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Williams proves he's the man at Illinois

Shame on us for focusing on the style and not the substance, the body and not the heart, the perception and not the truth. We've been so busy trying to understand a new school of basketball that we've overlooked how Deron Williams is everything we miss from the old school. So he doesn't have the ripped look, the killer jumpshot or the charisma that puts a braided, headband-happy teammate on magazine covers.

He is the rock of the family, the one who sacrifices his ego so Dee Brown can be Dee Brown and Luther Head can be Luther Head. He is the one who wants collective contentment and lifelong friendships more than he wants the shot. He's the biggest reason Illinois is in the Final Four, two victories from its first national title. And if you don't believe this after waking up Sunday morning and realizing Saturday night really did happen, ask his coach.

The other day, Bruce Weber was accepting congratulations from his players for another national Coach of the Year award. Williams shook his hand, prompting Weber to pause. "Deron," he said, "I win because of you."

That's what the Illini camp has been saying all season, that anyone who views Williams as merely another good collegiate point guard doesn't grasp the importance of selfless leadership on a team that has lost once in four months. Yet the complete impact of his presence didn't hit home until the final minutes of the Chicago Regional final -- now known as Deron's Dare -- when he refused to panic and became the driving force in one of college basketball's greatest comebacks. Down by 15 points to Arizona with four minutes left, the only deep hole Illinois has faced all season, a team with a weaker leader would have buckled. But Weber summoned his players and told them, "Look into my eyes. We're not ready to lose." And then it was Williams who gathered his teammates on the court and delivered what sounds, in retrospect, like a title for a coffee- table book about a championship team.

"I said, We're not going to lose this game,' " Williams recalled, blurred as the fond memories were. "I said, We've got to keep going, keep playing. Don't give up.' I'm telling my teammates, This game's not over. We still have time. We can still get it down and chip away. Let's get the crowd into it.' "

He immediately set an example by hitting a three-pointer. On the next possession, he found Head, who made a trey. His slashing layup made it a six-point game. Running, dishing, controlling the game now, he located Head for another trey. Then came the defining moment, when Williams buried a three to force an 80-80 tie and send Illini Nation into a screaming, hopping, disbelieving frenzy. In overtime, he made two more three-pointers and assisted on three other baskets. All the while, he was putting his big body on Salim Stoudamire, who had made a silly 51 percent of his threes entering the game but scored only nine points in a sluggish performance. Why did Arizona settle for an awkward, ill-advised jumper at the end of overtime? Because Stoudamire couldn't break free.

Some kind of statement game

At last, Williams had made his grand statement to a sporting nation, playing 44 of the 45 minutes and not once looking fatigued. He had 22 points and 10 assists, but more impressively, didn't commit a turnover in the final 24 minutes. He is so poised, you wonder if his birth certificate is a fake. No way he was born in 1984. He had to have grown up in the '60s or '70s, when players actually strived to be pure, unselfish point guards.

"Deron Williams, the best guard in America, came through and made the great plays," said Brown, the Sports Illustrated cover boy.

"Those shots down the stretch, we could have panicked," Weber said. "That's where Deron comes in. He's got a great feel for the game and he doesn't panic."

Not that Williams will take an I-told-you-so chip into the Final Four, where the Illini should be favored to win it all by grace of destiny alone. He'll just shrug and remind you he's the point guard on a 36-1 team, that's all. "People tend to judge you on scoring, and my scoring has been a bit down this season. But the team is winning and that's all I care about," he said. "I may not be the guy making all the shots or getting all the assists. But I make my fair share of important baskets, and I'm usually the guy making the pass that leads to the assist. Point guards get judged by winning, and I think I have a pretty good record there."

The rally changes all that. Not only does Williams win, he willed Illinois to win when most any other college hoops team in history would have lost. I haven't been alone in hesitating to celebrate him as a great player. He was left off every All-America team, causing Weber to sympathize with him when Brown and Head were honored on the second and third teams. "That's all right, coach," Williams said. "I don't have good enough numbers. We're winning. That's what counts."

Mother knows best

Why does he value the concept when other kids don't? Seems his mother, Denise Smith, taught him the art after her career as a small- college player at West Liberty State. Even in his earliest games as a kid, when he was the best player on the court, she encouraged him to pass. He carried that mentality into his prep career in Texas, where he set up shooting guard Bracey Wright for points and stardom. Wright was the national hotshot who signed with Indiana. Williams was rejected by North Carolina, which prioritized Raymond Felton; Kansas, which preferred Aaron Miles; and Georgia Tech, which opted for Jarrett Jack.

Well, guess who could have the last laugh in St. Louis? Wright has been something of a washout at Indiana. Kansas bombed out in the first round of the NCAA tournament, Georgia Tech in the second round. North Carolina is still alive, but ask hoops people who they'd prefer at the point: the skittish Felton or the defense, vision, strength and explosiveness of Williams? And that includes NBA scouts who might not be totally ready to agree with Wisconsin- Milwaukee coach Bruce Pearl -- "He reminds me of Jason Kidd," he said -- but are ready to make him a lottery pick. "That's who I pattern my game after, Jason Kidd," Williams said.

He already has said he'll leave Champaign if picked in the top 15 this June, meaning he's making his final stand this weekend. "We've definitely had a lot of pressure on us. But we put that pressure on ourselves because we set a big goal," Williams said. "Now we have a bigger goal."

Anyone who doubts he'll reach it hasn't been paying attention.

Jay Mariotti is a regular on "Around the Horn" at 4 p.m. on ESPN. Send e-mail to inbox@suntimes.com with name, hometown and phone (letters run Sunday).