Illinois Basketball: Illini McDonald’s All-American History

Next: 1985: Lowell Hamilton

Bruce Douglas was not the only great Illinois player that was a part of the 1982 McDonald’s All-American class.

Forward Efrem Winters was also a member of that class and a star forward for the next four seasons for the Illini as well.

Illinois Fighting Illini

Winters came in with Douglas in that 1982 class.  I have to assume, since I can’t find any rankings that date back that far, that Illinois was probably in the top 5 among team recruiting rankings that year.

The span of four seasons that Winters played basketball for the Illini was extremely successful.  Like I mentioned before in the Douglas page, Illinois made it to the tournament all four years and also had an Elite 8 and Sweet 16 appearance in there as well.

Winters was one of the main cogs in this Illini powerhouse.  He managed to put up 12.4 PPG and 6.9 RPG his freshman season.  I assume that if they had a Freshman All-American team back then that Winters would undoubtedly be on that list.

The following season was the Elite 8 appearance and Winters led the team in scoring.  He averaged 15.1 PPG and managed to also pull down 6.7 RPG.  His presence was clearly impactful in the success of the Illini.

Winters junior year was the Sweet 16 appearance for the Illini.  His final two seasons had a decline in production much like Douglas.  I have to assume this had a lot to do with how deep the team was those years.

In his junior season, Winters averaged 8.8 PPG and 7.4 RPG.  His senior year was roughly the same as his junior campaign.  He managed to put up 9.3 PPG and 5.7 RPG.

In the four seasons that Winters donned an Illinois jersey they were extremely successful.  He was one of the players that helped bring back the tradition of Illinois basketball.