We all have regrets. But it’s hard to imagine having the kind of industrial-strength regrets that Gary Barnett surely has had since he left Northwestern for Colorado.

This is all a long way from Kansas University basketball coach Bill Self, who, as far as anyone knows, hasn’t been accused of running a program that includes sexual harassment, recruiting shenanigans and slush funds.

No, it’s much worse than that. He’s accused of recently losing three games in a row with some of the best talent in the country on his roster.

You wonder what Self is thinking these days and whether somewhere in the recesses of his mind (or right there in a frontal lobe) he believes he made a mistake by jumping from Illinois to Kansas two years ago.

For Self, the whole idea of going to Kansas was to have a shot regularly at winning a national championship — well, that and making a boatload of money.

This is how coaches think: You can do great things at Kansas, even though Roy Williams never won a national title there, but you can’t do great things at Illinois consistently because nobody ever has.

It takes some guts and some belief to stay at a school and change attitudes. Self was on the way to doing that at Illinois, and Bruce Weber looks like a guy who wants to stay in Champaign for a long time. This is a man who spent 17 seasons as an assistant coach to Gene Keady at Purdue. He’s to staying put what Steve Fossett is to self-promoting.

From his bunker in Lawrence, Kan., Self has said all the right things about Illinois, that he wishes it nothing but the best, that he loves the Illini players.

You never will hear him spit out any regrets, but there has to be a part of him that wishes he had stayed in Champaign to finish what he had started.

As a head coach, he never has remained in one job longer than four years. You wonder if he misses the relationships he established with the Illinois players, or if he merely views players as interchangeable parts.

That last sentence is probably unfair to Self, but it’s an involuntary reaction to wonder whether loyalty and commitment have a place anymore.

Kansas is one of about 10 teams that have a chance of winning the national title this season, so nobody should feel sorry for Self.

People in Champaign aren’t as angry as they were when he left, mostly because they think the program is in good hands. The jury is still out as to whether Weber is as good a recruiter as Self.

Please, no stories during the NCAA Tournament about Illinois being Self’s team, too. It’s not anymore. It’s Weber’s team.

These are Self’s players, but this is not his accomplishment. There is no way of knowing whether he would have produced the same results from these players, but there’s no doubt Weber’s motion offense is perfect for the Illini.

Weber doesn’t seem to be burdened by many regrets, but it’s early yet in his stay at Illinois. Self always used to have a smile on his face.

And we all remember how happy Barnett used to be before greener pastures beckoned. Turns out they were a mirage.