16: Illinois State
There's nothing like a little internal strife to get the
Redbirds to soar
If there was a single event that led to Illinois State's success in
1996-97, it took place one day last fall when two of the
Redbirds' best players tried to beat each other senseless.
Forwards Rico Hill and Dan Muller were playing on the same
team in a
preseason pickup game when Hill's laissez-faire passing resulted in
a turnover. "What are you doing?" screamed
Muller, Illinois State's captain. "My fault,"
Hill said. "It's
always your fault!"
barked Muller. The dispute escalated from there: Hill snapped
back at Muller. Muller pushed Hill. Punches were thrown.
With neither Mills
Lane nor Redbirds coach Kevin Stallings on the scene, teammates
needed five minutes to break up the tussle.
A year later the
6'6", 225-pound Hill is considered one of the top power
forwards in college, and he credits the fight with changing
his attitude. "It was a reality check," he says.
"I was playing so lackadaisically, it was causing
problems. I don't know how we bonded
from a fight, but after that we got really cool." Led by
its pair of pugilists, Illinois State went 24-6 last season
and to the NCAA tournament for the first time in six years.
There the Redbirds played Iowa State tough in the opening
round before losing
69-57. Hill paced Illinois State with 18.8 points and 8.2
rebounds per game, while Muller added 11.0 points and won
his second straight Missouri Valley Conference defensive
player of the year
award.
More important, last year's Redbirds had strong homing
instincts. All 14 players are back, as is Stallings, who
stayed at Illinois State after flirting with the
possibility of coaching at Tennessee, Ohio State or
Michigan. In the short term, however, the Redbirds will have to
deal with the absence of two starters: Rugged center LeRoy
Watkins will be out with a shoulder injury until at least
late
November, and guard Jamar Smiley, who was fourth in the nation
in assists
last year, is suspended for the season's first two games
after pleading guilty last month to a misdemeanor charge of
unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
That means Hill will have to produce more in the early
going. A Chicago-area native who grew up burdened by his
weight—in the seventh grade he was
5'5" and 175 pounds—Hill shed his baby fat in high
school and turned down city colleges DePaul and
Saint Louis in favor of life in Normal, site of Illinois State.
After an unspectacular freshman season, Hill spent the
following summer honing his game at Chicago's famed
LeClaire Courts against the likes of Antoine Walker (now
with the Boston Celtics), and
he blossomed last season as a sophomore, scoring 25 or more
points six times. "Rico
became the kind of player last year that I thought he might
become as a junior," says Stallings. "He got
through some barriers in terms of working hard and really
became
a guy we could depend
on."
|
Last Year | 24-6 |
|
Returning Starters | 5 |
| Points Per Game '96-97 | 74.1 |
| PPG By All Returning Players | 74.1 | The catalyst, of course, was Muller, who says that he still
has to get in Hill's face occasionally. But even Muller
grudgingly admits, "Rico can do everything. Just don't
tell him I said
that."
Too late. The word on Hill—and on Illinois State—is
out. —Grant Wahl
Next: Rest of the Best
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