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Senior Day, round one: Chester Frazier

Posted by: Paul Klee

Friday, February 27, 2009 3:42 PM

We'll have an ode to Senior Day in Sunday's N-G (and on HQ), but for now, we'll focus on the four seniors in blog form. To start it off, a few items on Chester Frazier...

- He's fired up for Sunday's game against Michigan State. "Anxious," too, he said today. In a sellout crowd at the Assembly Hall will be his mom, Peggy Lynch, his older brother James, who recently completed his service in the Navy, and his younger brother, Josh.

James is bringing his two daughters, as well, and Chester's proud of being an uncle and, in some ways, a father figure to his family since Chester Frazier Sr. passed away in April 2007.

- You've seen more of Chester Frazier than all but nine former Illini. With 36 minutes against Minnesota last night, Frazier (3,493 minutes) moved into the top 10 of career minutes played at Illinois, passing the Illini Sports Network's Jerry Hester (3,464). Sometimes it has seemed that I've seen Chester in the training room, being taped, prodded or iced by Al Martindale, about that many minutes, too.

"I think the bad part is he has gone through so many injuries and probably 99 percent of the guys wouldn't have played. The things he's fought through are just amazing," Bruce Weber said today. "He's had some little things, but this year is probably the first year he's been healthy. When he came in, he was dunking, he wanted to be in the dunk contest. I think the wear and tear on his body - the torn quad, the knees, the pounding he's taken - probably you haven't seen the abilities and his athleticism."

- Bruce Weber said today he sees some of himself in Chester Frazier, and I think that's one reason coach and point guard have grown so close over the past two seasons. There were highs, such as when Chester put Weber in a headlock after the win at Purdue, and lows, such as when Weber broke down a door at Chester's apartment during the Jamar Smith ordeal.

Frazier agreed with Weber when he said there were similarities in their personalities.

"I see it in myself," he said of Weber. "The emotional displays sometimes. You kind of hold things in and have outbursts sometimes. I kind of think I take after him a little bit. Trying to help people is another thing."

- From Frazier's freshmen season until now, Weber said, the coach has seen the guard transform into a basketball junkie.

"He'll text me about scores," Weber said. "He'll watch our recruits on TV. He'll watch our recruits on YouTube."

- Frazier is 40 points ahead in the Matto race, so he'll regain the Matto crown. As for his thoughts on the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year award:

"I really don't care. That's another person's opinion of me. I can only control what I do," he said. "I try to be a great defender, but that's not up to me. I can't vote for myself. It would be a great honor to win that award. But it would be an even bigger honor to get the Big Ten title."

Still, I know him well enough to know the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year award is something he's been eyeing since before his senior season. Coaches vote on the award, which works in his favor, but statistics traditionally have been a major factor, and that doesn't work in his favor.

The last three DPOYs led the league in a major defensive category: Chris Kramer (2008, steals), Ohio State's Greg Oden (2007, blocks) and Iowa's Erek Hansen (2006, blocks).

Stu Durando of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch asked Weber today if he thought Frazier should gain notice as an all-conference player, perhaps on the second-, third- or honorable mention teams.

“(He should be) definitely on the All-Defensive team and probably the Defensive Player of the Year, I believe," Weber said. "I guess my opinion is biased, (because) I see him all the time and what he’s done."

- If I had a vote, and I don't, but I should, it would go like this: 1) Frazier 2) JaJuan Johnson 3A) Damian Johnson 3B) Chris Kramer. Part of the reasoning is this: If you take either Johnson or Chris Kramer off the court at Purdue, the Boilers have enough capable defenders to remain stingy. But Illinois is an exceptional defensive team because of Frazier. Not just because of him, but largely because of him. Take him off the court, and the Illini have more below-average defenders than above-average defenders. Frankly, the Illinois coaches are terrified of that scenario, and concerned for their defense next season, when he's gone.

- Chester Frazier might not be going anywhere, but you can tell Bruce Weber's going to miss him as a player.

"The situation with Jamar (Smith) was really hard on him. His father dying was hard on him. Last year, the struggles. I think he's grown up a lot since then. He's made himself into a quality person," Weber said.

"He comes to practice every day and gives it his all. There's days when I don't want him to practice. We'll have Bubba (Chisholm), Stan (Simpson) and C.J. (Jackson) on defense, and the next thing I know, Chester's on defense with the scout squad. I'm like, ‘What the heck is he doing in there?'"

- Also being honored on Sunday: Deon Thomas, the program's all-time leading scorer with 2,129 points. The plan is to raise his honored jersey at halftime, since they'll do the Senior Day stuff prior to tipoff.

- More on the Michigan State game and the other three seniors later today and tomorrow.

pklee@news-gazette.com