Illinois' Kylan Boswell Calls All-Big Ten Defensive Team Snub 'Disrespectful'

Despite neutralizing conference stars all season long, the Illini guard somehow was denied league honors

Feb 22, 2025; New York, NY, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Kylan Boswell (4) reacts after getting called for a foul in the first half against the Duke Blue Devils at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images / Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

When the Big Ten released its annual conference awards on Tuesday morning, three Illinois players received honors – but lockdown defensive guard Kylan Boswell wasn’t one of them. 

If that comes as a surprise to you, imagine how it made Boswell feel. Actually, there's no need to imagine:

“I definitely felt like that was disrespectful,” said Boswell, when WCIA 3 reporter Tristan Thomas asked him about being left off the All-Big Ten Defensive Team.

In case that didn’t make his feelings towards the situation obvious, he quickly doubled down.

“That was, to me, kind of crazy," he said.

Objectively, yeah ... it was pretty nuts. Take a look at just a few of Boswell's defensive performances in league play, and it's harder to make the case against him being honored than it is to make a compelling argument for him.

In early December, Boswell held All-Big Ten first-teamer and possible All-American John Tonje to just 5-for-15 shooting from the field.

Then there was Boswell's work on Ohio State's Bruce Thornton, a second-team all-conference selection: 7-for-18 from the field.

Michigan State's Jaden Akins, an All-Big Ten third-teamer? He went a combined 6-for-20 in his two meetings, with Boswell doing most of the heavy lifting against him for the Illini.

No reason to bang you over the head with more Big Ten stars Boswell has flummoxed, because, to be honest, it doesn't do justice to his importance in Illinois' defense. Boswell averages a team-high 1.2 steals in a scheme that isn't conducive to generating them. He routinely takes on bigger wings and forwards and brutalizes them with his strength and quickness. He ties up and rips bigs in the paint and crashes the boards like a power forward.

No disrespect to 2025 Big Ten All-Defensive Team members Akins, Oregon's TJ Bamba and Nate Bittle, Penn State's Ace Bailey Jr or UCLA's Kobe Johnson, but arguably none of them had the same positive impact on their team's defense that Boswell did.

“Anybody who’s on that list or who was guarded by me this year could say differently,” said Boswell.

As for who has motivated him to bring his best on the defensive end every game? None other than former Illini Terrence Shannon Jr.

“Terrence told me that was his focus – to be defensive-minded every time he stepped on the court," Boswell said. "I took that and embraced that.”

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