While the Illinois basketball team won’t have a player selected in the 2023 NBA Draft, we do have a former player who was just picked.
Brad Underwood and the Illini coaching staff have done a great job identifying and bringing in talent. They were able to land Ayo Dosunmu. We snagged Kofi Cockburn a year later. These types of players have been sprinkled throughout every recruiting class.
Sometimes the great players don’t come with a high ranking either. That was the case with Brandin Podziemski.
On April 13, 2021, the 6-foot-5 guard committed to Illinois, and just two years and two months later, Podziemski heard his name called during the 2023 NBA Draft.