PJ Star article on Bill Cole

[Da Coach]

Now there are also reports that Carlwell, who had notified Bruce Weber that he planned to transfer from Illinois after the season, may instead want to return to the Illini next year. Weber seems about ready to give his scholarship away, and apparently doesn't want Carlwell back.--

http://www.sj-r.com/Sports/stories/26376.asp

[tornado]

The guy Illinois is red hot after is Dominique Keller from Port Arthur Lee CC in TX.
Keller is averaging 25 ppg, 9 rpg, and an article a couple days agop in the Pantagraph goes so far as to say Keller is Carlwell's replacement.
"Weber goes to Texas to review Carlwell's possible replacement"

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2008/03/04/usports/doc47ce31362222d639030443.txt

http://illinois.scout.com/2/735174.html

But Keller really isn't a center, and at 6-7, 235lb simply won't be able to defend the Brian Butch and DJ White's of the Big Ten.
He actually sounds more like a Brian Randle-type player (6-8, 225lb).....and maybe even a Rodney Alexander-type player (who is 6-7, 230lb).....so time will tell.

[mportsch]

The only reason they are saying Keller would be "Carlwell's replacement" is because he'd be using the scholarship left behind by Carlwell. Nobody would expect Keller to play center for Illinois next year - that will be Tisdale, Davis, or Semrau. From what I've seen, Keller is more of an athletic PF than anything else - a Roger Powell type, although probably not as good as Powell.
Also, DJ White and Brian Butch won't be around next year. The Big Ten is actually losing most of their true post scorers to graduation.

[mportsch]

Now there are also reports that Carlwell, who had notified Bruce Weber that he planned to transfer from Illinois after the season, may instead want to return to the Illini next year. Weber seems about ready to give his scholarship away, and apparently doesn't want Carlwell back.--

http://www.sj-r.com/Sports/stories/26376.asp

I haven't seen anything where Brian himself said that he wanted to return to Illinois. All I've seen is references to Brian's dad talking to Weber about the possibility of returning, which could very well be part of Brian's dad's attempt to talk his son into reconsidering. Weber has said through all of this that Carlwell didn't want to put in the work to meet Weber's weight goals and eventually decided that he stood a better chance of playing elsewhere.

Weber now has a scholarship to fill for the next two seasons and can't afford to wait for Carlwell to change his mind (if he ever actually does). I wish Brian well in his basketball career and wish it could have worked out better for him at Illinois, but Weber has to move on.

[Beninator]

Dominique Keller commits to the Illini per DailyIllini.com

http://media.www.dailyillini.com/media/storage/paper736/news/2008/03/07/Sports/Recruiting.Juco.Forward.Keller.To.Commit.To.Illinois-3258358.shtml

[tornado]

The hype for Dominique Keller is exceeded only by the hype we heard last year for Rodney Alexander, the Illini's juco junior who ended the disappointing season almost as Mr. Invisible, averaging 4 points, 3 rebs, but shooting only 39% and only 19% from 3 pt.
Down the stretch when given lots of extra playing opportunity over the past five games, he's averaged only 2 ppg.
Another for the shoulda gone mid-major?