Q: What’s your favorite thing about Champaign-Urbana?

A: (long silence) My favorite thing about Champaign? It’s nice in the summertime.

Q: Why did you pick your jersey number (45)?

A: No real reason. I couldn’t pick No. 34 cause (Brian) Cook was still here. I don’t even remember why; they just asked for a number and I just picked it.

Q: If you were in charge of Illinois basketball facilities, what would you change?

A: Someone needs to work on the temperature of the gym because in the summertime it’s 100 degrees inside and in the wintertime it’s like 35 degrees inside. And it’s only our gym; the girls’ gym is fine.

Q: If you could trade bodies with a teammate, who would it be?

A: Luther because he never, ever, ever gets tired. Ever.

Q: If you had one super power, what would it be?

A: It would be cool to fly, but I guess that’s kind of a little kid thing. That would be fun though.

Q: What is your favorite movie?

A: When I was a little kid it was Ghostbusters. But now I like Braveheart a lot – those long kind of epic movies.

Q: What’s your favorite part about Coach Weber?

A: He doesn’t lose it a whole lot. Coach Self used to yell a lot. Coach Self was a big yeller. Coach Weber is much more calm, which is kind of nice. It’s nice to have a coach that doesn’t yell and scream at you quite as much.

Q: If you didn’t play basketball, what would you be doing?

A: I don’t know. I would have probably stuck with baseball. I was good at baseball when I was little. I was pitcher because I was really, really big. I was like a 6-foot-5 12-year-old. I was huge.

Q: What teammate do you think would be best at another Illinois sport?

A: We have a bunch of guys that could play football. James would be probably real good at football. Fred would be great at football. A lot of those guys could definitely play football.

Q: If you were playing Who Wants to be a Millionaire, which teammate would you trust as your lifeline?

A: It depends. On the smart-people questions, Jack’s probably good at that stuff. I would probably get through most of the easy stuff. Jack, he’s an engineer so he’s good with that stuff.

Q: What mascot would you pick to represent Illinois?

A: I would keep it the same. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

Q: What’s the deal with your nickname, “The Chainsaw?”

A: Yea, I was waiting for that question. I don’t know if Archibald came up with it or if some of the old football players came up with it somehow. And Coach Judson kind of approved it because for some reason they all decided I needed a nickname, so they were trying stuff out and that one stuck for whatever reason. I never really got it.

Q: What’s something that if you could, you would bring to Illinois from Florida?

A: The climate. I don’t know how you people live here. I can’t go outside and have it be 22 degrees. If I were home it would be 75 and sunny. Hurricanes don’t ever really hit us. Hurricanes are much better to live through than blizzards, believe me.

Q: What’s it like to be the tallest player in school history?

A: I could care less. I would probably rather be 6-foot-6, I don’t really like the whole sticking out like a sore thumb thing. I really don’t care at all. I would like them to list me at 6-foot-11.