Tar Heels, Illini sequel not as intriguing as last year's title

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- As far as sequels go, this one probably is destined to be a flop -- North Carolina versus Illinois II.\nThink of it along the lines of "Speed 2," or perhaps "Grease 2." Either way, the rematch of last season's NCAA championship game should have a tough time equaling the original.\n"But it's still a big game," Illini coach Bruce Weber said Monday. "It's a good early season test for us. We'll learn more about our team."\nHis counterpart, Roy Wiliams, certainly can say the same.\nThe Tar Heels lost their top seven scorers from a year ago, and forward David Noel is the only returning player who scored in the title game. He finished with exactly one point.\nOf course, No. 12 Illinois isn't much better off. Do-it-all guard Dee Brown had 12 points against North Carolina last April, but no one else currently on the roster made it into the score book.\nCenter James Augustine started that game, but he fouled out in nine minutes trying to guard Sean May and finished 0-for-3 from the field.\nSee why no one is too worried about what happened in St. Louis?\n"We're not defending anything, because they can't take it away from us," Noel said. "It's going to be ours, regardless if they win or not."\nNot that Noel is conceding anything. He believes the Tar Heels have enough to compete with the Illini, and he plans to make sure all his younger teammates know that.\nAs one of only two seniors who figure into the rotation, Noel has spent a good part of this season acting as a coach on the floor. One recent example came during a victory last week over UC-Santa Barbara, when Williams signaled in a defense called "23."\nPoint guard Bobby Frasor, one of the freshmen, simply looked at the bench with a quizzical look on his face. Turns out the team hadn't gone over that particularly scheme in practice.\nNo problem. Noel quickly explained to Frasor and everyone else where to go, and the Tar Heels (3-0) hardly skipped a beat.\n"I think I'm preparing this team differently regardless of who we're playing, because you can't assume the kids understand everything," Williams said. "We're repeating things over and over and over."\nYet he isn't backing down from playing his up-tempo style. If anything, North Carolina is trying to force an even faster pace, using its trapping defense a bit more compared to Williams' previous two teams.\nWeber picked up on the difference right away when he looked at footage of this year's version of the Tar Heels.\n"I'm not sure why he's doing it," Weber said. "Maybe he thinks he has more athleticism, maybe cover up some deficiencies, I don't know. It's been very effective so far and we're going to have to deal with that."\nThat's where Brown should shine. The 6-foot, 185-pound senior moved from shooting guard to point guard to replace the departed Deron Williams, and controlling him might be the biggest worry for North Carolina.\nSure, Augustine is the Illini's top scorer at 15.4 points a game, but Brown makes them go. He leads the team in assists and steals, while averaging 14.2 points.\n"For such a little guy, he's a big load, there's no question about that," Roy Williams said. "I can't think of anybody that pushes it any faster than he does. He comes at you so hard that you have to give ground so much, at some point, you have to draw a line and say, 'I can't continue to give ground or I'll be in the bleachers."