When more than 20,000 Illinois fans filled Memorial Stadium to welcome home the men’s basketball team, one message rang clear: The Illini Nation wants its juniors back.

From the moment junior guards Dee Brown and Deron Williams were introduced Tuesday afternoon, chants of “One more year!” echoed throughout the stadium.

The pleas didn’t die down as the celebration got underway. When Brown spoke, the crowd started the chant up again. As Williams approached the podium, fans shouted “please don’t go.”

But even head coach Bruce Weber implied that he doesn’t expect Williams to be back for a senior season.

When Weber introduced Brown, he said, “Just in case this junior doesn’t come back, we better bring him up here.”

While neither Brown nor Williams will make any strong statements about the chances they will be back, it was clear which way each was leaning.

Brown, who will finish his undergraduate class work this semester, is looking into graduate school.

“I love college, I love school, so I feel that if there’s an opportunity that comes my way you can’t turn that down. But I don’t think the opportunity will come my way; I think I’m going to be here one more year,” Brown said.

Although Brown was quick to add he would be happy to remain an Illini, there is no guarantee he’ll be back.

“The people chanting ‘one more year’ are not the ones that draft you,” Brown said. “You know all those NBA guys – (if) they don’t think about me, I’d be happy to come back one more year.”

Williams is a different story, as he all but said goodbye to the Illini fans. But to reporters, Williams would not say anything about his future in the sport.

“I haven’t really discussed it yet,” Williams said. “I’m worrying about that in the near future.”

Weber indicated there will be little chance to see the point guard leading Illinois’ backcourt again next season.

“There’s no doubt Deron helped himself quite a bit,” Weber said. “The last four weeks, the Big Ten tournament on, if there were any doubts he kind of said, ‘Hey, I’m a player,’ and he played like it, took control. He’s a point guard and they love it; they love his body, they love his savvy.”

Fans hail almighty coach

One of the biggest cheers from Tuesday’s crowd was for coach Bruce Weber. Weber earned seven Coach of the Year awards in only his second season at Illinois and his eighth as a head coach.

“Two years ago when I hired Bruce, I knew he was good,” said Athletic Director Ron Guenther. “What I didn’t know was how damned good he is.”

Gov. Rod Blagojevich had words of praise for the way Weber has earned the love of the Illini Nation.

“I hope, Coach Weber, that you don’t decide to run for governor,” Blagojevich said. “because if you do, I might vote for you too.”