The Illinois men's wheelchair basketball team take on a National Basketball Association sponsored team — the Milwaukee Bucks — this weekend.

The game marks the beginning of their season, which will hopefully continue until the team achieves their goal of winning the collegiate title, senior guard Grant Mizens said.

In recent years, the Illini have competed in the College Nationals against Whitewater Wisc., and Texas Arlington. These teams are their toughest opponents, and the Illini have finished in the top three each year since 2001. The Illini won their last title in 2001, Mizens said.

To help them attain their goal, the team practices from 6:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. on weekdays. During practice they polish their ball handling skills, work on shooting and do passing drills. Each team member also weight-trains on his own time.

"We are just going to practice hard everyday and improve in practice everyday (to achieve our goal)," senior guard Gavin Cloy said.

The players' caliber of performance will help the team in their pursuit to win the championship.

"(The audience) gets a chance to watch some of the best players in the world," said head coach Michael Frogley

Two of the players have competed on the national team of their home country. Mizens played on the Australian Men's National team and Adam Lancia was on the Canadian Men's National team. These players then competed in the world championships in August held in Japan, where Australia came in fourth, Canada was third, Great Britain placed second and the U.S. won the title.

The team also has members from several states in the US. sophomore Ivory Harris, junior Halgan Khayr and senior Chris Rathje are from Illinois. Sophomore Joshua George is from Virginia, sophomore Paul Ward hails from New Jersey and senior Jeff Townsend is from Utah.

Some of the players got involved in the sport at the collegiate level by hearing about the program at Illinois.

Mizens said he heard of the program in America and talked to Frogley. Illinois' good academic reputation and its status as a Division I Big Ten school influenced him to play for the school. Frogley's reputation as a coach also convinced Mizens to play on the team. He regarded Illinois as the "most appealing program in the country," he said.

"I like the speed and physical nature of the wheelchair basketball team," Mizens said.

People can learn and be active in the sport before they go to college, through junior leagues that conduct championships. The Illinois High School Association is also developing a wheelchair basketball program, Mizens said.

Frogley said that Illinois students can participate on the team if they have "disabilities of the lower extremities of the body that prevent them from playing sports such as basketball or track." Men and women who have had knee operations can also consider joining the team.