Nation's top guards to match up tonight

ST. LOUIS -- Deron Williams began learning his basketball skills in grade school, playing for a coach who constantly preached defense and sharing the ball.\nEven though he was by far the most talented member of his team, Williams wasn't allowed to dominate simply by scoring.\n"I was the best player on my team, and I could have shot every time," Williams said Sunday. "But she wouldn't let me do that. She wanted me to pass it and make everybody else better."\nThe Illinois point guard continues to be influenced by that coach -- his mother, Denise Smith. Her background in the game includes being chosen the top defensive player on her high school team, and she later played at West Liberty State in West Virginia.\nSo when her son showed interest in basketball, she wanted to make sure he did it the right way.\n"She got me started on defense, and she got me started on passing," Williams said. "It was something she always stressed, which is pretty rare, because everybody wants to score."\nHe got the message.\nAs he led the top-ranked Illini to Monday night's national championship game against No. 2 North Carolina, Williams set a school record with 257 assists and averaged 12.4 points. On defense, while teammate Dee Brown was chosen the Big Ten's defensive player of the year, Williams usually gets the assignment of covering the opponent's top guard.\nThat continued in Illinois' se mifinal victory over Louisville on Saturday night, when he held Francisco Garcia to four points on 2-of-10 shooting. And even though Williams scored only five points, he had nine assists and five rebounds as the Illini pulled away in the second half.\nThe task is even tougher against the Tar Heels, the top scoring team in Division I led by point guard Raymond Felton. They average more than 88 points a game and rang up 54 in the second half against Michigan State to advance to the final.\nIn that game, North Carolina dominated inside, with Sean May and Jawad Williams combining for 42 points, but Felton's ability to break down his defender and get in the paint led to many of their baskets.\n"I have a wonderful feeling about this young man," Tar Heels coach Roy Williams said. "The competitiveness, the dedication, the desire. That's what I love about him more than anything. I just love guys that compete. His heart's about as big as anybody I've ever been around."\nFelton and Deron Williams are good friends, even though they lost touch over the past few years because Felton had to change his phone number so often. In fact, Williams grew up as a Tar Heels fan and wanted to attend North Carolina, but the scholarship went to Felton.\nNow, the two might have the fate of the title game in their hands.\n"It's going to be up and down the court," Felton said. "It's going to be a track meet in a sense"