A Three-for-All

They look nothing alike, the three guards of Illinois, yet people have the darnedest time separating them.

Which is the best? The most indispensable? The best shooter? The toughest defender? The top NBA prospect?

There is Dee Brown, the Big Ten player of the year, a streak shooter with braids, a bright orange mouthpiece and the quickness to pick a player’s pocket with the game on the line.

There is Luther Head, who escaped a controversial scrape with the law after a burglary at an off-campus apartment before last season to remain on the team -- and became not only the Illini’s leading scorer this season, but their most productive three-point shooter as well.

And then there is Deron Williams -- the third-team All-American behind two second-team All-American teammates -- a 6-foot-3, 210-pound point guard who models his game after Jason Kidd’s so well that coaches can’t say enough about him.

“I think it’s Deron -- he is the foundation of our team, and he does it without ego,” Coach Bruce Weber said. “A couple of All-American teams came out and he was not there, and he said, ‘Coach, we’re winning. I don’t have good enough numbers. It’s OK.’

“He has a great feel for the game and runs the show, and always makes the right play and the right decision.”

Williams is used to being the “other” guard. Back at the Colony High in suburban Dallas, he was a teammate of Bracey Wright, the Indiana star.

And although Williams typically provides the efficient leadership that facilitates a 20-point game by Head or a stunning eight three-pointers by Brown against Purdue, in the most important moments of the most important game of the season, Williams was the catalyst.

Louisville Coach Rick Pitino, waiting to see which team his Cardinals would face at the Final Four, watched as the Illini stormed back from 15 points behind with four minutes left against Arizona in the Chicago Regional final.

From that point until the overtime buzzer of a 90-89 victory, Williams made four three-pointers and a layup and had three assists, contributing 14 of his 22 points as he completed a double-double with 10 assists and added a huge defensive contribution, guarding Salim Stoudamire.

“You can make a case for all three -- they’re outstanding,” Pitino said. “But Deron Williams, to me, does so many things. Even that three-pointer he made, he had a three, and 99% would take it, but he made a fake to make it a better three.

“This is not taking anything away from the young man at Utah [Andrew Bogut] or anybody else, but I think he’s the player of the year in college basketball. He’s a great talent and I think he’ll be a great pro.”

If Williams -- who leads the NCAA tournament in assists with 8.5 a game -- is the Illini’s “glue,” as Weber calls him, Brown is their glitter.

“Dee is our energy,” Weber said. “I call him the poster child of Illinois basketball. He is always the guy who gets his picture taken, with the smile and the braids and high socks and headband. The kids can relate to him. Fans can relate to him. He is the pied piper-type kid, and he has great quickness, great energy, and releases the ball quickly.”

Brown’s lack of height -- he is only 6 feet -- makes him a less coveted NBA prospect than Williams, also a junior. But his shooting -- 45% from three-point range and almost 51% overall -- and the quick release he developed playing against older players, make him a constant threat.

Still, it’s his style that earns him the title of “most photographed.”

“You’ve got to pay attention when they put your face on Sports Illustrated and the Sporting News and all that, but I’m nothing without these guys,” Brown said. “I wouldn’t be a poster-child without all these good players on my team.”

Not that he minds a little adulation and imitation, especially when he sees youngsters with their socks pulled high over their calves.

“Most definitely cool,” Brown said. “That’s an honor and a privilege when somebody tries to play like you or pull their socks up like you.”

Head, a senior, is a player who understands it can be an honor and a privilege to be on the court at all.

In November 2003, he was among a group of at least five people -- including teammate Rich McBride -- who allegedly entered an off-campus student apartment in Champaign looking for a party and left with an assortment of DVDs, video game systems, personal belongings and $200 cash, worth as much as $3,000 all told.

Weber suspended the players for four games, two of them exhibitions, but they avoided prosecution when the victims declined to pursue charges after the prosecutor, Champaign County State’s Attorney John Piland, warned them they would face intense media scrutiny.

At one point, the Chicago Tribune reported, Piland asked the victims if they were prepared to face the kind of ire an infamous Cub fan inspired after he interfered with a foul ball during the Cubs’ collapse in Game 6 of the 2003 National League championship series, saying, “Do you want to be like Steve Bartman?”

The victims decided against testifying, and Piland declined to file charges, a decision that became the focal point of a campaign in which he was defeated for reelection last November.

“It means a lot, just to be able to move on from something like that to being on the stage I’m on now,” said Head, who later last season sat out two games for multiple traffic violations and driving on a suspended license.

At one point, he offered to leave the team if Weber and his teammates thought he had become too much of a distraction. The Illini declined the offer, and Illinois probably wouldn’t be in the Final Four otherwise.

“I try my hardest not to look back,” said Head, who called the burglary incident a case of “wrong place, wrong time.”

“You know you’ve been through some things and you should leave it at that,” he said. “You don’t want to think about the past and anything negative.”

During his legal troubles, Head said, he leaned on the support of teammate Roger Powell Jr., a minister in the Pentecostal church.

“Always, ever since I knew Roger, even when he wasn’t an ordained minister, he was always praying for people and trying to help people,” Head said. “He did a lot for me during that stage. He helped me out a lot.”

That sort of team cohesiveness -- built around three fabulous guards -- is why Illinois has what Weber calls “a good team.”

“They complement each other,” Weber said. “All of them can handle the ball, all pass the ball, all shoot, all defend.”

Two more victories, and they will be remembered not as a good team, but as a great one -- a 38-1 NCAA champion.

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AT A GLANCE

* How they got there: After double-digit victories over No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson, 67-55; No. 9 Nevada, 71-59; and No. 12 Wisconsin Milwaukee, 77-63, the top-seeded Illini needed an astonishing comeback to defeat third-seeded Arizona in overtime, 90-89, erasing a 15-point Arizona lead with four minutes left in regulation to win. Illinois made a school-record 16 three-pointers, five each by guards Deron Williams and Luther Head.

* Leading tournament scorers: Williams, 16.5 ppg; Head, 14.8; guard Dee Brown, 14.3; forward James Augustine 12.3; forward Roger Powell Jr., 9.5.

* Leading tournament rebounders: Augustine, 10.3; Powell, 5.

* Key to the season: Besides having three terrifically talented guards who are well suited for Coach Bruce Weber’s motion offense, the Illini have avoided injury. Every starter has started every game this season, and Head played well despite a sore hamstring the last two games.

* Key fact: After suffering their only loss of the season, a 65-64 defeat at Ohio State on March 6, the Illini are seeking to become the first once-beaten team to win the NCAA title since North Carolina State in 1974. The last one-loss team to reach the Final Four was Duke in 1999, when the Blue Devils were upset by Connecticut in the title game.