Staff writer Paul Klee attended UI coach Bruce Weber's season-ending news conference Wednesday. Here are some of Weber's thoughts:

On the 2009-10 season:

"I think you could look at the season in a lot of different lights. At times we were exciting. At times we were definitely inconsistent. It added up to probably at the end a little bit of disappointment. I think we have a bright future ahead of us. The inconsistency, I think, a lot of it came from youth and immaturity, some of the things that I talked about earlier in the season about leadership and defense, I thought we improved in all of those areas, but obviously not enough to get to the point where we wanted to be as a team, as a program. Now, where do we go from there? I think this next six months is going to be very important. I think we have a chance to be a Top 25 team. To me, that's a no-brainer for next year. But some things definitely have to change if we're going to have that consistency, to not only get into the Top 25, which we did earlier this year, but to stay there. It's going to start with a lot of competition in the spring, hopefully motivated workouts that they have in the summer. Toughness – both mental and physical toughness – will be emphasized."

NORMAL – A three-sport athlete at Salt Fork, Heather Page arrived at Illinois State six years ago with ambitions to focus on one sport.

She tried to walk on to the softball team but didn't survive the tryout process.

This year, I’d like to invite everyone who loves animals to join friends of the Champaign County Humane Society at the annual Mutt Strut.  Yes, that’s right, I’m inviting all of you, not just dog owners with socially-well-adjusted dogs.

News you can't leave work without:

Illinois soccer coach Janet Rayfield will be honored at the 19th annual Women of Distinction, A Legacy of Leadership, banquet April 22 at the Hawthorn Suites in Champaign.