CHAMPAIGN - What could be an exciting journey for the Illini men's basketball team will begin with a single step tonight at the Assembly Hall.

Illinois and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville will play the season opener in what represents a time of hope for both teams.

For the Illini, the arrival of four promising freshmen and the return of three starters and their top three scorers should make this team more than competitive in the Big Ten Conference, which is being called the nation's toughest, deepest league.

For SIU-Edwardsville, it's a chance to improve as it enters its second season in Division I. The Cougars made the jump from Division II last year and had a 10-20 record.

SIU-Edwardsville breezed in its exhibition opener, blowing past MacMurray 94-64. But the second exhibition game didn't go as well.

Illinois College won in overtime, 78-76, despite 18 points and six rebounds from Mount Zion High School grad Mark Yelovich, a 6-foot-6 forward who led the team in scoring last season as a freshman.

The SIU-E roster also includes Alex Newlin, a 6-5 junior from Eisenhower, and Dane Church, a 6-3 junior from Charleston.

Weber said he saw both Yelovich and SIU-E's 6-9 Zeke Schneider from Metamora when he was recruiting on the AAU circuit. And he can appreciate the tough job the program faces moving from Division II to Division I.

"I knew their head coach, Lennox Forrester, when he was an assistant at Bradley and Evansville," Weber said. "He's a great person, a great guy, and it's not an easy job for him. They were a respectable Division II program, and to make that jump is tough."

Weber is willing to be patient for the first four games of the season. But by the time Illinois leaves for Las Vegas at Thanksgiving, Weber wants to zero in on a starting lineup, a pattern of substitution and he hopes his team will have adopted a tough, hard-nosed defensive mind-set and a willingness to rebound.

For the first time in awhile, finding offense is not his first priority.

Finding specific roles, however, is.

"Dominique (Keller) is still figuring out what he is," Weber said of his lone senior. "He wants to be a (small forward), but his strength is his athleticism, running to the basket, his unorthodox style.

"Mike Tisdale is trying to be a leader. His biggest thing is, when it goes bad - when he gets knocked down or when he isn't hitting shots - can he still be a leader? Can he still come into the huddle and say things?"

Weber said he has seen promising signs that Tisdale, his 7-1 junior center, is maturing and gaining confidence.

A running tip-dunk in the exhibition game against Quincy came while drawing contact in the lane. It was a play that really caught Weber's eye.

"We're just happy to see him take it at somebody," he said. "He doesn't have the body to do that, but he is starting to take it at people. The dunk the other night was good, a nice confidence-builder for him.

"And I thought he realized he needs to post up. He was trying to do that. We just didn't have the patience to get the ball inside, but these are things we can talk about."

Weber said he has seven players who could start and he might switch them around during the first four games. After that, the competition stiffens, and by then he's hoping to have reached some decisions.

mtupper@herald-review.com|421-7983