The basketball season officially starts tonight as the Illini take on Illinois Wesleyan. While the prospect of a Division-III opponent may seem like a blowout to fans, head coach Bruce Weber said he and his team are excited to face a real opponent.

“We’ve got so many new guys. They need experience, game conditioning, and productivity,” Weber said. “We need to see who wants to play, earn minutes and give coaches confidence. It’s a big game for our kids; they should be excited. Even Dee (Brown), he needs to get out there and play a little bit in live competition.”

Illinois Wesleyan is the top-ranked D-III team, and should give Illinois more of a run than past exhibition opponents. Illinois Wesleyan has a strong senior core, and while they’re smaller than Illinois, Weber expects to use that to his advantage as he plays with a potential three-guard lineup.

Expected starters include Brown, Augustine, Brian Randle and Rich McBride. The fifth spot is still up in the air, but Weber said he’s not worrying about solidifying a permanent lineup this early in the season.

“They’ll rotate in and out and we’ll probably script minutes,” Weber said.

One hurdle for Illinois may be that the team continues to fight injuries. James Augustine is struggling with periodic ankle pain, but refuses to sit out a practice. Rich McBride has a blister on a callous on his foot. Calvin Block bruised his sternum during practice Tuesday and missed Wednesday’s practice with chest pain.

“He ran into a wall – C.J. (Jackson),” Weber said. “Calvin ran into C.J.”

Weber said he hopes to see more energy through the preseason than he did with last year’s squad.

“Last year they were alright in the first exhibition game, then they kind of went through the motions in the second,” Weber said.