20 Days to B1G Basketball: 2018 4-Star Guard Ayo Dosunmu Commits to Illinois

Illinois picked up their first commit for 2018 this week with the news that Ayo Dosunmu has committed to the program. Dosunmu is an Illinois native and is ranked by 247Sports as the 30th best prospect in 2018 and the top prospect from the state. Dosunmu chose the Illini over Wake Forest, as well as USC and Xavier.

“I chose to stay home,” said Dosunmu. “Hopefully next year and years after that Illinois can get the the recruits. I want to be the one to turn it around...I want to bring the good days back.”

The addition of Dosunmu was another big get for Mark Underwood, who also landed highly touted recruit Mark Smith for 2017. The duo could set the foundation for an Illini turnaround, though Dosunmu doesn’t have plans to stay in Champaign for very long.

The 2018 combo guard has mentioned his plan is to spend a season with the Illini before heading off to the NBA.

"I'm going to do my best to make that happen. I have to work my tail off and play hard.”

The addition of Dosunmu was a big get for Illinois as the program has struggled to recruit in-state, with numerous top prospects heading elsewhere. The belief is that Dosunmu, a Chicago native, can help Illinois get back into the conversation with the high-quality prospects from the Chicago area. There’s plenty of talent within the state and if the Illini can keep that talent at home, they could become very competitive in the Big Ten.

Now Underwood will need to work on fleshing out the rest of 2018 class as the team currently only has one commit for the time being. While they may have only one so far, it’s a strong foundation for both 2018 and the future in Champaign.