<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">ST. LOUIS - Illinois point guard Deron Williams might not get his due until the NBA draft in June, when he could be taken over Raymond Felton for the first time. In the summer of 2001, Felton and Williams were entering their senior years of high school - Williams in Texas and Felton in South Carolina. Both wanted to attend North Carolina, but then-Tar Heels coach Matt Doherty could take only one. "I wanted to go [to Chapel Hill], but it didn't happen," Williams said. "They recruited me, but I was the second option to Felton." Rugged enough to guard centers on his high school team, Williams has helped Illinois become the fourth Division I team to reach 37 victories in a season. That plateau is ominous, however, as Duke in 1986 and 1989, and UNLV in 1987 all were denied NCAA titles. Illinois is also trying to become the first champion with only one loss since North Carolina State in 1974. Big turnover coming? Tonight could be the last time to see the Tar Heels and the Fighting Illini as we currently know them. Of the top eight players in Illinois' rotation, starters Luther Head and Roger Powell and key front-line reserves Nick Smith and Jack Ingram will graduate. And the NBA stock of the Illini's top two players, Dee Brown and Williams, both of whom are juniors, has improved significantly. The Tar Heels will lose starters Jackie Manuel and Jawad Williams and seventh man Melvin Scott (Southern-Baltimore) to graduation. There has been speculation that juniors Felton, Rashad McCants and Sean May and freshman Marvin Williams, who would be a near certain lottery pick, all will apply early for the draft. "I feel like I'm a four-year guy, but if the opportunity [for the NBA] is there, it's something that I probably would look into," May said. "But right now, I'm in college and I love playing college basketball. Right now, I'm coming back." </div> Source
