The NIU basketball team must have felt like it traveled through a time warp on its way to Aurora Monday night, as five former Huskies were on hand to face them.

Rodney Davis, a surprise addition to the Aurora Challenge team which lost 100-93 to NIU Monday at West Aurora High School, was one of the ex-Huskies.

Unfortunately for Davis, he's also an ex-Thunder. Last month Davis thought he had secured a starting job with the Quad City Thunder of the Continental Basketball Association, but a week ago Davis got bumped from the Quad City roster when the team signed two former NBA players.

Thunder management told Davis they will try to make a trade in order for the 6-foot-2 guard to stay in the CBA, but Davis isn't sure he wants that.

"If they would work something out with the Rockford Lightning, then maybe (I'd stay in the CBA)," Davis said. "But I'm thinking about going back to school and then maybe trying to play overseas."

Despite the Thunder's shunning, Davis sounded (and played) upbeat as he led all scorers with 24 points. John Culbertson, an NIU teammate of Davis last season, added six points for Challenge, though his first-half dunk registered at least 7.5 on the Richter scale. Culbertson might have been taking out some frustration as he, like Davis, recently felt the ax of the Quad City Thunder.

"I was on the team, but it was politics," Culbertson said of his dismissal from the Thunder.

Culbertson who lives and works in DeKalb said he will either continue playing with Challenge or another amateur team.

Randy Norman, also a former teammate at NIU with Davis last season, poured in 20 points for Challenge, including five 3-pointers in the second half.

Matt Hicks, a star performer for NIU in the ‘70s, scored eight points for Challenge and ex-Huskie Dennis Taylor added nine.

"They wanted very much to do well here," NIU coach Jim Rosborough said of his former players. "They wanted to stick it down our throats."

They also may have wanted to impress Chicago Bulls coach Doug Collins who was on hand for the first half signing autographs with second-year Bulls forward Horace Grant.

Despite threats by two Chicago-area legislators to attempt cutting state funding of NIU if CHANCE counselor Martha Palmer is not rehired, university administrators said they will continue to use "the proper polices and processes" to come to a decision on the personnel issue.

NIU President John LaTourette said Palmer began appealing her case through the normal university appeals process in late September, three months after she was told her contract would not be renewed past the end of the fall semester.

"The peer review group is set to convene soon" to hear the counselor's appeal, and administrators are proceeding with plans to deal with the case in the same manner they would other cases, LaTourette said.

State Rep. William Shaw of the 34th Legislative District and his brother, Chicago 9th Ward Alderman Robert Shaw, spoke out against Palmer's dismissal last Thursday at a student hearing in the Holmes Student Center, saying the move was prompted by institutional racism. The two men outlined measures they plan to take against university officials, including the possibility of refusing state funding to NIU. Rep. Shaw said he is a member of the state appropriations committee, and that he would try to influence fellow committee members.

LaTourette said, "It is inappropriate for legislative people to interfere in the personnel process. ... (The Shaws) are on a bandwagon to get publicity and incite the people they represent."

LaTourette also refuted Rep. Shaw's claim that the president had not replied to a letter written to him by Shaw in September concerning the Palmer issue. "I wrote a letter, dated Sept. 30, to Rep. William Shaw, and Ken Beasley (LaTourette's administrative assistant) has tried to contact both Shaws, with no response," LaTourette said.

Provost Kendall Baker said Friday he does not "feel threatened" by the "unnecessary and inappropriate threats" of the legislators, referring to Rep. Shaw's statement that he will make LaTourette "feel the wrath of the legislature" if the university does not retain Palmer.

Baker said he was disappointed in the Shaws' comments because administrators have "clearly indicated all along that (the Palmer issue) is a personnel matter." He said the university has specific guidelines to follow for such issues, "as does every other public institution" in Illinois.

"Mr. Shaw should not deal with the funding of this institution this way when we have real problems that should be addressed other than this personnel matter," Baker said.

He also said he thought it was unfortunate the Shaws came to the conclusion that NIU has a problem with institutional racism without first discussing the matter with university administration. He said it would be more appropriate for the Shaws to study what the university has done and is doing now to promote racial unity on campus.

Eddie Williams, vice president for finance and planning, was the only NIU administrator to attend Thursday's meeting. However, he said he was not officially representing the NIU administration and declined further comment.