4. Charlie Villanueva
This recruitment was the first painful loss with all that happened in the Bill Self, Bruce Weber change. Losing Charlie Villanueva was tough for the Orange and Blue.
Villanueva was a massive recruit coming out of the class of 2003. The 6-foot-9, 215-pound forward could have gone anywhere, but he had Illinois in his crosshairs.
The No. 5 overall recruit committed to Illinois back in November 2002. This was huge for the program, as we were on the cusp of doing something special in the prior few years. Bill Self had Illinois chugging along at a high rate.
In April 2003, everything changed. Self left the Illini for Kansas. Villanueva then entered the NBA Draft, despite saying he would have done it regardless of whether Self left or not. Villanueva then pulls his name out of the NBA Draft process and commits to UConn.
This was a brutal loss for the Illini. It was the first signal that Weber didn’t have the recruiting chops that Self had. In two seasons at UConn, Villanueva averaged 11.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.7 blocks, and 1.0 assists per game. He would have been an incredible piece on the 2005 national championship team. That squad wouldn’t have lost a single game.