The Daily Northwestern

Once upon a time, Bruce Weber could count on his college freshmen to play with intensity and fire the first day they stepped on the court.

But now, the first-year Illinois head coach finds he has to teach his players to stay focused on the court.

“It’s a little bit of the mentality of kids,” Weber said. “It’s the generation, PlayStation — instant gratification. You don’t have the old school toughness.”

Weber blames the increased popularity of AAU basketball for teaching young players it’s okay to lose. In those leagues, high school-age athletes travel around the country, participating in tournaments. And if they lose early in one competition, they know they’ll be able to make up for it the next weekend in a new locale.

That’s not always true in NCAA basketball.

Indiana’s Mike Davis has found more players than ever are questioning their coaches’ style. Back when he played, he and his friends might criticize the coach in the dorm room, but they would never speak to the media about it.

“It’s a tough job now because everyone thinks they can play in the NBA,” Davis said. “And all the parents and friends think their kids should be shooting more — not playing defense harder, not rebounding the basketball or blocking out or diving for loose balls.

SCHEDULE WOES: The Big Ten’s coaches seem to be wishing it was 1991 again. That was the last year that each team in the conference met twice. But when Penn State joined the league a year later, it meant that this wouldn’t be the case anymore.

Making things worse, the conference schedule was reduced to 16 games in 1997-98, meaning that even more teams play each other only once a year.

But most coaches seem to agree that all teams should play each other twice during league play. Purdue coach Gene Keady wants the conference to schedule more games — even if it means fewer non-conference matchups. But Keady, the longest tenured coach in the Big Ten, isn’t sure anything will change.

“The only thing the Big Ten office would say is, ‘What about television?'” he said. “But what about our student athletes? I’d love it.”

The Fighting Illini’s Weber doesn’t mind playing some teams just once. Last year, when he coached Southern Illinois, his squad played every Missouri Valley Conference opponent twice, but that was mostly out of necessity. Since teams in the league couldn’t schedule top non-conference opponents, they played each other, Weber said.

Now, coaching at a higher level, Weber has no trouble finding non-conference opponents. And he said his team will be well-served with its early-season schedule.

Still, Weber understands the intrigue of a well-rounded Big Ten season.

“I think it would make the (regular season) conference championship mean more if you played everyone twice,” he said.

Milestone Win: With a win tonight against Wisconsin, Keady would earn his 500th coaching victory at Purdue.

The 67-year-old Keady has complied a 499-258 record in 24 years with the Boilermakers. Keady would become the second Big Ten coach to reach the mark at one school. Except for two years spent leading Western Kentucky, Keady has spent his entire head coaching career in West Lafayette, Ind.

“He’s old, he’s really old,” Michigan State’s Izzo said. “I’m one practice away from 500.”