Illinois head coach Bill Self has done his best to avoid thinking about the last time his team faced Arizona. But with their game coming up tonight, he couldn't avoid it any longer.

The university-wide hiring freeze will not be lifted, but filing for an exception under the freeze will be easier than before, UA President Peter Likins announced yesterday afternoon.

Under the modified freeze, Likins' signature is no longer required to hire new faculty or staff. Now, only a vice president's signature must be obtained to approve an exception.

Loaded with new talent, the future of the Pacific 10 Conference appears to be bright. After all, most of the top players in the conference are young, talented and ready to make an impact. No schools will benefit more from the youth movement than the Pac-10's elite teams. With the departure of underclassmen to the NBA Draft - a trend that left the UA men's basketball team without three anticipated starters - freshmen are being forced into playing leadership roles.

The article on the front page of the Monday Wildcat should have been changed from "International student killed on bicycle" to "International student murdered by careless motorist." The killing of my friend Mathias Moher illustrates the dire situation cyclists face each day.

Why read magazines when they tend to only regurgitate the same information over and over again? This is a question looking to be remedied by a new UA student-run concept magazine, Oil.