CHAMPAIGN - Like many basketball playing kids from Baltimore, Chester Frazier loved watching University of Maryland guards like Juan Dixon and Steve Francis.

How could he help but dream of following in their footsteps and making game-winning plays for the Terrapins?

But as he played his way through Lake Clifton-Eastern High School in Baltimore, the Maryland recruiters never knocked on his door. No hand-holding, no courtship. No Maryland love for Chester Frazier.

Even as he spent one extra year at Notre Dame Preparatory School in Fitchburg, Mass., the big-time offers did not land at his feet. Miami (Ohio) looked him over. Fordham and LaSalle called. The College of Charleston, too.

Illini coach Bruce Weber, meanwhile, found himself scrambling to find a point guard when it became possible he could lose both Deron Williams and Dee Brown early after the 2004-05 Final Four run. So Illinois turned its radar to the East to check out another guard prospect, Chris Howard of Fort Washington, Md.

"We went to watch another kid while looking at him said, 'Hey, Chester is pretty good,' " Weber said Monday. "We went back a couple of times, then brought him to campus. That's kind of how it worked."

During Frazier's official visit to the Illinois campus, he played some pickup games with the Illini team, and Williams filed a thumbs-up report with Weber.

"I remember Deron told me, 'He's a true point guard,' " Weber said. "He said he liked him."

On the night before Frazier returned to prep school, Weber sat him down.

"He told me, 'We want you here,' and I said, 'I want to be here,' " Frazier said. "Simple as that."

Thus began a marriage that today finds Frazier as Illinois' starting point guard and the current assists leader in the Big Ten.

Tonight, Frazier gets a chance to show Maryland he was deserving of their attention all along.

The unbeaten No. 23 Terrapins invade the Assembly Hall for one of the 11 games being played this week as part of the eighth annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

For the Illini, it's the season's first chance to go head-to-head against a nationally ranked team, and it's a chance to let Frazier grab a fistful of bragging rights.

"He's so amped about playing Maryland," teammate Jamar Smith said Monday. "He's been talking to his boys on the phone all day, just guys from his neighborhood."

Frazier, who has a reputation for playing faster than steadiness will allow, downplayed his personal level of excitement.

"I can't get too excited," he said. "I've got to calm my nerves down and take it like another game. But obviously it's a big game for us. The other stuff, that's just neighborhood talk. My friends back there are rooting for me and they want me to win it."

Smith said there's more to it than that.

"After we beat Bradley, I was telling everyone thank you because I wouldn't have been able to go back to Peoria. And Chester said, 'Now we have to beat Maryland or I can't go back to Baltimore.' So everyone wants to do it for him now."

The entire Illini team is counting on the Assembly Hall to be an electric sea of orange tonight, as it has been in the past for ACC/Big Ten Challenge games.

"This game has always been exciting," Illinois' Shaun Pruitt said. "I'm hoping we have an atmosphere like we had for the Wake Forest game."

In that one, Illinois led the nation's No. 1-ranked team by as many as 32 points before winning 91-73 in 2004.

Illinois' streak of winning 51 consecutive non-conference home games (longest in the country) is on the line tonight as well. Overall, Illinois is 98-4 at the Assembly Hall over the last seven-plus seasons.

Weber is also going for his 200th career coaching victory tonight. His career record is 199-70.

Maryland has been tested by just one "name" team and posted a 62-60 victory over Michigan State.

The Terrapins are led by 6-foot-5 guard D.J. Strawberry, son of former major league pitcher Darryl Strawberry.

"Maryland will give you a lot of different presses," Weber said. "They are very good. When you look at the steals, their opponents actually have more than they do. But it seems like when they get a steal, they get a dead layup.

"And they really block shots. They have 51 in seven games. They are intimidating in there.

"Strawberry has matured into a very good player. He gets about three steals a game and he has worked on his shot quite a bit. He had to play point for them last year, but this year they're letting him roam more where he can use his athleticism."

Weber is hoping senior Rich McBride begins to find his shooting stroke (he's 9-for-30 in three games since returning from a suspension).

Smith, who returned Saturday unexpectedly early from a high ankle sprain, said he was sore and stiff on Sunday but will be ready go to tonight.

"I'm really excited to get out there and battle with my teammates tonight," he said. "When you have a love for the game, you get a will to play when you have certain pains."

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