The 2000–01 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

in the

2000–01 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2000–01 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 8, 2000, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 2001 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Championship Game on Apri ...

. Led by first year head coach

Bill Self Billy Eugene Self Jr. (born December 27, 1962) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball, Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team. Self has held various coaching roles at the collegiate level an ...

, the Illini played their home games at

Assembly Hall An assembly hall is a hall to hold public meetings or meetings of an organization such as a school, church, or deliberative assembly. An example of the last case is the Assembly Hall (Washington, Mississippi) where the general assembly of the s ...

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Illinois, tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in ...

and were members of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

. They finished the season with a record of 27–8, 13–3 in Big Ten play to win a share of the Big Ten regular season title with

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

. They lost in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament to

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region. They advanced to the Elite Eight before losing to

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

Regular season

In May 2000,

Lon Kruger Lonnie Duane Kruger (born August 19, 1952) is an American former college and professional basketball coach (sport), coach who was most recently the men's basketball head coach of the University of Oklahoma. Kruger played college basketball for K ...

left Illinois to become head coach of the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

’s

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

. Bill Self was named Illinois’ 15th head men’s basketball coach on June 9, 2000. Self came to Illinois from

Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...

where he had led the Golden Hurricane to consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, including a 32–5 record and Tournament run to the Elite Eight in 2000. Self ’s first season at Illinois was memorable. The Illini were ranked in the Top 10 the entire season and tied for the Big Ten Championship with Michigan State. The Illini defeated Purdue in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament but fell to Indiana in the semifinals. The Illini received an at-large as a No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Tournament. Easy wins over Northwestern State and Charlotte led to a trip to the Sweet Sixteen. The Illini defeated

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

in the Sweet Sixteen to advance to the Elite Eight. However, the Illini run ended in the Elite Eight to eventual national runner-up Arizona, the third meeting between the two schools on the season. Sophomore Frank Williams became the first Illini player to earn Big Ten Player of the Year honors since 1967 and was named to several postseason All-America squads. Junior Cory Bradford set an NCAA record by making a three-point field goal in 88 consecutive games.

Roster

Schedule and results

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Player stats

Awards and honors

* Frank Williams ** Big Ten Player of the Year ** Chicago Tribune Silver Basketball award ** Wooden 1st team All-American ** National Association of Basketball Coaches 2nd team All-American ** Associated Press 3rd team All-American **Team Most Valuable Player ** Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005) * Brian Cook ** Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005) * Cory Bradford ** Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American

Rankings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2000-01 Illinois Fighting Illini Men's Basketball Team

Illinois Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the College athletics, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's Varsity team, varsity sports. The university op ...

Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball seasons

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

2000 in sports in Illinois 2001 in sports in Illinois