Despite coaching the Fighting Illini to the national championship game in St. Louis in his second season as the head basketball coach, the common feeling was that Bruce Weber did it with inherited players from former coach Bill Self.

Since that 2004-05 campaign, Illinois has progressively seen the wins get harder to come by. In the years since that 37-2 finish and heartbreaking loss to North Carolina in the title game, the Fighting Illini have gone 26-7, 23-12 and then 16-19 last season when the Illini failed to make the Big Dance or the National Invitational Tournament.

Now Weber is coming off what many think has been his best recruiting class as he begins his sixth season at Champaign.

Rivals.com ranked the Illinois’ early-signing period haul 10th in the nation. Scout.com rated Weber’s work 13^th nationally. ESPNU had other thoughts, instead ranking the group at No. 23.

The Illinois backcourt should have a different look in 2009-10 and recruits Brandon Paul, D.J. Richardson and Joseph Bertrand could play a part in it.

Paul, Richardson and Bertrand are all shooting guards and hail from the Land of Lincoln, giving proof that Weber can indeed get the state’s best to come to Champaign. They could stir memories of when Dee Brown, Deron Williams and Luther Head were running wild for the Illini during their 2004-05 run. Those three were wooed by Self, who would win the elusive title at Kansas last season.

Richardson, the marquee player of the class, toiled at Peoria Central before transferring to a Nevada prep school for his senior high school season. He has shown that he can take defenders to the rim while being able to connect from long distance if defenders lay off.

Weber said Paul, Richardson and Bertrand can play either point or the off-guard, giving him much flexibility with his lineup.

The Fighting Illini went across the Mississippi River into Missouri to get their lone big guy from this recruiting class. Tyler Griffey, a 6-foot-8 forward from Lafayette High in suburban St. Louis, is a player who can face up to the basket, hit mid-range jumpers and set picks for the new guards. The last time Illinois got a player from Lafayette, they nabbed Robert Archibald, who started at center under Bill Self, graduated in 2002, and was a second round pick in the NBA draft.

Bruce Weber might be able to fill one more slot for the 2009-10 class with a true point guard and it appears he has already gotten off to a rocking start for his 2010-11 recruiting class.

Weber has three verbal commitments for that group, including one from 6-5 Jereme Richmond from Waukegan. Richmond is considered one of the top juniors nationally. Crandall Head of Chicago Crane and the younger brother Luther Head, has also giving a verbal commitment.

Illinois will get a boost from the arrival of sophomore guard Alex Legion in January. Legion transferred from Kentucky to the Illini last season after the first semester and per NCAA rules, Legion has had to sit out. Legion came from the Oak Hill (Va.) Academy basketball factory and signed with Michigan, but backed out when Tommy Amaker was fired and went with Kentucky.