Assembly Hall will be quite a scene Friday night. Former Illini Deron Williams and his Utah Jazz will take on the Chicago Bulls in the House of ‘Paign in a preseason exhibition.

This brings us to the question: Who are the fans going to root for?

The odds are pretty good that you’ll see a collage of orange and red, maybe with some purple sprinkled in. I plan on seeing an abundance of old Williams jerseys. But I’m not quite sure if they’ll outnumber the 23s in the crowd.

We live in east-central Illinois. I’m a Bulls fan. I’ll go out on a limb and say the majority of students and residents in Champaign-Urbana, when forced to pick a favorite NBA team, choose the Chicago Bulls.

And how could you not have been?

Jordan, Pippen, Kerr, Kukoc, Rodman and Longley. The list goes on. The Bulls gave fans six championships in eight years, including a 72-10 season.

My God.

But the Bulls haven’t done anything exciting lately. They were the sexy pick to win the Eastern Conference last season and, in case you were wondering, the Bulls missed the playoffs last year with a 33-49 record.

Reminiscing about the Michael Jordan years is something nobody can take away from any Bulls fan. But, if you’re connected with the University of Illinois in any way, you might throw your Jordan love affair to the wayside Friday evening. After all, a gold medalist who led the Illini to an NCAA Championship game will be on the opposing team’s sideline.

I’m going to root for the Bulls … except when Deron has the ball.

And just in case you’re thinking about fully converting into a Jazz fanatic – Utah finished 54-28 last year, good enough for first place in the Northwest Division.

I’m urging all fans to pay attention to a few other story lines besides the “oohs” and “ahhs” elicited by Deron, though.

Roger Powell is on the Bulls’ roster. Make sure to give “The Rev” the same love and appreciation Deron receives. Without Powell, the Illini wouldn’t have had the same magical run in 2005.

The No. 1 draft pick this year will also be in the house. Derrick Rose will probably try to steal some of the show. Rose, despite being born in Chicago and playing high school ball for Simeon Career Academy, chose the Memphis Tigers. I guess all is forgiven now that he’s a Bull. He’ll be sure to reel off a couple of highlights.

Jerry Sloan is still the head coach of the Utah Jazz. Good for him. He’s been at the helm since 1988. According to his NBA.com bio, “(Sloan) has the longest active tenure with one team in the NBA and is the longest tenured coach with the same franchise in all of major professional sports. Since his hiring, there have been 196 other NBA head coaching changes (entering 2007-08).”

You can add Bulls’ head coach Vinny Del Negro to the list. This season marks his first head coaching experience.

Whether you find yourself saying “Go Bulls!” “Go Jazz!” or “Go Illini!” Friday night at Assembly Hall should be fun.

Ryan Dixon is a senior in Media. He can be reached at sports @dailyillini.com.