Spoiler alert: I believe Ellis is the only player under Self to have three seasons on this list. I am not sure why I say I believe when I have access to the actual list but anyway.
Ellis had his breakout game the year before with a 23 point effort on 10-12 shooting against Iowa State, which helped assuage some of my concerns about whether he was athletic enough to be a consistent performer in the Big 12. Then in 2014 he had his breakout season, averaging 13.5 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, providing some much needed depth behind Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid.