URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Tulsa players couldn't explain Bill Self's ability to get in their head.

But he did.

Tulsa went to the NCAA second round in his second year. The Elite Eight in Year Three.

In Year Four, Illinois might take it a step further to the Final Four.

All because of Self? Can't be, can it?

	Bill Self's style of coaching worked wonders at Tulsa, which advanced to the Elite Eight last season.

Possibly.

The Illini didn't change a thing from a year ago except for Self. With all due respect to former coach Lon Kruger, Self's addition to Illinois might make him the impact newcomer in the Big Ten.

"I don't know how to explain it," Illinois sophomore center Brian Cook said Sunday during ESPN.com's preseason tour. "He just tells me what I've got to do. He's fiery. He motivates us.

"Maybe it's the fact that he's younger or does things with a lot more emotion than my past coaches. He just expects an all-out effort whereas coach Kruger was more businesslike. (His impact) is a fair statement when you look at the past things he's done."

Illinois has the pieces in place to make a run at the Big Ten title and the Final Four after fizzling in a second-round loss to Florida.

The 6-foot-10 Cook was a wide-eyed freshman last season, still trying to adjust to not being the focal point. Frank Williams had to settle down at the point after missing his freshman year because of academics. Forward Marcus Griffin took a little longer than expected to get into a groove after transferring from junior college. Forward Sergio McClain and shooting guard Cory Bradford were the only two players who were coming into a familiar situation.

Now the five is set on the court. All they needed was someone to come in and push them to play more aggressively, tougher and intensely on defensive.

Self and his staff -- former Tulsa assistants Norm Roberts and Billy Gillispie and holdover Illini assistant Rob Judson -- got on the players from the moment he was hired in early June.

The reception has been unheard of, with not a single player fighting the coach's style or demands. Talk about respect.

"Coach is young (37 actually) and he's been around younger players," Bradford said. "He knows how to read us and in a little amount of time knows how to push each one of us. He pushes us to that edge.

"He said on Day 1 that he was going to get on us and get in our face, but when he's finished, to give him smiles. He doesn't mean to get on us, he just wants to make us better players and a better team."

So, that's it?

	“	They know there's another big step to take and that we have to address the obvious weaknesses. One of those things is to go the extra mile and pay attention to detail, get tougher and not shut down when your body tells you your brain it's tired. Everything is about maximizing your ability and pushing yourself. ”
		— Bill Self, Illinois head coach

Basically.

Self's magic is simply pushing the players to their limit and not accepting "no" for answer. Now, it's within reason. He's not a bully or a Hollywood-depicted drill sergeant to where the players will learn to either hate him or tolerate him.

But he has a track record now that shows if he maximizes a players' ability and gets someone to push them, the result could be a NCAA Tournament run.

"They know there's another big step to take and that we have to address the obvious weaknesses," Self said. "One of those things is to go the extra mile and pay attention to detail, get tougher and not shut down when your body tells you your brain it's tired. Everything is about maximizing your ability and pushing yourself."

Self can push players by having the players earn their freedom offensively through a hard defensive effort. Tulsa had talent. The Golden Hurricane simply had players no one had heard of like Michael Ruffin (now starting for the Chicago Bulls), Eric Coley, Tony Heard, Brandon Kurtz, Marcus Hill and David Shelton.

But coaches who played Tulsa said the Hurricane was always one of the toughest teams to go against, either offensively or defensively. Self's teams were physically tougher, even if they weren't stronger, and they never quit.

"We had good players, just not high-profile players," Self said. "There isn't that much difference in talent as a group, just in individuals who could play at the next level. We got a lot of mileage out of 'us against the world' at Tulsa, where certain schools never recruited these guys. We can't use that here."

So, what works?

The Illini weren't the most self-motivated group a year ago. But they seem to be accepting the responsibility, thus far.

Griffin said the players noticed the change from the moment the staff got here over the summer and the conditioning program was put in place.

"We tried to do some of this stuff last year, but he's putting an emphasis on it to be a great team," Griffin said. "He said you have to show you can run when you're tired and don't make mistakes because you're tired when the game is on the line."

Self said he didn't know what to expect when he laid his law on the players. But he's been pleasantly surprised by the reception. If anything, his only regret in the past five months is the timing in which he left Tulsa. Self took the Illinois job in June, after agreeing, but not signing, the most lucrative contract extension in Tulsa history.

"The worst thing was the timing," Self said. "I wish I could have left Tulsa earlier, like in April or early May. It could have been smoother. I wasn't able to enjoy the fruits of our labor (Elite Eight)."

What he found when he got to Illinois was a team yearning to be motivated a bit more.

"Coach Kruger did a nice job, but we were just too young last year," Cook said. "We had to get stronger and compete more. We had to get mentally mature. Now we've added coach Self and his motivational skills. That's a plus to us. We all know now what we need to do.

"It's time to stop talking about it and go out and do it."

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.