Illinois Basketball: Ayo Dosunmu’s return makes Illini Big Ten threat in 2019-20

Illinois Basketball has been desperate to climb the Big Ten ladder in recent years. With Ayo Dosunmu coming back, the team may be able to break out.

It’s been a rough decade overall for Illinois Basketball when it comes to accolades and accomplishments. The program hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2013 and hasn’t secured a winning record in Big Ten play since 2010, spanning three different head coaches.

But there have been some hope – at least on the recruiting trail under second-year head coach Brad Underwood. He was able to tap into the rich pool of talent in the Chicago area, landing top-35 prospect from the 2018 class Ayo Dosumnu. The 6’5 guard was viewed as a surefire NBA prospect, possibly after even just one season. And it looked that way after the end of this year, with the freshman leading the team with 13.8 ppg and 3.3 apg in 31 mpg, starting all 32 games. Dosunmu was awarded All-Big Ten freshmen honors.

After a strong end to this past season, there was almost a guarantee that the playmaker would at least test the NBA Draft waters, considering that our and other mocks had him around the end of 1st/early 2nd round range. Guys with much worse projections are already gone. But Dosunmu surprised many with his decision to return to the Illini.

Who knows whether this will turn out to be a great decision for Dosunmu personally. But from a team perspective, it’s absolutely huge. With him coming back, Illinois Basketball boasts one of the best collective backcourts in the Big Ten with Dosunmu, Trent Frazier and Andre Feliz. Big man Giorgi Bezhanishvili (12.5 ppg and 5.2 rpg) is set to have a breakout sophomore campaign as well and the Illini will only lose Aaron Jordan from this past season’s rotation.

Although Illinois finished just 7-13 in the Big Ten (12-21 overall), there is hope that they can make a big turnaround for 2019-20. The four-game win streak, which including wins over Ohio State and Michigan State was a positive sign and unlike previous seasons, there won’t be much roster turnover via transfers to deal with. Even better, the team will address their lack of frontcourt depth with their 2019 recruiting class, led by top-50 center Kofi Cockburn.

With many of the Big Ten teams in front of Illinois Basketball losing key pieces such as Michigan, Maryland, Purdue and others, this is a prime opportunity for them to make a move in the right direction. There will be more expectations and pressure on Coach Underwood and the Illini but it helps a ton that a player with Dosunmu’s talent will be back to lead the way. A big sophomore season by him and this team will be back dancing.