Illinois Basketball: Ayo Dosunmu continues to rack up accolades

When Ayo Dosunmu was popping out of the Illinois basketball program, many individuals undervalued him.

The place is the proof that individuals undervalued the Illini star? Nicely, there have been 37 gamers chosen forward of Ayo within the 2021 NBA Draft. He went with the No. 38 choose, also called the eighth choose within the second spherical. For one motive or one other, NBA scouts didn’t assume extremely of Ayo.

The actual fact so many groups handed up on Ayo is astonishing. In his remaining season at Illinois, he averaged 20.1 factors, 6.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 1.1 steals per recreation. For his profession, he was a consensus All-American, 2x All-Massive Ten, Massive Ten All-Freshman, and a Massive Ten Event MVP.

Ayo was chosen with choose No. 38 by the Chicago Bulls, and now {that a} season is within the books, he can add to the checklist of profession accolades that I discussed above. On Thursday, it was introduced that Ayo had made the NBA All-Rookie second group. It is a big accomplishment and is one thing solely 25 different Chicago Bulls rookies have ever carried out.

The Chicago Bulls are arrange properly for the long run with former Illinois basketball legend Ayo Dosunmu.

It isn’t straightforward to make an NBA All-Rookie group. As talked about above, there have been 37 different rookies drafted forward of Ayo on this 2021 NBA Draft. Which means there have been 37 different gamers who NBA groups thought had been higher than Ayo.

Solely 10 whole rookies make the NBA All-Rookie first and second group. That is a powerful accomplishment, and I’m positive it received’t be Ayo’s final accolades he racks up throughout his profession.

The Bulls are arrange properly for the long run with Ayo as properly. Chicago has now had three-straight seasons with a participant making the NBA All-Rookie group. Patrick Williams made the second group final season and Coby White made it the 12 months earlier than. That could be a nice younger basis of gamers on a group that was ok this season to be the No. 6 seed within the playoffs.

Ayo making an NBA All-Rookie group can also be a rarity for a former Illinois basketball participant. The final time an Illini participant made an NBA All-Rookie group was again in 2006 when Deron Williams cracked the primary group.

It ought to be clear to everybody now that Ayo is a extremely good participant and somebody who you possibly can construct a group with. At each stage, he has proven he can win and put up huge numbers. Don’t be shocked if there may be an All-Star recreation in his future.