Bruce Weber can coach. That's not up for debate.

However, the Illinois head man may not have enough horses to compete with the big boys in the Big Ten this year. Especially now that Jamar Smith is out of the equation for this season and one of team's best freshmen may not qualify academically.

Smith, who pleaded guilty to aggravated driving under the influence and missed the second half of last season, will sit out this season and work to fulfill his legal obligations before trying to re-join the Illini.

Freshman Quinton Watkins, a talented guard out of Compton, Calif., who was expected to vie for a starting spot, remains on the west coast trying to get through the NCAA clearinghouse.

There's no Dee Brown, Deron Williams or Luther Head on the Illini roster. It's no secret that Weber and his staff have had difficulty keeping the top in-state talent in Champaign.

It started with Jon Scheyer (Duke) and Sherron Collins (Kansas) and has continued with the likes of Derrick Rose (Memphis), Michael Dunigan (Oregon) and now Iman Shumpert.

It's not as if the cupboard is bare. There's still talent in the program and if there's anyone that can develop guys and get the most out of his players, it's Weber - who is one of the best X's and O's guys in the entire country.

He's got a team this season that will be built around talented big man Shaun Pruitt (11.4 ppg, 7.4 rpg), fellow senior Brian Randle (9.6 ppg) and junior guard Chester Frazier. The key will be whether he can get quality play from sophomore big man Brian Carlwell and also whether freshman Demetri McCamey can come right in and make an immediate impact.

No one expected the Illini to go 23-12 a year ago, so it's hard to count Weber out - no matter what hand he's dealt.

Weber will get his first look at his new guys - who also include in-state forwards Bill Cole and Mike Tisdale and junior college forward Rodney Alexander - when the team departs for Canada over Labor Day.

TIDE ROLLS

There was no shortage of news coming out of Tuscaloosa this week.

Ron Steele's younger brother, Andrew, committed to the Crimson Tide. Then Ron scheduled yet another surgery - he is having his left knee scoped today to remove a piece of loose cartilage and will be out yet another month or so.

Mark Gottfried and his staff landed elite in-state big man prospect JaMychal Green late Wednesday night. The 6-foot-8 St. Jude standout also considered Ole Miss and Georgia Tech, but he and the younger Steele made it clear they wanted to play together at the next level.

Green is ranked 17th in the country by Scout.com, but when you factor in all the intangibles, he's probably a legitimate Top 10 player in the class - and a sure-fire McDonald's All-American.

Green will be the ideal replacement for Richard Hendrix in Tuscaloosa.

MCCONATHY NETS KEY LATE ADDITION

Northwestern State coach Mike McConathy was the beneficiary of the recent mess at Ball State when he got a commitment from C.J. Clark, a 6-foot-7 forward out of Houston who got his release from Ball State after Ronny Thompson was fired.

Clark played a dozen games his freshman season at Colorado State before spending last year at Panola Junior College. Hawaii and Wisconsin-Milwaukee both showed interest after Clark and Ball State recently parted ways, but McConathy believes that a big key was that Clark was able to watch his team practice this past weekend prior to Friday's trip to the Bahamas - the program's first-ever preseason trip.

``C.J. coming is better than we could have ever dreamed of," McConathy said. "He fits in perfectly. He's got 15 to 17-foot range, is an aggressive defender and runs the floor like a deer."

McConathy said that redshirt freshman Devin White has been the team's biggest surprise through the first three practices.