CHAMPAIGN - Brian Cook must qualify as a celebrity in order for People magazine to cover his recent wedding on their Web site.

Cook, the 28-year-old former Illini basketball star and Lincoln native, married Victoria Velasquez on Saturday at the Trump National Golf Club in Palos Verdes, Calif. About 150 attended the ceremony, including some of Cook's friends from the NBA.

Cook, who currently is a forward with the Houston Rockets, played four seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers. One of his two best men at the wedding was former Lakers' teammate Luke Walton.

Also in the wedding party was former Illini teammate and current assistant basketball coach Jerrance Howard, who has remained tight with his longtime friend.

"We had a blast," Howard reported via text message Tuesday. He and the rest of the Illini coaching staff are on the road recruiting during this busy month when high school prospects are playing on AAU and summer league teams around the country.

"I wasn't nervous at all until right before the ceremony," Cook told People. "And then I saw her and just knew that it was all good."

A five-tiered wedding cake was made of red velvet and vanilla cake with butter cream frosting. But it was the groom's cake - in the shape of a basketball - that caused a commotion, People reported on its Web site. "As soon as they cut the cake, several of the players started throwing cake on Brian."

Cook is fourth in career scoring and sixth in career rebounding at Illinois and was the Big Ten Conference Player of the Year in 2003.

Summer school: Some former Illini basketball players have turned up on NBA Summer League rosters.

The list includes James Augustine, who started for the Utah Jazz summer league team in a recent game against the Boston Celtics. Augustine played 17 minutes, led the team with seven rebounds and scored four points.

Also on the Jazz roster is Kevin Kruger, son of former Illini head coach Lon Kruger.

Another former Illini, Warren Carter, is on the New York Knicks' summer league roster. And Quinton Watkins, the one-time Illini recruit who was denied admission for academic reasons, is on the New Orleans Hornets' summer league roster.

Miller time: When Decatur's Brit Miller heads to training camp with the San Francisco 49ers on July 28 in Santa Clara, Calif., he'll arrive as a linebacker who's going to get a look at fullback.

Miller, an undrafted free agent who starred at Illinois, was released by the Carolina Panthers last week but was quickly claimed on waivers by the 49ers.

Two factors could work in Miller's favor.

One, the 49ers' head coach, Mike Singletary, won't have a prejudice against linebackers who are considered shorter than what some coaches would like. Miller is listed at 6 feet, about three inches shorter than ideal. Singletary, a Hall of Fame linebacker with the Chicago Bears, was barely that tall.

Also, the 49ers' new running backs coach is Tom Rathman, who himself was a great fullback during his playing days with San Francisco. Maybe he will see something Miller can bring to the position.