The Illinois basketball program lost its top recruiter Wednesday when three-year assistant coach Tracy Webster resigned from his position to join Billy Gillispie’s staff at Kentucky.

Webster had the team’s strongest ties to the Chicago region and his resignation, coming one week before the busy recruiting season, could have repercussions. Now, Illinois head coach Bruce Weber is focused on filling the vacancy and getting past the negatives.

“You never like to lose an assistant, especially somebody who’s been a valuable member of your staff,” Weber said in a phone conference Thursday. “Tracy, I think, worked as hard as anybody that I’ve been around in my time, as a recruiter. He put a lot of hours in and I think helped us make some big strides in Chicago and throughout the state with the coaches, the parents, and the future prospects, not only this class but the future classes. We’re disappointed, obviously, that we’re going to lose him.

“Now, our thing is we have to move forward,” Weber added.

The Champaign News-Gazette reported Wednesday, after a Louisville newspaper broke the initial story, that Webster had been highly involved with many top 2009 and 2010 Illinois targets. Shooting guard Diamond Taylor and small forward Jereme Richmond, one of the nation’s top-ranked players in the 2010 class, both reportedly had relationships with Webster.

Now, it’s probable that Webster will attempt to pry as much talent from Illinois as he can. It’s his job.

“I don’t think you can avoid it,” Weber said. “He’s on a new staff and he’s going to do the best to get the best players that he can for their program.”

Weber was hopeful Thursday that any potential replacements would have the energy and relationships with Chicago high school coaches to keep Illinois competitive in recruiting in-state.

“I would hope it’s somebody that’s from the state, at least (someone that) has some dealings and relationships with Chicago area coaches. I think that’s important,” Weber said. “To me, one of the biggest things is just the energy level, the excitement and the passion for Illinois. I think that’s what we’ll have to find if we’re going to make progress. I hope we get a younger guy in the mix with our staff, somebody that has a great deal of energy to do the recruiting, the endless hours, but also to have relationships with our kids on campus.”

Webster informed the Illinois head coach two weeks ago that his move to Kentucky was a possibility. When Kentucky demanded a decision, Webster, the three-year assistant with head coaching aspirations, made one.

“Tracy is a young coach that I think has the chance to be a head coach down the road,” Weber said. “He felt he wanted the opportunity to add to his r‚sum‚ and continue to network. It may give him that type of opportunity down the road.

“There are obviously guys that I know that are now interested in the position.”

Although it puts Illinois in a very tough spot, needing to find a replacement in the next couple weeks, Webster’s accomplishments in Illinois won’t be forgotten by the head coach.

“We’re friends. We’ve been through lots of highs, lows and a lot of things in the middle,” Weber said. “He was with us for three years and during one of the most magical seasons in Illinois history, the Final Four run.

“I think he’s come a long way as a coach and made big strides not only in recruiting, but on the court, basketball-wise. He will be missed.”

Regarding potential replacements, Weber made it clear former Illini Dee Brown wasn’t in the mix.