The accolades for Illinois basketball players are starting to roll in, and the Sporting News has released their college basketball All-American teams.
It will be difficult to find a news outlet that doesn’t have Illini guard Ayo Dosunmu as a first-team All-American this season. Sporting News has announced their first-team list and it includes Luka Garza (Iowa), Jared Butler (Baylor), Corey Kispert (Gonzaga), Cade Cunningham (Oklahoma State) and Ayo Dosunmu (Illinois).
This is one of the first big news outlets to release their All-American team. Ayo, obviously, is deserving of the honor. On top of him being named to the first-team, Ayo was also a unanimous selection, which makes this honor even more impressive.
Illinois wasn’t finished with just Ayo making an All-American team for Sporting News. His right-hand man, Kofi Cockburn was also honored with a nomination on the second-team.
Joining Kofi on the second-team All-American list is Drew Timme (Gonzaga), Evan Mobley (USC), Hunter Dickinson (Michigan) and Jalen Suggs (Gonzaga).
This is the first time Illinois has had two All-American players since the 2005 campaign when they had three players make the list in Deron Williams, Dee Brown and Luther Head. It is also the first time an Illinois player has made an All-American list since Brown in 2006.
Ayo and Kofi now join only 14 other Illinois basketball players to ever make an All-American roster. That is an extremely impressive feat considering how many talented athletes have come through Champaign.
The mission isn’t finished, though. While these accolades are great and impressive, the team has a shot at winning the first national title in program history. Ayo and Kofi already etched their name in Illinois record books, but I want these two players to give Josh Whitman a reason to build them a statue.