Weber, Self say bygones are bygones, but victory for either would be sweet vindication

The last time Bruce Weber and Bill Self shook hands on the basketball court — following a hotly contested Thanksgiving tournament game in 2001 at Las Vegas — didn't have anywhere near the anticipation of Sunday's impending handshake.For the first time since Weber took over the Illini job from Self in April 2003, Illinois and Kansas will lock horns at 7:40 p.m. in Tulsa, Okla.The fact that the stakes are a spot in the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 only makes it more momentous.Or does it?In one sense, the Weber/Self angle has the legs of a marathoner after Weber's motivational ploy in Dec. 2003.Before a nonconference game against Maryland-Eastern Shore, Weber showed up in the locker room wearing a black suit and declared the occasion to be Self's funeral.Weber became inspired after fan vitriol reached a new level when the Illini, featuring the same group that went to the 2005 NCAA title game, lost by 19 points to unranked Providence at Madison Square Garden.#8220;I had one guy say if (Self) was coaching here, you would have beat Providence by 10,#8221; Weber said on Dec. 13, 2003. #8220;Well, when I faced Bill (when Self was at Tulsa and Weber at SIU), with 13 minutes left in the game at SIU we were up 27 points.#8220;Then, when we faced (Illinois at Las Vegas) we had them down the stretch and he had three NBA guys and we had two guys in the developmental league.#8221;Weber's voice rose as he continued his monologue.#8220;I don't know. Unless he's a miracle worker, I kicked his butt in both games. Even after the Providence game, you know, #8216;They didn't lose any double-figure games (under Self).' Well, horse(dip). They did!#8221;As you might have gauged, Self's lingering presence bothered Weber all those years ago.While the atmosphere reportedly was awkward for Saturday's news conferences at the BOK Center, Weber and Self both declared the funeral to be a dead issue.#8220;You know, when I did that I'm not sure how Bill took it, but it was really a compliment to him, to be honest,#8221; Weber said. #8220;You know how he captured the players, the fans, and what he did at Illinois. Somehow I had to get (to) say, #8216;Hey, we've got to move forward.'#8221;Said Self: #8220;I have total respect for him as a coach. I always have, even when he was at Southern and I played him and I was at Illinois and he was at Southern.#8220;But we're not close. We don't talk like that. It's a situation where that happened, but I think he meant it in a certain way, and that wasn't a huge deal.#8221;This is not to say Self wouldn't mind advancing his top-seeded Jayhawks at the expense of his previous employer.#8220;Certainly the fact that we're playing a school that I coached at, in my mind, isn't motivation,#8221; Self said. #8220;But in my mind, I'm probably a little more amped up and watched a little more tape or whatever the case would be #8212; just like I'm sure they're doing, too.#8221;So that's the soap-opera angle that goes over so well with the media and the fans.As for the players, they were in middle school when the whole thing played out #8212; and you know middle-school-aged boys aren't inclined to watch the soaps.#8220;I'm not from Illinois, so I don't know about all the coaching drama and all that stuff,#8221; said senior power forward Mike Davis. #8220;It doesn't apply to me and my teammates.#8221;What applies to today's prime-time episode is ninth-seeded Illinois' ability to contain the Morris twins inside.Davis and Mike Tisdale won't give up height to Marcus (17.3 ppg, 7.3 rpg) and Markieff (13.6 ppg, 8.2 rpg), but heft will be another matter.And because the twins have combined for 49 3-pointers this season, they add to the stress placed on Illinois' defense.#8220;I told them we have to play our best post defense of the year from all our bigs,#8221; Weber said. #8220;It's going to take even a Meyers Leonard coming in and a Tyler Griffey coming in.#8220;And then our guards, our perimeter guys, got to help whether it's squeezing the lane, putting ball pressure on and making it tough to feed the guys and feed the big guys inside.#8221;