Illinois Basketball: Illini land another preseason All-Big Ten selection

Illinois basketball is in familiar territory when it comes to the preseason All-Big Ten team.

Over the last couple of years, the Illini have donned the preseason All-Big Ten team lists. In 2019-20, Ayo Dosunmu earned the honor. In 2020-21, Ayo and Kofi Cockburn both made the team.

Kofi followed that preseason team up by being named a unanimous selection for the 2021-22 preseason All-Big Ten team. He would also be the pick for the preseason Big Ten Player of the Year. Kofi was joined by then-Illini Andre Curbelo on that team as well.

With so many departures, I was curious to see if anyone from the Illini would make the team this season. It looks like one Illinois player did manage to squeak in. Newcomer Terrence Shannon Jr. is the only Illini to don the 2022-23 preseason All-Big Ten team.

The Big Ten is massively underrating some talent on the Illinois basketball team.

I love that Shannon made the team. He has earned this honor with his play coming into the Illinois program. Shannon was a sensational scorer for Texas Tech where he would finish his last season averaging 10.4 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and shooting 38.4% from three-point range.

Shannon wasn’t a unanimous selection, though. There are some people still doubting him. The only unanimous selections on the preseason All-Big Ten team were Trayce Jackson-Davis (Indiana), Hunter Dickinson (Michigan), and Zach Edey (Purdue).

While Illinois doesn’t have a ton of talent returning, I think when the season is done, we could have multiple players as All-Big Ten selections.

Coleman Hawkins is someone who comes to mind as a potential All-Big Ten selection. The preseason list is just players who put up solid numbers last year. Hawkins won’t be on this list because he averaged 5.9 points and 4.3 rebounds. But he is a volcano that hasn’t erupted yet. His talent is just bubbling on the surface, but his game is about to explode into one of the best players in the conference.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see RJ Melendez compete for a spot on an All-Big Ten team this season too.  He might be the best player on the Illini right now, but with the experience we had last year, Melendez didn’t get the playing time to shine. He is going to unleash his abilities on the Big Ten in 2022-23.

I think a dark horse pick for an All-Big Ten team this upcoming season is Ty Rodgers. He is a superstar freshman coming into the program, but he isn’t the most notable freshman. He is kind of flying under the radar. I think Rodgers is massively underrated. He should probably have been a top 20 player in the class of 2022. But look for Rodgers to make a huge impact for the Illini this season.