Forget that the calendar alleges that this is August and that both June and July have already passed. In Bruce Weber's world, there has been no summer of 2003.

Sure it's been hot and humid in Champaign, but for the new Illinois coach, this has been far from a typical summer. His wife and kids are still in Carbondale, Ill. Weber has called a hotel room "home" for months, while the family's new house is finished.

	The Weber File
	A look at Bruce Weber's career highlights as a head coach: Southern Illinois
	2002-03	24-7 (16-2, MVC)
	2001-02	28-8 (14-4, MVC)
	2000-01	16-14 (10-8, MVC)
	1999-00	20-13 (12-6, MVC)
	1998-99	15-12 (10-8, MVC)
	TOTALS	103-54 (62-28, MVC)
	*2002 NCAA Sweet 16

No, there have been few moments of relaxation for Weber since leaving Southern Illinois in April for the Big Ten. Instead, he's been simply trying to catch up.

Weber had to get to know the players he inherited with the job and establish a level of comfort with the guys who signed up to play at Illinois for Bill Self, who took the Kansas job in April. Weber had to meet the movers and shakers who surround the Illinois program. And he had to play catch up in recruiting if the Illini were going to continue their recent trend of landing many of the top players in this talent-rich state.

"It's been a crazy, whirlwind tour," Weber said. "I'm looking forward to Aug. 20. That's when my family will be up and, hopefully, we'll be in the house."

Before then, however, Weber will hopefully be better acquainted with his Illini by spending some quality time on the court and abroad. While nearly every new coach in the country has to wait until October to begin practicing, the Illini are in the midst of 10 practices before they leave Aug. 9 for a European trip that will feature games in Sweden, Finland and Estonia.

The trip couldn't come at a better time for Weber and the Illinois program when it comes to eliminating the unknown and creating comfort. When practice begins in the fall, the Illini players will know what Weber expects. They'll know the drills their new coach runs, they'll know what he expects in practice and they'll probably have a pretty good idea what lights his fuse.

And while the games aren't the same as playing in the Big Ten, they'll continue the get-to-know-you process. How does Weber run his pregames and halftimes? What kind of substitution pattern does he use? How will he react to mistakes? Or success?

"They're going to get a feel for me," Weber said. "It will help the implementation of our system and we'll get to know each other better. It's a great bonding situation. When I was (an assistant) at Purdue, we took four or five trips and it usually helped create success."

Is it rocket science? Of course not, but the Illini players will enter the season will fewer unknowns.

Through two weeks of individual work in the spring and the pre-trip practices, Weber likes what he's seen of the team Self put together. And he should, even though Big Ten player of the year Brian Cook was lost to graduation.

In Dee Brown and Deron Williams, Weber inherits one of the best backcourts in the Big Ten. Roger Powell and the oft-injured Luther Head are a pair of players who have large amounts of talent, but have yet to consistently display it in games. Up front, James Augustine was surprisingly solid as a freshman while 7-2 center Nick Smith -- the tallest player to ever suit up for the Illini -- showed improvement a year ago when Illinois went 24-6 and 11-5 in the Big Ten.

In addition, each of Illinois' incoming recruits -- Warren Carter of Dallas, Richard McBride of Springfield, Ill., and Brian Randle of Peoria, Ill. -- are all very talented.

"The key to how good we're going to be is maybe one of the freshmen coming in and playing well," Weber said. "That would put us to eight or nine deep.

"We have some pretty good young talent. I'm not sure we're top 10 (nationally), but I hope two years down the road that we'll be very, very good."

That's why getting off to a good start in recruiting is important for the Illini. One of the best things Weber did was convince Wayne McClain to remain on the staff. McClain, who coached his son, Sergio, Frank Williams and Marcus Griffin to multiple state championships at Peoria Manual, has deep ties to both high school and AAU basketball in Illinois.

	With Dee Brown in the Illini backcourt, Bruce Weber's new job is a bit easier.

While NCAA rules prohibit Weber from talking about specific recruits, he acknowledges the importance of McClain remaining in Champaign.

"He's kept us involved with some kids," Weber said.

The most important of which is guard Shaun Livingston of Peoria Central. One of the premier guards in the 2004 class and without question one of the top 10 high school seniors in the country, Livingston is Illinois' top target. While a coaching change almost never helps recruiting, Illinois has remained in Livingston's top four schools, joining Arizona, Duke and Florida.

In addition to keeping McClain, Weber hired another good recruiter in former Purdue assistant Jay Price. Weber was originally going to bring Matt Painter with him from Southern Illinois, but Painter was given the head coach position with the Salukis.

For Weber, the idea of hiring an assistant away from Purdue coach Gene Keady -- Weber's boss for 18 years -- wasn't something he necessarily wanted to do.

"(Keady) brought it up to me," Weber said. "He said, 'You're good friends with Jay, why don't you hire him?'"

Weber said that even though the Illinois and Purdue campuses are only about an hour drive apart, and the schools play in the same league, Keady has been a help to him.

"In the early months, we talked a lot," Weber said. "I saw him at the Peach Jam and we talked for a bit. We'll see what happens after we play."

Weber and Keady's relationship keeps a big question hanging over the Illini: So what's going to happen when Keady -- the longest tenured Big Ten coach -- retires?

Weber, who has been considered as the natural replacement for Keady, says he won't be trading in his orange and blue for old gold and black.

"The first question (Illinois athletic director) Ron Guenther asked me was if I would leave for Purdue," Weber said. "I told him 'No.' I think this is probably a better job than Purdue and I still have a lot of good friends there."

For an Illinois fan base that saw both Lon Kruger and Self make relatively short stays in Champaign before leaving, that's a good thing.

"I hope they want me to stay, I hope this is my last job," Weber said. "Hopefully I can leave a bit of a footprint here."

Jeff Shelman of the Minneapolis Star Tribune (www.startribune.com) is a regular contributor to ESPN.com