If someone asked you which college has produced the best NBA guards, which school would you choose? Most would choose Kentucky, some would choose Duke, or maybe even UCLA. While these schools have produced a plethora of elite NBA talent at the guard position, hardly any school has done it better as of late than Illinois.
Since 2024, Illinois has had three guards drafted in the first round, a stat that hardly any other school in the country can proudly boast. This raises the question: Does Illinois have
the best guard sell in the country?
One of the best recruiting pitches for transfers and high school recruits is proven success in the pros. This is something that Illinois severely lacked in years past. For a decade and a half, Illinois had only produced one first-round draft pick, when Meyers Leonard was taken 11th by the Trail Blazers. Being practically invisible on NBA draft boards is a recipe for continual, unsuccessful recruiting cycles. However, the tides have rapidly turned, and Illinois is in a position to pitch proven success to any guard that will listen. Let’s see how Illinois has built one of the best guard sells in the country.
Ayo Dosunmu is the backbone of the revival of Illinois basketball, and he is also the centerpiece example of what Illinois can build a player into. A former five-star recruit who spent three years in the orange and blue, Ayo turned in a historic junior year, winning the Bob Cousy Award, earning Consensus First-Team All-American honors, and tracking as a National Player of the Year candidate, before being selected with the 38th pick by the Chicago Bulls. He quickly became a centerpiece of that Bulls squad, where he saw over 30 minutes a game while scoring over 12 PPG, dishing out 3.6 assists, and developing into one of the best 3-point shooters in the league. After signing with the Timberwolves, the world has watched Ayo shine in the NBA playoffs, highlighted by a career-high 43 points against the Denver Nuggets while averaging almost 15 PPG. Dosunmu will likely get a hefty paycheck this summer as he enters free agency, which will once again put what he, and Illinois, have accomplished on the national radar.
After Ayo left Champaign, a new normal was set by Terrence Shannon Jr. during his 2023–24 senior campaign. Shannon turned in one of the most dominant individual seasons in program history, which included a First-Team All-Big Ten honor, Second-Team All-America status, and winning the Big Ten Tournament Most Outstanding Player award after breaking the tournament’s all-time scoring record. After his monster season with the Illini, Terrence was selected 27th overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Since entering the league, Shannon has quickly become a key piece of Minnesota’s recent success as a much-needed spark plug off the bench. Shannon has created a consistent role for himself at the NBA level. Shannon’s elite athleticism and defensive versatility have made him an immediate favorite of the Timberwolves’ fan base, solidifying his spot as a long-term piece of Minnesota’s core.
In 2024-25, we saw Kasparas Jakučionis and Will Riley suit up as freshmen for the Illini. Jakučionis boasted one of the best freshman campaigns in an Illini uniform, earning unanimous Freshman All-America Team, Second-Team All-Big Ten, and Big Ten All-Freshman Team honors. Kasparas was then selected 20th overall by the Miami Heat.
His counterpart, Will Riley, who came in as one of Illinois’ most highly rated recruits of all time, won Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year while getting selected 21st by the Washington Wizards. At just 20 years old, Will Riley looks to be an important piece that the Washington front office wants to hold onto for the foreseeable future; he became the first Wizards rookie to record back-to-back 30-point games since 1994, and when inserted into the starting lineup, his production jumped to 16.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game. The same goes for Jakučionis, who has been an important part of the Heat’s rotation, playing almost 18 MPG while averaging 6.2 PPG and shooting over 40% from behind the arc.
This past year, we saw the torch of elite guards be passed down again to freshman Keaton Wagler, who arguably had the greatest freshman season in an Illini uniform. Wagler, who came into the program as a three-star recruit, left Illinois with the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award, Consensus Second-Team All-American honors, and the Big Ten Freshman of the Year Award, all while taking the Illini to their first Final Four since 2005 and winning the NCAA Tournament South Region Most Outstanding Player. It was a freshman year that sets Wagler up to certainly be just the fourth player in Illini history to be selected in the NBA Draft lottery.
The torch will need to be passed again, and Illinois has put the pieces in place for another Illini guard to continue the tradition of success. Highly touted transfer guard Stefan Vaaks looks to carry over his elite freshman season at Providence, where he earned Big East All-Freshman Team honors and broke the Providence freshman single-season scoring record. If that’s not enough, Brad Underwood didn’t skip a beat with recruiting elite guards out of high school. He went right into St. Louis and flipped Quentin Coleman, originally a Wake Forest commit, who soared all the way up to the No. 13 player in the nation and a five-star ranking.
Both Vaaks and Coleman will walk onto campus with high expectations given the recent success of Illini guards, and if the tradition continues, these players are in store for monster seasons.
Hardly any other school in the country has had the guard success that Illinois has had. This increase of elite talent isn’t a fluke; it’s a new blueprint for player development at Illinois. In just a few years, Brad Underwood has completely rewritten the script on how guards are built in Champaign.
From Ayo Dosunmu laying the foundation for what it means to be elite, to transfer additions like Terrence Shannon Jr. buying into the program and setting a new standard, to international prospects like Kasparas Jakučionis and Will Riley, both under 21 years old, putting the league on notice that Illinois isn’t just a mediocre Big Ten team without professional success anymore.
With Keaton Wagler now almost certainly the program’s next lottery pick, and the next wave of guards already arriving in Stefan Vaaks and Quentin Coleman, the culture around Illinois basketball has totally changed. Now, the debate isn’t about whether Illinois is a desirable destination anymore.
It’s whether any other school in the country can compete with the guard blueprint they’ve put on tape.
