CHAMPAIGN - We've all heard the horror stories about the earthquake that killed thousands in China on May 12 and the countless aftershocks that have continued to rock the country.

Sometime today, a jet will touch down at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, and three members of the University of Illinois basketball family will be on it. They arrived in China just after the quake and will no doubt have some amazing stories to tell.

Assistant coach Jerrance Howard and players Demetri McCamey and Mike Davis were members of a touring team put together by Sports Reach USA. To be honest, I'd forgotten about the trip, but it explains why when I've called Howard's cell phone the past few days, it slips into this weird "beep-beep-beep" mode.

Cell phone coverage in earthquake-ravaged China must not be too good. "Beep-beep-beep" must be Chinese for "I'm in China, dude. Call back later."

Piecing together information about the trip has been difficult, to say the least, but some details I can share.

First of all, the touring team thankfully missed the main quake but did experience a number of aftershocks. They stood together and shared in a countrywide moment of silence. They heard stories of the devastation from their interpreter. They drew big crowds, perhaps because the Chinese were eager to focus on something other than the awful destruction from the quake.

Dennis Gates, an assistant coach at Northern Illinois, served as Howard's assistant on this team and filed a few blogs on the NIU Web site. He shared some details of the trip.

The touring team, which visited five cities and played five games against the No. 3 team in China, finished 1-3-1. (Yes, there was a tie.) And conditions were not always ideal.

Before the first game, playing in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 5,000, the American team had almost no time for preparation, so they conducted a walkthrough in the airport in Tokyo during a three-hour layover.

"For those wondering if Tokyo has a basketball court in its airport, NO!" Gates wrote in his blog. "We used a sock, which took the place of a basketball, and we used a sign that I could not read as the basket."

The U.S. team lost that game, 67-66.

Writing later, Gates filed this report:

"Yesterday, prior to our game in the city of Rong Chang, some of us experienced an earthquake for the first time. Immediately after this ground-shaking experience, we met its twin sibling (another aftershock). Both were small, yet it told some not to take anything for granted."

The team was actually supposed to stay longer, but a three-day period of national mourning would have delayed the schedule, and the team decided to return early.

For the five-game tour, McCamey averaged 10.6 points, 8.6 assists and 4.6 rebounds. According to a University of Illinois spokesman, who gleaned information from a member of the Sports Reach group, McCamey started out shooting poorly but heated up as the trip went on. In the team's final game, he was one rebound short of a triple-double with 10 points, 14 assists and nine rebounds.

Mike Davis averaged 5.2 points and 5.2 rebounds.

Except for the excitement experienced by Howard, McCamey and Davis, it's a slow, quiet time in the Illini basketball world. Most of the players have gone home and won't be back on campus until just before summer semester classes begin on June 9.

Coaches are out of the office catching their breath before summer camps begin.

University of Kentucky transfer Alex Legion just left for Poland with a touring Athletes in Action team.

They've shut down the Ubben Basketball Complex practice courts in order to completely sand, repaint and refinish the playing surface.

Trent Meacham is finally out of the boot he's been wearing since having postseason surgery to address a stress fracture.

Because Howard was not due back in the United States until today, head coach Bruce Weber will fill in for him at the meet-'n'-greet scheduled for this evening in Springfield. Weber and Zook are appearing at four stops. Decatur is not on the list this summer but was last year.

Zook, by the way, is warming up his throwing arm for Illini Day at Wrigley Field on Sunday, June 1. He's scheduled to throw out the first pitch and sing during the seventh inning stretch.

No time table yet for a hoped-for return to campus by former Illini point guard Deron Williams. He has a busy summer with tryouts for the United States Olympic Team on his plate.

Last year, it was Illini assistant coach Wayne McClain who led the touring team to China. He said it was a fabulous trip, if only to see a unique country and how its people live. McClain still tells stories of that visit.

Given the circumstances of the earthquake, we can only imagine the stories Howard will have to tell.

Mark Tupper can be reached at mtupper@herald-review.com or 421-7983.