TOURNAMENT NOTEBOOK: MORE ADVANTAGES FOR ILLINOIS.

Even the Final Four practice session in St. Louis felt like a home game for top-ranked Illinois.

The Fighting Illini, who have played close to home throughout the NCAA tournament, were the undisputed attraction Friday. A crowd estimated at 31,500 showed up to watch the teams loosen up and get accustomed to the shooting background at the Edward Jones Dome, and the majority wore bright Illinois orange.

That's nothing new for the school only about a three-hour bus ride north in Champaign, Ill. Illinois played the first round in Indianapolis and the second round in Chicago, and it also plays Missouri every year in St. Louis at the crosstown Savvis Center.

``It means a lot,'' guard Roger Powell Jr. said. ``Every place we've played so far, we had a great showing of Illini fans, a lot of orange. I think that helps a lot, and it's so exciting for the fans for them to be able to come and be close.''

Officials said the fan turnout Friday dwarfed that of other recent Final Four practice days.

Juggling his duties

North Carolina reserve Jesse Holley has split his time over the past couple of weeks, participating in spring practice for football while the Tar Heels made their run to the Final Four.

``It's been tough,'' Holley said. ``A lot of times, I'll drop a pass or something in football practice that I normally wouldn't do, and everybody will say it's because I've spent too much time playing basketball. But it's all good.''

Holley scored 13 points in nine games after joining the team in January, far short of the numbers he put up as a wide receiver in leading North Carolina's football team to its first bowl game in three years. He caught 30 passes for 456 yards and two touchdowns.

Report: Calhoun will be in the Hall

Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun has been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, The Associated Press learned Friday.

Calhoun was told Thursday that he was elected, according to a source. Calhoun was one of 16 finalists for this year's class, which will be formally announced Monday at the Final Four in St. Louis.

Calhoun, 62, just completed his 19th season at UConn, where he has won two national titles (1999, 2004) and built the Huskies into a national power.

The other 15 finalists include Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim.

More honors for Weber, Bogut

Bruce Weber, who led Illinois to its winningest season, was an overwhelming choice as The Associated Press national coach of the year.

Weber received 54 votes from the 72-member national media panel that selects the weekly AP Top 25.

Meanwhile, Utah 7-footer Andrew Bogut was named the AP's player of the year. He led Division I with 26 double-doubles in 35 games this season. He was second in rebounding at 12.2 per game and fourth in field goal percentage at 62 percent. He averaged 20.4 points per game (15th in the nation) and 2.3 assists while playing 35 minutes. He was the leading vote-getter on the AP's All-America first team.

Bogut received 31 votes for player of the year from the 72-member national media panel that selects the AP's weekly Top 25.

Bogut is the first player from Utah to win the award and the first from the West since Arizona's Sean Elliott in 1989.

LMU ready to hire Tention

Barring any unforeseen developments, Rodney Tention, an assistant under Lute Olson at the University Arizona for eight seasons, will be introduced Monday or Tuesday as the new men's basketball coach at Loyola Marymount University, a source familiar with the situation said.

Tention, in St. Louis for the Final Four, is expected to meet with the school's president, Robert Lawton, on campus on Monday or Tuesday before his hiring in announced.

Steve Aggers was fired on March 9 after five seasons as the Lions' coach. Among the other candidates for the job were Gonzaga assistant Bill Grier, Fresno City College coach Vance Wahlberg and former NBA player Jack Haley, a UCLA graduate and currently a commentator for Fox Sports Net.

- Frank Burlison

More coaching decisions

Despite speculation that his status was in doubt after Arizona State failed to reach the NCAA Tournament for the seventh year in a row under his tenure, coach Rob Evans will return for an eighth season with the Sun Devils, university president Michael Crow said. Arizona State started last season 11-1 but finished just 18-14, 7-11 in the Pac-10. The team lost to UNLV in the first round of the NIT. Evans, who came to Arizona State after six seasons at Mississippi, is 108-103 with the Sun Devils. ...

UNC-Greensboro coach Fran McCaffery resigned to become head coach at Siena College. ...

Dave Dickerson, who has spent the last nine seasons on Gary Williams' staff at Maryland, was introduced as the new coach at Tulane.

CAPTION(S):

2 boxes

Box:

(1) Men's schedule

(2) SEEDS IN NCAA TOURNAMENT