Illinois State Team Report (Yahoo! Sports)

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:31:23 PDT

Coach Tim Jankovich juiced up the Missouri Valley Conference's biggest underachiever in recent seasons. Illinois State has the facilities, tradition, location and support to be one of MVC's better programs.

Jankovich took inherited talent and gave it direction and purpose. The Redbirds finished second in the MVC and won a game in the NIT. It was the program's first postseason appearance since 2001. The Redbirds were a good NCAA at-large candidate before upsets squeezed them out.

Jankovich turned the Redbirds from an athletic and inconsistent team into a defensive force. They held opponents to fewer than 60 points in their final eight victories. Four of those opponents didn't reach 50.