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Illinois Basketball: Assembling the Best Starting Five of the Brad Underwood Era
Jan 2, 2021; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini center Kofi Cockburn (21) and guard Ayo Dosunmu (11) celebrate during the first half against the Purdue Boilermakers at the State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images

Illinois Basketball: Assembling the Best Starting Five of the Brad Underwood Era

Originally posted on Illinois Fighting Illini on SI
By Jackson Langendorf  |  Last updated Jul 12, 2025 11:13 AM ET

Illinois coach Brad Underwood and associate head coach Orlando Antigua, one of the nation’s top recruiting combinations, have overseen an influx of talent in the program during Underwood's eight seasons at the helm. Whether it's through the portal, high school ranks or international scene, the Illini have enjoyed the good fortune to land some of college basketball’s premier players in recent years.

By now, enough of that talent has passed through Champaign that a dream team of sorts can be assembled by plucking the best of the best from Underwood's Illinois teams, which is exactly what we've decided to do below. But before we dive into that exercise, a few disclaimers:

1) To be eligible, the player must have spent at least two seasons at Illinois.

2) The best starting five isn’t necessarily the top five individual players over this period but the group that would be most effective and theoretically win the most games together.

Without further ado, the Underwood era starting five:

Point guard: Ayo Dosunmu (2018-2021)Career averages: 16.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.9 assists

Shooting guard: Trent Frazier (2017-2022) Career averages: 11.4 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists

Small forward: Terrence Shannon Jr. (2022-2024) Career averages (at Illinois): 20.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists

Power forward: Coleman Hawkins (2020-2024)Career averages (at Illinois): 7.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists

Center: Kofi Cockburn (2019-2022)Career averages: 17.2 points, 9.6 rebounds, 1.2 blocks

A few of these choices are quite straightforward. There’s no other argument for the 1, 3 and 5. Dosunmu and Cockburn were All-Americans (Cockburn a two-time honoree) during their time at Illinois, leading the program to a Big Ten regular-season title, a conference tournament title and a No. 1 seed at the NCAA Tournament. Meanwhile, Shannon broke the program's single-season scoring record (736 points) and pushed the Illini to their first Elite Eight appearance in decades.

With the firepower and scoring punch packed by that trio, our hypothetical lineup needs a pair of glue guys to round things out – and few fit the bill better than Frazier and Hawkins.

Frazier was a pesky, hard-nosed defender and solid secondary playmaker. Additionally, he was an excellent floor-spacer who hit no fewer than 1.6 threes per game in all five of his seasons at Illinois, while connecting on an efficient clip (career 35.1 percent from deep).

Hawkins was tremendously versatile, and would be an excellent stretch 4 in this lineup. With his outside touch, Hawkins would pull the help big from the paint, allowing Cockburn to take his defender one-on-one. Defensively, Hawkins’ agility and nimble feet would make him a dream fit alongside the lumbering Cockburn. And when the pair are both inside the lane on defense, opponents would struggle immensely to even get a shot up.

We'd pay good money to see this group come together for a run, even if it were only for an afternoon of pickup ball at the ARC.

More From Illinois on Sports Illustrated:

Predicting Illinois Basketball's Leaders in Major Statistical Categories

Illinois Commit Mihailo Petrovic Still Missing From Roster: What It Means

Who is Illinois Basketball's X-Factor – and What Is His Ceiling and Floor?

This article first appeared on Illinois Fighting Illini on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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