Illini could be without senior guard Frazier today
INDIANAPOLIS - It's too late for Illinois senior guard Chester Frazier to plead his case to be Big Ten defensive player of the year.
Michigan State senior guard Travis Walton claimed the award earlier this week.
But Frazier might provide an indirect and unwanted appeal of the Big Ten coaches' decision today at Conseco Fieldhouse.
When second-seeded Illinois takes on seventh-seeded Michigan in the third Big Ten quarterfinal, Frazier isn't being counted on after severely bruising his right hand in practice Wednesday.
According to the Champaign News-Gazette, Frazier left the practice facility in considerable pain and needed X-rays.
If the senior has to sit for the first time this season, Illinois will be without the best defender on the nation's third-ranked scoring defense (56.5 ppg). Oh, the Illini also will have to forge on without the Big Ten's regular-season assist champ.
Sophomore Jeff Jordan is the only point guard among Illinois' reserves, but coach Bruce Weber figures to think defense first if he has to adjust his lineup for the first time in 30 games.
Frazier guarded all-Big Ten wing Manny Harris when Illinois and Michigan split their regular-season games.
Senior swingman Calvin Brock is Harris' size, so he could get the starting assignment as the Illini try to keep Harris from replicating the 18-point, 8-assist, 7-rebound performance he put on Iowa in Thursday's first-round win.
Harris might not even be Illinois' biggest worry. Junior forward DeShawn Sims led Michigan over Iowa with 27 points in just 30 minutes.
Sims' showings vacillated wildly in Michigan's first two games with Illinois.
When the Wolverines won at home Jan. 4, Sims dragged Illinois 7-footer Mike Tisdale outside and hit three 3-pointers to account for most of his 13 points.
But when Sims and his mates visited Champaign 10 days later, Tisdale blocked 3 shots as Sims went just 3 of 14 from the floor.
"Last game, I tried to stay back off of him and make him a shooter," Tisdale said after that game. "Obviously he did that. This game we pushed up on him and tried to control him."
Sims isn't sure what he will face today and doesn't seem to care.
"They pressure the ball well," Sims said. "I think our coaches do a great job of not letting us think about it, but just giving us a game plan so we can go out and execute it."
Any game plan, though, will be that much easier to execute if Illinois doesn't have Frazier.
Illinois (23-8) vs. Michigan (20-12)
When: 5:30 p.m. at Conseco Fieldhouse
TV: Big Ten Network
Radio: WIND 560-AM
Skinny: The second-seeded Illini don't need to win in order to earn their ninth NCAA Tournament bid in 10 years, but they also don't want to go into the Big Dance with three straight losses and no wins since Feb. 26. Seventh-seeded Michigan, with its 43 RPI rating, appears to remain on the bubble despite its 73-45 blowout of Iowa in Thursday's first-round game. Illinois faltered down the stretch when it lost 74-64 on Jan. 4 at Michigan, but rode 7-foot-1 sophomore Mike Tisdale to a 66-51 win on Jan. 14 at home. Tisdale needed just 12 shots to score 24 points against the smaller Wolverines. "I told 'Tiz' in the locker room, 'Let's get you the ball, big fella,' " Illini point guard Demetri McCamey said after that win. "Their tallest player is 6-foot-7, (you're) 7-foot. Come on. I'm going to get you the ball, so just finish."
Advancement: The winner plays the winner of the Purdue-Penn State quarterfinal at 3 p.m. Saturday on CBS.