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Illinois banquet notes

Posted by: Paul Klee

Tuesday, April 15, 2008 9:50 PM

Illinois held its 86th basketball banquet in Urbana tonight. A few notes, with more to come in Wednesday's News-Gazette, including a text messaging interview with assistant Jerrance Howard:

-Steve Holdren, who has one season of eligibility remaining, will not return to the team in 2008-09. Holdren, a non-scholarship walk-on who appeared in 13 games last season, said he's on pace to graduate in the fall and decided against another season with the Illini.

"I put in my time in college and I'm getting close to the end of school," said Holdren, a Centennial grad who transferred to Illinois prior to the 2006-07 season. "It's a struggle with my knee to get it going and I just felt it was that time. Some time you realize it's that time."

-Bruce Weber said the Illini are in the process of scheduling a home-and-home series with Vanderbilt. The series would begin next season on the road, and the Commodores would return the game at the Assembly Hall in 2009-10. The contract is not signed, however.

-Weber indicated Trent Meacham is "a strong candidate" to earn a scholarship next season. Meacham, who is recovering from ankle surgery and on crutches, was not on scholarship last season but finished as the team's second-leading scorer.

-Despite Rodney Alexander's exit, Weber said he doesn't anticipate adding another recruit to the 2008 recruiting class. Weber talked about Alexander's decision to not return to the Illini next season.

"He had some frustrations. We all had frustrations. His season probably didn't go like he had hoped," Weber said. "We met, like I do with every guy, we just kind of talked about what we expect: 'Here's what we expect, here's your role. He just didn't feel like it was the right situation for him.

"To me, that's fine. I want everybody bought in and doing what we expect and understanding their roles. He just didn't feel that he fit in the right place."

-In a curious move, the Illini did not give out an MVP award for the 2007-08 season. Players voted to skip the honor by saying the 16-19 campaign "did not meet the standards of Illinois basketball."

-As we wrote in Sunday's N-G, multiple players are planning to join overseas tours this summer. Plans include tours in China (probably Jamar Smith, Mike Davis and assistant Jerrance Howard), Poland (Alex Legion) and Australia.

-More in Wednesday's N-G.

Klee
pklee@news-gazette.com