The winners of that honor:

• Peoria Central's Marcellus Sommerville - Currently a senior at Bradley after transferring from Iowa and Southwestern Illinois college. Recently named to the Missouri Valley's all-conference second team, the only Bradley player making the list. Leads the team in scoring with 15.8 points per game, 4th in the Missouri Valley Conference.
• Chicago Crane's Will Bynum - Played at Arizona for a year and a half before transferring to Georgia Tech. Led the Yellow Jackets off the bench in their run to the finals in 2003-4, scoring the winning basket in the National semi-final game. He was signed by the Celtics after being undrafted. He was then waived after four exhibition games.
• Joliet's Roger Powell - The Reverend played for Illinois, averaging 12 points a game in his senior season to help lead the Illini to the National Championship game against North Carolina. Undrafted, Powell tried out with the Seattle Supersonics but was waived in October. Powell is currently playing for the Rockford Lightning of the Continental Basketball Association. He is 5th in the league in scoring.
• Chicago Manley's Luther Head - Also a member of the Illinois's near championship run, Head averaged almost 16 points per game and finished his Illinois career with 1295 points. Named to the all-Final Four team and recipient of numerous other honors for his senior season, Head was drafted #24 in the first round by the Houston Rockets. He is currently averaging 8 points and 2.5 assists in 26.7 minutes per game for Houston.
• South Holland Thornwood's Eddy Curry - Drafted #4 in the first round by the Chicago Bulls straight out of high school. Despite high expectations, his first two years with the Bulls were full of frustration on a team that was consistently at the bottom of the standings. During 2002-3 led the NBA in field goal percentage. Finally maturing over the past two seasons, Curry was a major part of the Bulls run to the playoffs in 2005 before being sidelined with a heart ailment. After refusing to take a DNA test to see if the ailment was genetic, Curry was traded to the New York Knicks. He is currently averaging 13.7 points and 6.4 rebounds a game for the last place New York Knicks. His 53% shooting percentage is currently 4th in the NBA.

An interesting group of 5. Outside of Sommerville, the four players selected with him have received a great deal of press over the last year. Bynum for his tournament run two years ago and Georgia Tech's attempt last season. The two Illini players were on the tips of everyone's tongues and it is good to see both Powell and Head playing somewhere. Curry, until his injury, was finally receiving some love from the Chicago fans, which he quickly lost after refusing the DNA test.

Sommerville's story may yet be written. Bradley is making a hard run at the NCAA tournament and with the way the Missouri Valley conference is playing this season, anything can happen.

So here is a salute to the tops of the Illinois Senior Class of 2001. You have certainly given us much to talk about.