of their basketball program. Self's predecessor, Lon Kruger, had recently left the Illinois program to accept a job in the NBA as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks. In 2000–01, his first season at Illinois, Self coached a squad of mostly Kruger recruits to a 27–8 record (13–3 conference record), a share of the Big Ten title, and a final Associated Press ranking of 4th in the nation, resulting in the Fighting Illini earning a number 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Self coached Illinois guards Frank Williams and Cory Bradford, along with guard/forward Sergio McClain, forward Brian Cook, and center Marcus Griffin, to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament. The Illini failed to advance beyond the Elite Eight after falling to eventual tournament finalists number 2 seeded Arizona. The 2000–01 Illini roster included future NBA players Frank Williams, Robert Archibald and Brian Cook. With mostly the same core, Illinois followed up the season with impressive 2001–02 and 2002–03 campaigns, but fell in the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen in 2002 to Kansas, and the second round in 2003 to Notre Dame. Self was responsible for the recruitment of many of the 2005 Fighting Illini team, which won the Big Ten title under Bruce Weber. Weber replaced Self prior to the 2003–04 season and coached 2005 Fighting Illini to an NCAA record-tying 37–2 record before falling to North Carolina in the NCAA championship game. In Self's three seasons in Illinois, he led the Fighting Illini to two Big Ten regular-season championships, a Big Ten tournament title, and three straight NCAA tournament appearances. Kansas 2003–07 Kansas hired Self in 2003. He took over for Roy Williams who left for his former team, North Carolina, after KU lost the 2003 National Championship game to Syracuse. In his first season at Kansas, Self led the Jayhawks to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament, where they fell to Georgia Tech. The following season, the Jayhawks were ranked preseason #1 and started 20–1, but slumped and lost six of their final nine games. Kansas received a #3 seed in the NCAA tournament and lost to #14 seed Bucknell in the first round. The team finished 23–7 and settled for a Big 12 co-championship with Oklahoma. In 2005–06, little was expected of the young Jayhawks, as they were unranked in the preseason polls and picked to finish 6th in the conference. They began the season