ATHENS, Ga.  They have a boxer''s swagger and haircuts straight from an episode of "Friends." They are clean-cut, more than a little brash and  so far  utterly impossible to beat. The Illinois men''s tennis team is, in short, the very picture of the all-American squad. And everybody hates them. The top-ranked Illini (28-0) might be heavily favored at this weekend''s NCAA tennis championships, but that doesn''t mean they''ll be anybody''s favorite. "No one wants us to win," Illinois coach Craig Tiley said. And that''s only a mild exaggeration. There are some other coaches at Midwestern schools, and some in the East, Tiley concedes, who might be pulling hard for the Illini, who play in the Sweet 16 at 2 p.m. Saturday against Washington. But what Tiley calls "the old guard"  the traditional tennis powerhouses in the west and south  are considerably less fond of the partycrashers from Champaign. "They think they''ve got a stranglehold on this and they want to keep it," Tiley said. "That''s the way it is with a lot of sports, when you have several teams that have controlled it for such a long period of time. We want to get to the point where we can say, ''This is ours'' and we defend it every year." Winning it once is the first step, and Tiley''s team should be the favorite to do that next Tuesday. Or should it? Though the Illini haven''t lost a match this season, and though they won the Intercollegiate Tennis Association''s national indoor title in February, Tiley''s team is a bunch of outsiders that ironically hasn''t yet proven its mettle outside. California schools have won 49 of the 55 all-time NCAA tennis championships, and no Midwestern school has won a title since Notre Dame did it in 1959. Until Illinois does it, Tiley said, it''s premature to pick the Illini. "We are the underdogs," Tiley said. "We haven''t won the outdoor championship. We''ve done well, but we haven''t won it. Getting the No. 1 seed only means you''ve had a great season. It doesn''t mean you''re going to win it." So don''t tell Tiley he''s coaching the favorite this weekend. And don''t expect his team to get any favoritism from the folks down south. "We''re definitely kind of outsiders," Illinois junior Brian Wilson said. "We do a lot of things differently. We don''t really socialize much with the other teams. We''re kind of our own pack." And they pack a whallop. Illinois has 17 shutouts among its 28 wins this season and has beaten 11 teams that were ranked in the top 25 at the time they met the Illini. Only one of those 11 teams No. 6 Florida, which hung within 4-2 at the national indoor championships played Illinois closer than 5-2. Despite that overwhelming success, there''s more animosity than admiration for the Illini in some circles. "We''re an upstart program that kind of came out of nowhere," freshman Rajeev Ram said. "We take great pride in having an all-American team. We take a lot of pride in doing things within the rules." And Illinois isn''t shy about saying so. The Illini are one of only two teams left standing in the NCAA tournament without a foreign-born player on their roster. That''s significant, Tiley said, because so many teams cut corners in getting foreign players into college who already have played professionally. "There are some people that are playing college tennis... that shouldn''t be playing college tennis," Tiley said. "If I brought their names to our compliance people, they''d look at me and say, ''You''ve got to be kidding.'' And they''re on someone''s roster." Tiley''s roster is stocked with American talent  the best he''s had in 10 seasons at Illinois. And that''s why the Illini is as smart a pick as any to lift a trophy after next Tuesday''s final. If they do, they''ll have officially crashed a party no one wanted to see them invited to. "We''ve done it with American players," Tiley said. "We''ve done it within the rules. I think the way some people look at it is, ''If they don''t win it, at least we can still say they''re just an indoor team.''" But Illinois is 10-0 this season outdoors. And Tiley knows that one of these days, the Illini are going to run the table under the sun at the NCAAs. "Whether it''s this year or not, we''re going to win one,''" Tiley said. "For us as a team, it''s all about breaking that last barrier. We''re looked at as being a program that''s suddenly arrived on the scene. It''s like ''What happened? You don''t belong with us.''" You can reach Brett Dawson at (217) 373-7422 or via e-mail at bdawson@news-gazette.com.