Jereme Richmond was back to back Mr. Basketball Illinois. He committed early so he wasn't "recruited", but he was a top-25 national recruit. Just ended up being a head case.
DJ Richardson was a top 50 recruit. Brandon Paul was also Mr. Basketball and was top 100. Meyers Leonard is going to be a top 15 NBA pick. Myke Henry, as afrosh last season, was also top 100. That's 5 over 3 seasons. Just didn't work out, due to or in spite of coaching.
Crandall Head was another highly-ranked recruit. Once again, didn't work out.
So it's not that they didn't get top recruits, they just ether got the wrong ones or didn't develop properly.