Inside & Out: Dosunmu and Cockburn Named to Preseason All-Big Ten Team
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Arguably the league's best outside-inside duo on one team was honored as part of the Big Ten Conference's elite players for the 2020-21 season.
Illinois junior point guard Ayo Dosunmu and sophomore center Kofi Cockburn was named to the Preseason All-Big Ten team, as voted on by a media panel covering the league and announced Monday by the conference office.
Illinois joins Iowa as the only schools with a pair of players honored on the 10-player team, while Dosunmu and Iowa center Luka Garza, who were both named preseason All-America selection by CBS Sports, were the only unanimous selections.
Among being selected as the Illinois’ Male Athlete of the Year for the 2019-20 academic year, Dosunmu was also named a first-team All-Big Ten selection this past season while leading Illinois to a 21-10 overall record and a top four finish in the league standings. He averaged a team-high 16.6 points per game to go with 4.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 33.5 minutes per contest.
Cockburn was named the Big Ten Conference’s Freshman of the Year selection by both the media and coaches after averaging 13.3 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks while shooting 53.2 percent from the field. The 7-foot, 290-pound center from Queens, N.Y., was an unanimous selection to the coaches' All-Freshman team and was a third-team All-Big Ten pick by the media, while garnering All-Big Ten honorable mention accolades from the coaches. Cockburn was the fourth Illini player in school history to win the league's freshman of the year award, following Cory Bradford in 1999, Brian Cook in 2000 and D.J. Richardson in 2010.
2020-21 Preseason All-Big Ten Team
- Ayo Dosunmu, Illinois (unanimous)
- Kofi Cockburn, Illinois
- Trayce Jackson-Davis, Indiana
- Luka Garza, Iowa (unanimous) - PLAYER OF THE YEAR
- Joe Wieskamp, Iowa
- Aaron Henry, Michigan State
- Marcus Carr, Minnesota
- Trevion Williams, Purdue
- Geo Baker, Rutgers
- Nate Reuvers, Wisconsin