CARBONDALE, Ill. – Seven inductees entered the University of Southern Illinois Saluki Hall of Fame during a ceremony at SIU Arena over the weekend including current K-State men’s basketball coach Bruce Weber.
photo courtesy Univ. of Southern Illinois
Weber was the architect of SIU’s basketball resurgence during the 2000s. He inherited a program that had recorded three-straight losing seasons and quickly turned them into Valley champions.
During his five seasons at SIU (1999-2003), Weber’s teams compiled a 103-54 record, advanced to two NCAA Tournaments (2002, 2003), including a Sweet 16 appearance, plus an NIT appearance (2000). Southern won the MVC title in both 2002 and 2003 and Weber was named MVC Coach of the Year in 2003.
“I am very blessed and fortunate to have been a part of this program,” Weber said. “We had one of the best mid-major runs in the history of college basketball, to be honest. The run that we had was special and I am proud to have been part of it.”
The Salukis beat five BCS opponents during Weber’s stay and climbed as high as No. 22 in the national rankings. The program he built was sustained by his successors, Matt Painter and Chris Lowery, who led Southern to four more NCAA Tournament appearances. After SIU, Weber coached nine seasons at Illinois and made six NCAA Tournament appearances and advanced to the Championship game in 2005. He is currently the head coach at Kansas State where the Wildcats reached the Elite Eight last season.