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Illinois Basketball: Ayo Dosunmu ends high school career on top

By Rees Woodcock

CHAMPAIGN, IL - JANUARY 30: The Lou Henson signature is seen on the court before the start of the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Illinois Fighting Illini on January 30, 2018, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL - JANUARY 30: The Lou Henson signature is seen on the court before the start of the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Illinois Fighting Illini on January 30, 2018, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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When the Illinois basketball team snagged Ayo Dosunmu for the class of 2018, Illini fans celebrated.

Dosunmu is the five-star recruit who is tasked with bringing glory back to an Illinois program that has hit a rough patch as of late. He is also ranked as the No. 27 player in the class of 2018. That is the highest ranking among Illini recruits since Dee Brown checked in at No. 22 back in the class of 2002.

While the Illini fans are excited to get Dosunmu into the Orange and Blue, he wasn’t done racking up the accolades at the high school level. His Morgan Park team took on Springfield Southeast in the 3A State Championship Game on Saturday afternoon. This is the second straight title game for the Mustangs, and Dosunmu wanted to go out strong.

The game was close for a while and Springfield Southeast even got the score to a one-point margin at 44-43 in favor of Morgan Park. But, the Mustangs just had too much talent for the Spartans. Morgan Park pushed ahead and ended up winning the title 71-56 over Springfield Southeast. The Mustangs were led by Dosunmu who dropped 28 points, which ended up being the record for the most points in a 3A State Championship Game. That is extremely impressive, and he did it all on 8-of-14 shooting from the field as well.

Watching Dosunmu take down the title was exciting. The kid took over the game in every facet you could imagine. There are many attributes he will be bringing to Champaign, but the one that I am most excited about is his leadership.

Illinois has some solid leadership right now with Trent Frazier coming back, but Dosunmu is also a leader who communicates well and is a great ball distributor. I am excited to see how Frazier and Dosunmu will work together. They will form one of the best backcourts in the Big Ten.

Next: Top 5 Illini targets from Trinity Catholic

The future is so bright for the Illinois basketball program. For anyone who is doubting the team, just be patient. The Illini will come into next season extremely underrated, and I believe they will shock some people with how good they will be.

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