St. Louis ? Former Illinois basketball coach Bill Self reported secondary NCAA violations 20 times in his four years at the Big Ten school, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported Sunday.

Secondary violations are defined as violations in which no competitive or recruiting advantage was gained. No probation is threatened over such minor violations.

“The thing about it is, perfection is what we strive for,” said Self, now coach at Kansas University. “And certainly nobody likes to mess up. But I will say this: I’m not embarrassed because I messed up, or our staff messed up, because the bottom line is I want to get better — and in order to get better, you need to be monitored.”

The violations included housekeeping items such as athletes or coaches failing to fill out forms or providing a wrong per diem. Instead of the permissible $6.50 for lunch in one report, a staff member provided $7 to each player; in another instance, a staff member provided $20 per player for dinner instead of the allowable $19.

Another violation occurred when USA Basketball sent out a news release noting two incoming Illini freshmen were selected for the 2002 USA Basketball world junior qualifying team. When U of I officials sent the news release to Illinois media outlets, Illinois was in violation of an NCAA rule forbidding schools to publicize incoming players until the first day of the school year.

One impermissible contact with a recruit came in July when Self was in Peoria, Ill., and recruit Brian Randle approached him to announce he was committing to Illinois. Under NCAA rules during that period, Self was allowed to exchange greetings with Randle, but exceeded that.

“After (Randle) committed, I asked, ‘Are you serious? That’s great. Congratulations,’ and then had a brief exchange,” Self said, adding, “I believe this was an unavoidable situation. Looking back, maybe it could have been handled better, but … I felt I responded the way anyone would have.”

Some of the 20 violations almost are comical. For example:

l In October 2000, a coach failed to receive prior written approval for being paid to speak at a clinic.

l In December 2000, the parent of a current athlete did not pay for a meal at Self’s house until the following day.

l In October 2001, a prospect had two meals at Self’s home instead of the permissible one.

“I think Bill is an honest guy,” Illinois athletics director Ron Guenther said. “I think Bill came from a different culture and (found) we ran our compliance program in a much different way than what he was used to.”

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Roy’s rips: Former KU coach Roy Williams last week blasted the Atlantic Coast Conference, which has expanded by luring Miami and Virginia Tech from the Big East.

“It was a fiasco,” Williams told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “We handled that about as poorly as it could possibly be handled. I think in some ways it made the ACC look bad. I think it made college athletics look bad. I didn’t have anything to do with it.

“I just sat back and watched everybody else look like idiots. I’ve had something to do with a lot of things that looked bad. I’m glad I had nothing to do with that one.”

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Keeping tabs on ex-Jayhawks: Former KU guard Jeff Boschee last week was cut from the summer roster of the Utah Jazz. … Guard Billy Thomas is playing for the New Jersey Nets summer team in the Reebok League in Boston, while Eric Chenowith is playing for the Phoenix Suns in the Rocky Mountain Review. L.A. media indicate Chenowith likely will be invited to Los Angeles Lakers veteran camp in October.