It's clear what Weber must do for good of Illini

One of the best things about Bruce Weber's coaching personality is his stubbornness.

In his first year at Illinois, when Bill Self holdovers such as Dee Brown weren't quick to play how he wanted, Weber didn't give in.

His Illini would run the motion offense correctly, play man-to-man defense exclusively, and run to exhaustion. There were no alternatives.

Weber's stubborn nature manifests itself in other ways.

Throughout his coaching life, he has witnessed hard-working guys who weren't necessarily all-star talents improve enough to become team leaders and all-stars by their senior year.

He saw it happen so often during his 23 years at Purdue and Southern Illinois, it must seem like a given equation in his mind:

Effort + Time + Enough Talent = Winner.

There's just one problem with that equation. It's not working this year for the Illini.

The guys who put in the effort and the time (see: junior point guard Chester Frazier) don't have enough talent.

To watch Penn State's zone leave Frazier unguarded in Sunday's loss not only was painful, it forced the other Illini to all but go 4-on-5.

The guys who have enough talent (see: senior forward Brian Randle) can't spend enough time on the floor due to fouls and injuries to make a difference.

To watch Randle foul out in 13 minutes, 38 seconds against Penn State was, sadly, all too familiar.

The guys who have enough talent and have spent enough time on their game (see: senior center Shaun Pruitt) apparently must be goaded into giving enough effort at both ends of the floor.

To watch Pruitt play lackluster defense against Ohio State -- then not work hard for the ball all the time against OSU's and PSU's zones -- wasn't what is expected from a preseason all-Big Ten pick.

And, yet, these three veterans are the only ones who've started every game in Illinois' 8-7 season.

Weber keeps waiting for them to live up to the empirical formula in his head.

Why?

Because Illinois' five freshmen all have flashed enough talent to win but haven't been in the system long enough to know how to win.

And if they play hard enough to win in the Big Ten, then Penn State 6-foot-4 junior forward Jamelle Cornley was too busy grabbing rebounds during Sunday's 68-64 loss at the Assembly Hall to notice.

"I think that they don't really understand what they have right now," Cornley said. "I think a couple of their players don't understand how hard they have to play.

"This is the Big Ten now. In the Big Ten, you can't take a play off. You've got to understand that every possession is vital."

Weber couldn't have said it better himself. But this is a time when he must set his "I told you so's" and hard-earned stubbornness aside. He must search his coaching soul and decide if it's wise to stick with what he knows. Instead of sticking with his veterans and hoping for history to kick in, he needs to ask himself this question:

Who's going to help Illinois get back to the top of the Big Ten and back among the national elite?

Based on his decision to give freshman point guard Demetri McCamey his first career start Thursday at Wisconsin, Weber seems to be moving toward the right answer.

Yet it's killing him to execute it.

McCamey was Illinois' best player on the floor Sunday as he delivered several clutch baskets as part of his career-high 18-point effort, but Weber couldn't help but point out McCamey's spotty practice record, which can include 2½ hours of poor play and drain any coach's confidence.

"And then they go into a game and maybe play decent, then you (media) get all fired up and the fans get fired up, 'Why don't you have him in there?' " Weber said.

"Well, for 2½ hours yesterday, he was awful. What kind of feeling is that? I'd like some consistency, but I don't have it right now."

That last statement's true … except that Illinois is consistently losing at Assembly Hall this season.

If Weber wants a history lesson as his guide, there's a convenient one in Illinois' media guide.

Stuck without a true point guard, Lon Kruger punted the 1998-99 season, played the kids and triggered Illinois' eight-year NCAA Tournament run that began the following year.

Does that sound like a worthy path to follow?