We take a quick detour from our trip around the Big Ten to touch base with Illinois Hall of Famer turned radio analyst Deon Thomas, who is more than a tad excited about the Illini in 2020-21:

Now that there is a start date set for the season, just where are your excitement levels?

I’m always disappointed when it ends. I wish we could play basketball 365 days of the year. I haven’t had an opportunity to watch them yet, but on paper this has the makings of being possibly the best Illinois team ever. On paper. Now it depends on how they come together on the floor and if they’re able to blend together. We have never had the combination of size, athleticism and length as we do now. Even the ’89 team, which is my favorite team and I think the best team that’s ever been at Illinois, we didn’t have a Kofi Cockburn. This kid dominates just by walking on the court. This is the deepest team we’ve probably ever had and deep at every position. It depends on how they come together. You ask how excited I am. If I could do cartwheels and jump up and down and do cheerleader splits right now, I would.

What is the long-term effect of Ayo Dosunmu

coming back for

another season at Illinois?

He’ll go down in history as one of those guys that started this run of where we are today. I think now with the instant success kids want to have, they’ve gotten into that mindset that, ‘I need to go to this place.’ It’s all about the flash and not about the substance unfortunately. Ayo, I think, broke the mold on that. Illinois was not doing well when Ayo decided to come to Illinois. It does take a special kid nowadays to say, ‘I’m forging my own path. I’m not going to this school or that school because they’re the hot ticket. I’m going to stay home and stay loyal.’

How could Dosunmu’s decision to return for his junior season

help the program well into the future?

Your players, your kids, are your best recruiters. The kids in Chicago are watching the success that Ayo has had. They’re going to watch the success that Adam Miller is going to have. Those kids that are playing today, they know Ayo and know Adam. They’ve played with them and played against them. That’s your hook right there. We’ll be in the mix. That doesn’t mean we’re going to land everybody, but we’ll definitely be in the mix for both.

Scott Richey is a reporter covering college basketball at The News-Gazette. His email is srichey@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@srrichey).