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Illinois Basketball: Top 5 Illini players to ever wear the No. 3

By Rees Woodcock

Feb 22, 2009; Columbus, OH, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Chester Frazier (3) signals for a 1 and 1 foul against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Value City Arena. The Illini beat the Buckeyes 70-68. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 22, 2009; Columbus, OH, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Chester Frazier (3) signals for a 1 and 1 foul against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Value City Arena. The Illini beat the Buckeyes 70-68. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jan 17, 2006; Bloomington, IN, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini coach Bruce Weber talks with guard (3) Chester Frazier during a break against the Indiana Hoosiers at Assembly Hall in Bloomington. The Hoosiers defeated the Illini 62-60. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Joe Robbins-USA TODAY Sports (c) 2005 by Joe Robbins
Jan 17, 2006; Bloomington, IN, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini coach Bruce Weber talks with guard (3) Chester Frazier during a break against the Indiana Hoosiers at Assembly Hall in Bloomington. The Hoosiers defeated the Illini 62-60. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Joe Robbins-USA TODAY Sports (c) 2005 by Joe Robbins /

3. Chester Frazier

  • Best: 7.2 pts, 4.5 rebs, 4.5 asts, 1.5 stls
  • Career: 4.9 pts, 4.1 rebs, 3.9 asts, 1.0 stls
  • 3 NCAAs (2 1st round, 1 2nd round)

We finally get to the meat of the list. Checking in at No. 3 on the top five list of the best Illini players to ever wear the No. 3 in program history is Chester Frazier.

That is right youngsters, our assistant coach was one of the best Illinois basketball players to ever don the No. 3. Offensively, Frazier wasn’t a bucket getter by any means, but he was great at distributing the ball and his defense was deadly.

Frazier’s best season with the Illini consisted of him averaging 7.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.5 steals per game. He would ultimately end his Illinois career averaging 4.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.0 steals per contest.

Illinois was pretty successful during the time Frazier was distributing the rock. We had three NCAA tournament appearances in the four seasons he was in Champaign. Illinois would make it to the second round in one of those runs.

Honestly, Frazier had a tough job coming to Illinois. The program was coming off the most successful run in history, and we had just gone to the national title. He had to follow in the footsteps of Dee Brown and Deron Williams. At the end of the day, I was impressed with Frazier. He did a great job for this program, and now he continues to help us win games as a coach.

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