2000–01 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

2000–01 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Big Ten Regular Season Champions
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament, Elite Eight
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	#6
AP	#4
2000–01 record	27–8 (13–3 Big Ten)
Head coach	Bill Self
Assistant coach	Rob Judson
Assistant coach	Norm Roberts
Assistant coach	Billy Gillispie
MVP	Frank Williams
Captain	Sergio McClain Marcus Griffin
Home arena	Assembly Hall

	Conf				Overall
2000–01 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
#4 Illinois	13	–	3	.813	27	–	8	.771
#3 Michigan State	13	–	3	.813	28	–	5	.848
#20 Indiana	10	–	6	.625	21	–	13	.618
#25 Wisconsin	9	–	7	.563	18	–	11	.621
#24 Iowa †	7	–	9	.438	23	–	12	.657
Penn State	7	–	9	.438	21	–	12	.636
Purdue	6	–	10	.375	17	–	15	.531
Minnesota	5	–	11	.313	18	–	14	.563
Michigan	4	–	12	.250	10	–	18	.357
Northwestern	3	–	13	.188	11	–	19	.367
Ohio State*	0	–	0	–	0	–	0	–

† 2001 Big Ten Tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll *Ohio State: 30 reg. season games; 1 NCAA Tourn. game vacated due to sanctions against the program Disputed record: Ohio State-(20-11)(11-5)

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

Regular season

In May 2000, Lon Kruger left Illinois to become head coach of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks. Bill Self was named Illinois’ 15th head men’s basketball coach on June 9, 2000. Self came to Illinois from Tulsa where he had led the Golden Hurricane to consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, including a 32-5 record and tournament run to the regional finals in 2000. The 2000-01 season, Self ’s first 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 before earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Illini run ended in the regional final 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.

Team

No.	Player	Hometown	High School	Class	Position
00	Brett Melton	Mahomet, Illinois	Mahomet-Seymour High School	Fr.	Guard
5	Nate Mast	Champaign, Illinois	Champaign Central High School	Sr.	Guard
12	Joe Cross	Carbondale, Illinois	Carbondale High School	Sr.	Guard
13	Cory Bradford	Memphis, Tennessee	Raleigh Egypt High School	Jr.	Guard
21	Robert Archibald	Ballwin, Missouri	Lafayette High School	Jr.	Forward/Center
22	Lucas Johnson	Des Plaines, Illinois	Maine West High School	Jr.	Forward
24	Sean Harrington	Bartlett, Illinois	Elgin High School	Fr.	Guard
25	Jerrance Howard	Peoria, Illinois	Peoria High School	Fr.	Guard
30	Frank Williams	Peoria, Illinois	Manual High School	So.	Guard
33	Damir Krupalija	Rockford, Illinois	Rockford Boylan High School	Jr.	Forward
34	Brian Cook	Lincoln, Illinois	Lincoln Community High School	So.	Forward
40	Sergio McClain (captain)	Peoria, Illinois	Manual High School	Sr.	Forward
45	Nick Smith	Valrico, Florida	Bloomingdale High School	Fr.	Center
52	Marcus Griffin (captain)	Peoria, Illinois	Manual High School	Sr.	Forward

Head Coach Bill Self (1st year at Illinois) ^[1]

Schedule

Source^[2]

Date	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (Attendance)
Regular Season
11/17/2000*	#8	vs. Maine	W 86-57	1-0	Assembly Hall (13,044)
11/20/2000*	#8	vs. UNLV (Maui Invitational Tournament)	W 74-69	2-0	Lahaina Civic Center (2,500)
11/21/2000*	#8	vs. #6 Maryland (Maui Invitational Tournament)	W 90-80	3-0	Lahaina Civic Center (2,500)
11/22/2000*	#8	vs. #1 Arizona (Maui Invitational Tournament Championship)	L 76-79	3-1	Lahaina Civic Center (2,500)
11/26/2000*	#8	vs. Texas Southern	W 86-67	4-1	Assembly Hall (12,970)
11/28/2000*	#9	vs. #1 Duke (Big Ten-ACC Challenge)	L 77-78	4-2	Greensboro Coliseum (17,966)
12/2/2000*	#9	@ Kansas State	W 76-56	5-2	Bramlage Coliseum (6,415)
12/6/2000*	#9	vs. Wisconsin-Milwaukee	W 85-44	6-2	Assembly Hall (12,312)
12/9/2000*	#9	vs. #7 Seton Hall	W 87-79	7-2	Assembly Hall (16,683)
12/16/2000*	#5	vs. #7 Arizona	W 81-73	8-2	United Center (21,885)
12/21/2000*	#5	vs. Missouri (Braggin' Rights)	W 86-81 ^ot	9-2	Scottrade Center (22,089)
12/23/2000*	#5	@ Texas	L 64-72	9-3	Frank Erwin Center (11,916)
12/29/2000*	#9	vs. Illinois-Chicago	W 77-64	10-3	Rosemont Horizon (9,152)
1/3/2001	#9	vs. Minnesota	W 80-64	11-3 (1-0)	Assembly Hall (13,840)
1/6/2001	#9	vs. Ohio State	W 83-68	12-3 (2-0)	Assembly Hall (16,683)
1/11/2001	#7	@ Iowa	L 62-78	12-4 (2-1)	Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,500)
1/13/2001	#7	vs. Michigan	W 80-51	13-4 (3-1)	Assembly Hall (16,683)
1/17/2001	#11	@ Northwestern	W 63-49	14-4 (4-1)	Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117)
1/20/2001	#11	vs. Penn State	W 92-60	15-4 (5-1)	Assembly Hall (16,683)
1/25/2001	#7	@ Michigan	W 55-51	16-4 (6-1)	Crisler Arena (11,092)
1/31/2001	#6	@ Penn State	L 95-98 ^ot	16-5 (6-2)	Bryce Jordan Center (8,953)
2/3/2001	#6	vs. Northwestern	W 84-59	17-5 (7-2)	Assembly Hall (16,683)
2/6/2001	#7	vs. #4 Michigan State	W 77-66	18-5 (8-2)	Assembly Hall (16,683)
2/10/2001	#7	@ Purdue	W 82-61	19-5 (9-2)	Mackey Arena (14,123)
2/13/2001	#4	vs. #19 Wisconsin	W 68-67	20-5 (10-2)	Assembly Hall (16,683)
2/17/2001	#4	@ Indiana	W 67-61	21-5 (11-2)	Assembly Hall (17,460)
2/22/2001	#3	@ Ohio State	L 61-63	21-6 (11-3)	Value City Arena (19,200)
2/24/2001	#3	vs. Iowa	W 89-63	22-6 (12-3)	Assembly Hall (16,683)
3/4/2001	#5	@ Minnesota	W 67-59	23-6 (13-3)	Williams Arena (14,329)
Big Ten Tournament
3/9/2001*	#4	vs. Purdue (Big Ten Tournament)	W 83-66	24-6	United Center (22,679)
3/10/2001*	#4	vs. Indiana (Big Ten Tournament)	L 56-58	24-7	United Center (23,418)
NCAA Tournament
3/16/2001*	#4	vs. Northwestern State (NCAA Tournament, Regional Round of 16)	W 96-54	25-7	University of Dayton Arena (13,007)
3/18/2001*	#4	vs. Charlotte (NCAA Tournament, Regional Quarterfinals)	W 79-61	26-7	University of Dayton Arena (13,159)
3/23/2001*	#4	vs. #12 Kansas (NCAA Tournament, Regional Semifinals)	W 80-64	27-7	Alamodome (28,962)
3/25/2001*	#4	vs. #5 Arizona (NCAA Tournament, Regional Finals)	L 81-87	27-8	Alamodome (30,212)
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. ( ) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Three Pointers	Free Throws	Rebounds	Assists	Blocks	Steals	Points
Frank Williams^[3]	34	168	39	133	126	148	9	67	508
Marcus Griffin^[4]	34	154	0	77	203	34	44	29	385
Brian Cook^[5]	35	147	28	69	212	43	45	21	391
Cory Bradford^[6]	35	113	72	47	89	63	3	23	345
Sergio McClain^[7]	35	87	18	69	194	102	7	46	261
Robert Archibald^[8]	34	77	0	90	154	22	26	12	244
Sean Harrington^[9]	35	61	51	27	49	41	1	27	200
Lucas Johnson^[10]	35	48	18	62	116	59	5	20	176
Damir Krupalija^[11]	27	43	7	36	105	18	4	16	129

NCAA basketball tournament

Midwest regional
- Illinois 96, Northwestern State 54
- Illinois 79, Charlotte 61
- Illinois 80, Kansas 64
- Arizona 87, Illinois 81

^[12]

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 ^[13]
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
Brian Cook
- Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
Cory Bradford
- Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club

^[14]

Rankings

Main article: 2000–01 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

References

Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Venues	Kenney Gym (1906–1925) Huff Hall (1926–1963) State Farm Center (1963–present)

Rivalries	Missouri

Culture & lore	Whiz Kids Flyin' Illini Orange Krush Fighting Illini Sports Network Oskee Wow-Wow Illinois Loyalty Chief Illiniwek

People	Head coaches NBA draftees Consensus All-Americans

Seasons	1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16

Helms and NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics