What can we realistically expect from the Illini?

Illinois beat SIU Edwardsville by 27 points on Friday night. Brandon Paul’s 22 points broke Deon Thomas’ freshman debut scoring record. Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale shot 80 percent from the floor. Bill Cole played 20 minutes. Demetri McCamey took five shots.

Don’t get too used to these stats.

Expect the Illini to easily win their next three games — Northern Illinois at home Tuesday, then contests in the Las Vegas Invitational (also at home, for whatever reason) against Presbyterian and Wofford — by scores closely resembling the beatdown of SIUE.

Will the stats of those games foreshadow Illinois’ season? Doubtful.

But there are little elements inside these games that speak very loudly. Here are a few key areas for the Illini this season and what to expect from them as the season goes on.

Defense

Because of the lack of a pure scorer, the Illini put a premium on defense last season.

They led the Big Ten and were No. 3 nationally in scoring defense. Illinois has now finished first in scoring defense in the conference four times in the past five years. Only the GEO defending the doors of the Quad buildings played better defense than the Illini recently.

But what about this season?

“We had (Paul) start on (Mark) Yelovich, and he did a nice job of not letting him get going,” head coach Bruce Weber said. “As we looked going into it, he looks like (SIUE’s) best player and (Paul) did a great job. One thing we have to find is a defensive stopper — (Paul) has length, he has athletic ability, if he can just get some good fundamentals defensively he can be that kind of player along with D.J.”

Even against lesser competition than they’ll see the rest of the season, the Illini have been working hard on defense, which is no surprise considering their coach. There are occasional mental lapses, but the effort is always there, which is the most important element of D anyway. Look for Richardson and Jeff Jordan to be counted on as stoppers as the season kicks in.

Freshmen

Weber has made it clear he doesn’t want to put too much pressure on the freshmen, especially in the scoring realm. But through the first three games (including two exhibitions), the freshmen lead the team in scoring. Should you expect that to continue? Honestly, yes.

“That’s what they bring, you know. They’re scorers,” Mike Davis said. “They’re natural scorers since high school. D.J., Brandon, Tyler (Griffey) even was a scorer. Joe (Bertrand) was a scorer too, these guys can (score). They’re not like Chester, penetrate and dish, these guys get to the basket and score, that’s what they do.”

Richardson and Paul are looking for their shots. They aren’t fazed at all by Assembly Hall, the thousands of spectators, or by the pressure of being a preseason top-25 team. Time will tell if these two will continue to have cojones of steel as the season goes on and the Illini take on better opponents in hostile environments.

From the small sample I’ve seen, I’d bet a good portion of my very sizable Daily Illini paycheck that they will.

As for Bertrand and Griffey, things haven’t quite come along as easily for them. Bertrand hasn’t played in the last two games and sat out more than a week with knee inflammation, while Griffey got the dreaded H1N1 soon after the Quincy exhibition. He missed four full days of practice and was understandably not at optimal strength when he did return.

Bertrand and Griffey need to be healthy for an extended amount of time before they’re judged. By the looks of it, both still need to establish their roles on this team. No worries, there’s still time.

Mike & Mike

It’s unrealistic to expect Davis and fellow big man Mike Tisdale to equal the progress they made last year. Davis came out of almost nowhere to become a primetime player for the Illini, developing a knack for the 15-foot jumper and using his considerable athleticism, 6-foot-9 length and wiry frame to play above the rim. Tisdale showed nice touch and solid post moves, gaining more confidence as the year went on.

And as good as the guards may be, they won’t help on the boards. That job falls squarely on the not-too-broad shoulders of Tisdale and Davis.

Davis identified “rebounding and defense” as the two elements the Illini will be looking to shore up following their first three performances. Allowing three offensive rebounds and two putbacks in the second half against SIUE wasn’t too alarming to me, but Davis pointed them out. He remembered, he was bothered by it. That in itself is a good sign.

Leadership

Frazier, Trent Meacham and Calvin Brock led last season. There was never any question, especially when Frazier was on the floor, who was running the show. There isn’t a clear-cut leader now. Weber has stated that he’d like McCamey to take it but isn’t sure if it’s in his personality.

“We’re not going to have individual leaders like we had with Chester last year. I think it’s going to be more as a team and rely on each other to motivate,” Weber said. “We just have to figure it out.”

On the flip side, McCamey has vowed to try to be more vocal, and I’ve observed that. I’d put my money on McCamey becoming more of a leader as the season progresses, though nobody will fill Frazier’s shoes here.

I’ll allow Weber to wrap this up.

“I know it’s just one game and there’s a lot to go,” Weber said following SIUE. “But it shows you what these guys can do.”

Rich Mayor is a senior in Media. He can be reached at rmayor2@dailyillini.com.