Kansas assistant coach Tim Jankovich will leave at the conclusion of this season to take the head coaching position at Illinois State. The hiring will be formally announced at a news conference today.

Coach Bill Self released a statement Monday night, saying that the announcement is coming out now so that speculation would not distract the team this weekend at the San Jose regional.

"We all know he is the new coach at Illinois State, but his job here is unfinished until our season is complete," Self said.

Jankovich followed Self to Kansas after serving as an assistant at Illinois. He was a basketball player at Kansas State in the late 1980's.

Coaches prepare for SIU:

Self and his staff have spent the weekend watching tape of Thursday's opponent, Southern Illinois. The Salukis were the top team in the Missouri Valley Conference this year, and are a No. 4 seed in the tournament. They face the Jayhawks at 6 p.m. central time Thursday night.

"They are probably as good of a defensive team as there is in the country," Self said. "We played a Valley team last year that gave us a lot of problems with their quickness, and this team is probably quicker and better defensively than Bradley."

— Kansan.com will have complete NCAA tournament coverage all week long.