Students have sported shirts reading “I Came for Head” for years. There is a certain play on words that’s priceless, but now the statement is losing its charisma because it’s truthful. Senior guard Luther Head is leading the Illini in scoring and is doing it in his own quiet way.

“He has been so important,” Head Varsity Coach Bruce Weber said. “We say he is the X-factor. He is the guy nobody talks about. He continues to play great basketball like seniors should.”

After being asked when Luther will start to get his recognition as a leader of the Illini, Weber replies that it will probably never happen, even after being named this week’s Big Ten player of the week.

“Dee has too much energy and Deron is too good,” Weber said. “I think it will go on all year. (Head) is kind of a quiet kid, a low-key kid. He would rather have everyone talk about Dee and take Dee’s pictures, while he could just float around and play great basketball.”

Before scoring a season-high 26 points at Northwestern, Head was averaging 15.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. He has been playing so well this season that he has cracked into NBA draft projections, uncharted water before this season.

For some it would be tough being a third wheel to “media dream” Dee Brown and Preseason Big Ten Player of the Year Deron Williams, but Head has thrived in the role and understands how he found himself there. After fighting his way onto the court last year after legal trouble and proving to his coach that he is a good person, Head appreciates playing in general.

“Before this year there wasn’t anything to talk about me,” Head said. “I wasn’t doing as well as those guys so I didn’t think I deserved more print than they did. Because they were earning it and I wasn’t. I am just playing my role and doing what I can do and just keep playing.”

Weber over Wildcat hype

Following a 70-60 loss to Northwestern last year on Jan. 14, the Illini nation started feeling uneasy about Ron Guenther’s decision to bring in Bruce Weber and his motion offense from Southern Illinois. The team was 1-2 in the Big Ten and patience was fleeting. An exact year from then, things have changed.

Weber will joke about it now, asking if his squad loses a game, will an orange-clad mob be calling for his head again. It’s easier to joke now that his Illini are off to the best start in school history, 18-0. He is guiding his No. 1 ranked Illini through the schedule with unparalleled ease.

After passing the Evanston test with flying colors, reflection is needed on the past year and how the coach who filled chat rooms and daily columns with fear has catapulted his team farther than any fan’s dreams. Weber believes that one difference is his team’s dispensed youth and willingness to play team ball.

“(It was a) very similar game to last year’s at halftime,” Weber said. “They (Northwestern) come out and made some threes to start the second half. But the big difference this year is we are a year older and I think we know what it is to win on the road.”

This year Weber can rely on contributing seniors and can direct his stellar juniors with complete confidence. Over the past year Illinois fans have watched their team appear inept early last season, then enjoyed the process that has brought them to this point. The coaching staff has molded them into a very unique bunch. Not only have they been dubbed the most unselfish team in the nation, but they have also brought a toughness to defense that was missing last year.

“Northwestern came out with a lot of energy,” Weber said. “But than again we came out with a different energy. I think getting wins here will be a key to winning the Big Ten race so right now we are one-up on people.”

Watching the exact fluidity that the Illini run their offense through has made a difference. But a trust in the head coach and the same “different energy” that Weber highlights has changed Illinois basketball and allows Weber to crack jokes about his own firing.