ST. LOUIS -- The best team in the country all season is an underdog today. By now, Illinois is used to it.

Even though they've only lost once, have tied the NCAA record for wins and have been ranked No. 1 in the country since December, the Illini (37-1) have had trouble getting their due much of the season.

Never has that been more true than in the buildup to tonight's championship game, when the Illini face North Carolina (32-4) in a matchup being billed as Team vs. Talent.

Illinois is the "Team. North Carolina has the "Talent."

The Illini say they don't take offense to the comparison. Often during their interviews Sunday, though, they found themselves defending the way they're perceived -- as the unsung group of guys who "play the game the right way," compared to Carolina's group of stars.

"We have NBA people at our games every time," Illini coach Bruce Weber said. "We're going to have some guys drafted, whether it's this year or next year. But we don't have quite the names, I guess, and athletic guys that maybe they have."

The reason the Tar Heels get the edge starts with Sean May, the 6-foot-9 center who averages 17.1 points and 10.9 rebounds this season. North Carolina also has Rashad McCants, Jawad Williams and Raymond Felton. They'll all go to the NBA soon, as will the sixth man, freshman forward Marvin Williams.

"They'll have a lottery pick coming off their bench," Illinois forward James Augustine said. "They're obviously more talented. But when it comes down to the situation, it's who's the better team" that will win.

Nobody has won more than Illinois -- ever. With their 72-57 victory over Louisville in the semifinals, the Illini matched Duke (1986, 1989) and UNLV (1987) for the most wins in a single season.

Like the Tar Heels, the Illini have stars and NBA talent, starting with guard Deron Williams, a tenacious defender and super ballhandler who may have played himself into the NBA lottery, as well.

Another guard, Luther Head, can shoot 3s with the best, as can Dee Brown, dubbed the "One-Man Fastbreak" for his ability to blow by defenders in the open court. Roger Powell Jr. showed an inside-outside game Saturday -- making 3-pointers and lay-ups with equal aplomb -- that makes him hard to defend.

But the theme people keep coming back to with the Illini is their unselfishness.

"I saw them on film once, they made 19 passes to get the shot they wanted," North Carolina coach Roy Williams said.

Not that the Tar Heels coach, seeking the national title that has eluded him for the last 16 seasons, would trade what he's got.

He is in only the second year of rebuilding a program that went from great under Dean Smith to 8-20 under Matt Doherty. When Roy Williams arrived at his alma mater, he looked at the roster and saw what he had. He called the players in and said they had the talent to make the NCAA tournament in Year One, and to be right where they're at in Year Two.

"I believed it not because of my coaching," he said. "I believed it because of the kids."

The Tar Heels finished the season ranked second behind Illinois in The Associated Press poll. Their meeting in the final is the first between Nos. 1 and 2 since 1975, when UCLA's John Wooden coached his last game against Kentucky.

North Carolina is a 2 1/2-point favorite.

"We're not surprised," Head said. "I mean, people have been saying North Carolina was the better team all year."

McCants, who averages 16 points a game and is never short on confidence, certainly thinks the Illini are stoppable.

"I feel Dee Brown, being as quick as he is, our length will be able to bother him a lot," he said. "And Deron (Williams), as quick as he is, I think Raymond will be able to contain him. Luther Head, as high as he can jump, as fast as he can run, I think I'll be able to defend him."

If the Tar Heels come out ahead on all those one-on-one matchups, certainly they'll win, which would give Roy Williams the national title -- the only thing missing on his otherwise stellar resume.

And if the abundance of talent furthers the perception that all Williams had to do was roll a ball out to make this team win, he's fine with that. The coach, an avid golf nut, likens it to the only hole-in-one he's ever made -- an easy little shot on a 118-yard hole.

"I took my wife out there to show her where it was," Williams said. "She said, 'Well, that's so close, that shouldn't even count.' If we win the daggum thing and somebody says something about that to me, that's going to be fine, too."