The Illinois basketball team hasn’t had a player be a true NBA Draft threat in about seven years.
On top of that, the Illini haven’t had a threat of someone leaving early in the same time period. That has all changed with Brad Underwood taking over the program. He is recruiting the caliber of player that has NBA aspirations that are in reach. Ayo Dosunmu is the main focus right now when it comes to the NBA.
The timeline of events on Thursday had some Illinois fans sweating out what Ayo was going to do. At around 2:00 PM central time, Ayo changed his Twitter profile picture to a black box. He, effectively, didn’t have a profile picture. This started the chatter about what was about to happen.
Just five hours later, Ayo revealed his decision on whether he was going to test the NBA waters or if he was going to come back to Champaign for one last ride. His video told the story. He has unfinished business and is going to come back to Illinois to get this team to the top.
— Dos (@AyoDos_11) April 18, 2019
This is great news for all parties involved. Illinois fans can rejoice as one of the top recruits in program history has decided to spend one more season with the team. We also get to see him with incoming big man Kofi Cockburn as well. That is going to be a fun sight.
I also believe this is great news for Ayo as well. While I think declaring and not signing an agent would have been the best thing for him, the opportunity to come back to Illinois and play one more season is going to only make his draft stock rise. This kid was projected by some sites as a first-round pick this year. Ayo managed to be that highly regarded with a game that was just starting to develop to elite levels and a team that struggled tremendously. Can you just imagine where he is going to be projected for the 2020 NBA Draft? I am thinking a lottery pick.
Overall, I am pretty excited for Ayo. This kid gets one last ride with the Illini. He has a chance to break the nasty missed NCAA tournament streak. He has a chance to be a legend in the state of Illinois. He has some unfinished business to take care of. Let’s do this.