In the past 73 seasons, the scribbling nerds that make up the Associated Press voting panel – I was a member – have never voted an Illinois player on their top five All America basketball teams.
Naismith’s choice by trainers / journalists also did not become player of the year for this “basketball school”.
Hold your breath Knock on your forehead Ayo Dosunmu is a virtual certainty of being a finalist after his second triple-double on Saturday in Minnesota when the Naismith contestants are reduced from 30 to four in March.
And only one major slump could result in him missing out on the All America quintet.
It’s time. From Dike Eddleman to Deron Williams, voters have left the Illinois stars in the second best status.
They were especially overlooked in the 1980s when UI teams set a record of 233-90. Neither Nick Anderson nor Kenny Battle, who went forward on the 31-5 team in 1989, were recognized on the first, second, or third AP team.
Oklahoma had two members of the top 15, the Illinois none … although they reached the Final Four with a 13-1 streak that included an 89-73 loss to eventual NCAA champions Michigan.
Ayo is doing it again, which brings us to Dosunmu. He does everything, as he demonstrated again with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in the 94-63 strike against hosts Minnesota on Saturday. He leads the nation on transition points, shooting 42 percent to three and is runner-up in the Big Ten in assists.
What he did when he broke a losing streak with two late Treys against Northwestern last Tuesday night was unfathomable. And on the other extreme Saturday, he donned a Superman jersey mid-way through the first half … an explosion that left the jaws open. Has anyone clocked the last 40 feet?
It was amazing. And with everyone involved, Illinois mined a gopher team that was in the barn 13-1 on Saturday that season, beating Michigan, Ohio State and Iowa by a total of 42 points.
History Lesson Understand that there are discrepancies in all decisions made by humans.
Especially all-star selection. Nobody can see all the games. And box scores, says UI trainer Brad Underwood, are misleading.
When we focus on one team, we still have a blurry vision: In 1949 Eddleman Illinois was MVP and the second team was AP All-American, but behind Bill Erickson in both the consensus All-America build and Big Ten -Poll; In 2005, choose between Dee Brown and Deron Williams. Brown was voted higher as the All-American consensus, but Williams laughed at accidentally when he finished 3rd on the NBA draft.
The following Illinois have achieved second-team AP All-America status since their inception in 1948: Eddleman in 1948 and 1949, Rod Fletcher in 1952 (like Brown, he was the first consensus team by combining major media) , Skip Thoren in 1965, Derek Harper in 1983, Ken Norman in 1987, Brown and Luther Head in 2005 (Williams was the third team) and Brown in 2006.
Kendall Gill was a UPI First Team All-American and a Consensus Second Teamer in 1990.
Across the country, as its status repeatedly improved, Dosunmu has seen a significant increase in bogus drafts from NBA analysts.
By best estimates, he ranks 16th in the NBA Draft Room, while others rank him 19-40 as a foreign-born player and G-leaguers like Jonathan Kuminga and Jalen Green take the draft spot. The absurdity is that numerous fellow scouts listed by Boy Scouts before Dosunmu have been unpredictable this season and are receiving support for their projected worth. Few have come close to Dosunmus’ actual accomplishments.
Jalen Johnson probably left Duke – his fourth school in four years – after an inconsistent route. He prefers to “get well” for the draft. Johnson had previously been classified as “not to be missed” alongside freshmen Cade Cunningham from the state of Oklahoma, Jalen Suggs from Gonzaga and Evan Mobley from southern California. But will Johnson be downgraded for leaving his team in February?
Stanford’s Zaire Williams, UConn’s James Bouknight (newly cleared and scorching hot), and Auburn’s Sharife Cooper missed big chunks of this season. The Kentucky-Tennessee game on Saturday should have featured four exceptional newbies, but in a 70:55 Wildcat surprise, the winners 6-7 Terrence Clarke lost to injury and only six points, a rebound and assist from BJ Boston while the Volunteers fell far behind when the touted rookie Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer together shot 6 out of 25.
Final argument for Dosunmu Without a crystal ball, we can argue about who will be the best professional in 2025.
Perhaps Cunningham will live up to his NBA # 1 rating in this class. Perhaps Johnson will prove otherwise to his doubters.
However, there cannot be much debate about who was the main player during this college campaign. There can be no doubt about who is best able to feed the post, run the quick break, or who you want with the ball in a one-minute tie.
Dosunmu has this special quality called the killer instinct. And as much as he wishes for the NBA, he won’t be leaving that team in February.
Loren Tate writes for The News-Gazette. He can be reached at [email protected].
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