It’s official now- Ayo Dosunmu has made his decision to attend the University of Illinois
Time of call- Thursday, October 19th, 2017 at 7:02 pm central, when the 6-3 Morgan Park combo guard and Chicago native selected the Fighting Illini over Wake Forest in a press conference held at the Jordan Brand Chicago store on State St.
Ayo Dosunmu plays his AAU basketball with the Mac Irvin Fire, so Illinois Assistant Ron “Chin” Coleman, a Chicago native and head coach of the Mac Irvin Fire from 2005-11, was absolutely critical to his recruitment.
Coleman was named to the new UI staff in April, as Brad Underwood took over the Illinois program in March. Coleman led an AAU powerhouse which produced lots of top city talent including Jabari Parker, Jahlil Okafor, and Cliff Alexander. Additionally, Nick Irvin is the head coach of the Morgan Park boys’ basketball team and Mac Irvin’s youngest son.
In other words, it’s easy to see why the Fighting Illini were considered very heavy favorites to acquire the basketball services of the five star guard who’s a front-runner to win the state of Illinois Mr. Basketball award for 2018.
I asked @AyoDos_11 what impressed him most about #illini coach Underwood and his system-
What he did with Jawun Evans, 7 seconds and shoot pic.twitter.com/PX3mft8xx2— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) October 20, 2017
Dosumnu will almost certainly be named to the McDonald’s All-American Game, which took place at the United Center in Chicago the last seven years, but now inexplicably moves to Atlanta. Coincidentally, no college in the state of Illinois placed a signee in the game all seven years that it was in Chicago, but now it appears that streak will end via Dosunmu.
Tonight saw a less than one minute black and white hype video played, featuring the hash tag #whynotme followed by Dosunmu emerging while rocking a white Illini polo. That was followed by a Q&A with reporters that lasted about seven minutes. We have audio of that posted below:
https://soundcloud.com/p-m-banks/ayo-dosunmu-stays-home-picks-illinois-full-press-conference
Some highlights of the session:
-Ayo says what impressed him the most about Coach Underwood and his system is an offense built around “seven seconds and shoot,” and also what Underwood did to develop Jawun Evans at Oklahoma State. “He can get me to the next level,” said Dosunmu.
-The loudest cheer came when he said that his dad was his role model.
-Asked about playing with Mark Smith, the 2017 state of Illinois Mr. Basketball in Champaign next year, Dosunmu said “we could be scary good.”
“I have a chance to grow a legacy,” Dosunmu said. “I think I’m the best point guard in the country and there’s no better place to prove it then my home state.”
The intro video is below:
https://twitter.com/PaulMBanks/status/921173826351837185
Dosunmu’s campus visit last weekend was Illinois basketball’s biggest official visit since Jalen Brunson came in 2014. After that visit, Brunson cancelled his trips to Temple, Michigan State and Purdue, because he had then narrowed it down to just Illinois and Villanova.
You already know how that recruiting battle ended for Illinois.
This recruiting battle obviously ended much differently.
https://twitter.com/PaulMBanks/status/921166364873764865
Coincidentally, Wake Forest and Illinois play each other in this year’s B1G/ACC Challenge.
The Illini basketball program is certainly extremely happy to bring Ayo Dosunmu, Mr. #WhyNotMe, into the fold. Illini fans are certainly having a very happy #AyoDay
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud, LinkedIn and YouTube.