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CHICAGO -- There are many things the public doesnt know about Frank Williams, the most private point man this side of a shadow government.
For instance, his nickname is Frank Nitti, because hes as deadly as the white-suited assassin of the same name in The Untouchables. The junior also has an incurable sweet tooth and wakes up teammates in the middle of the night in search of a sugar fix. And youd never guess that he and roommate Jerrance Howard keep their four-bedroom apartment back in Champaign neat enough for Martha Stewart to visit, that he could earn a degree in practical joking, that hes the only man on earth who can do an impersonation of both Illini coach Bill Self and Bernie Mac.But in public, Williams is the place where emotions go to die. When he scored 20 second-half points to lead the Illini to a Sweet 16 matchup against Kansas, Williams acted as if it were the preseason Orange-and-White game. No smiles. No backslaps. Same thing when he scored 25 in a first-round blowout of San Diego State. Williams gets more excited when Howard hooks him up with strawberry Starbursts.
This is what happens when you begin the season as a consensus All-America and your team is picked No. 2 -- and you fall short of both predictions. Or when Billy Packer says you play like a dog and columnists rip you for admitting you dont play hard every moment of every game. But even as Illinois moves closer to resembling the team everyone envisioned at seasons start, Williams doesnt gloat. Whether theyre praising him or criticizing him, Frank is Frank, says Howard. It would have been easy for him to fold and break, but he uses it as motivation.
Instead of listening to outsiders, Williams listens mostly to his own instincts -- and sometimes to his teammates and coaches. He says Self jumped him during halftime of their second-round game against Creighton. He had zero points and two missed three-pointers; Illinois led by just five. I talked to Frank the way I think he probably wants to be coached, says Self, who admits hes harder on Williams than any other player.
Compared to earlier in the season, when the Illini were 4-5 in the Big Ten and flirting with the NCAA bubble, Williams has started to chat it up. During our slump he started being more vocal, says forward Brian Cook, who rooms with Williams on the road. That was something he felt he had to do. Hes our floor leader. Hes the man with the rock.
But good luck trying to get Williams to serve up just one I-told-you-so, even as he stands poised at the edge of his dream of leading the Illini to the Final Four. Instead, Frank Nitti allows only this: I try to turn it up another notch every time a different Tourney comes around.
Spoken like a true assassin.
Gene Wojciechowski is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at gene.wojciechowski@espnmag.com.
