The Illinois basketball team is once again taking us on a wild ride. It wouldn’t be normal unless Illini fans were having a heart attack every game, am I right?
There is still much of the thrilling season ahead. Illinois has a chance to right the ship and finish the non-conference at 11-2 and head into Big Ten play with an 11-4 record overall. That would keep them on track for an NCAA tournament berth.
While paying attention to the Illini this season, I am also keeping an eye on the lone commitment for 2018, Ayo Dosunmu. He is the five-star guard from Chicago, Illinois who Brad Underwood secured back in October. Recently, 247Sports updated their rankings for the class of 2018 and Dosunmu is now ranked No. 26 in the nation.
On Thursday night, Dosunmu took the court for Morgan Park High School and lit the world on fire. He ended up with a stat line of 51 points, 11 rebounds and 6 steals against Kenwood. These are amazing numbers and it got me to thinking, where would Dosunmu be in the lineup if he somehow managed to jump to the college level today?
The starting lineup for most of the season for Illinois has been Te’Jon Lucas, Mark Smith, Mark Alstork, Leron Black and Michael Finke. This is a good lineup but I would make some changes with the current players that are on the roster right now. I would make even more changes if Dosunmu was available today.
Dosunmu isn’t going to be the primary ball handler for the Illini. He is more of a Luther Head than a Dee Brown or Deron Williams. The No. 1 guard position would not go to Lucas, though. I would have Trent Frazier in his place. This would give the Illini just as good or even better ball handling skills and Frazier can score the basketball better than Lucas.
The No. 2 guard would then be Aaron Jordan right now. I know this doesn’t sound right because Smith has so much potential, but Jordan gives the Illini the biggest scoring threat on the court and he would make a huge impact.
Dosunmu would then take the No. 3 spot for the Illini. He would be dominant with Jordan scoring the basketball. I couldn’t even imagine the number of points those two would put up in a game. The thought of this possibility next season is really exciting.
I would then keep Leron Black at the No. 4 spot and Michael Finke at the No. 5 spot. These two give the Illini some type of size and they are both dangerous on the offensive end of the court.
Next: Takeaways from the Illini win over Longwood
The lineup should and would look something like Frazier, Jordan, Dosunmu, Black and Finke. That is such a good lineup and we could use it today. Dosunmu would make an instant impact on this Illini team even as a high school senior. The moral of the story, I can’t wait until the 2018-2019 season.