Illinois picked to win Big Ten by media

Illinois has been picked as the favorite to win the Big Ten men's basketball title in a poll of the league's writers.

The annual unofficial official media poll, which features 28 beat writers – two from each team – saw the Fighting Illini pick up 376 of a possible 392 points to finish ahead of runner-up Iowa (350 points).

Illinois received 16 first-place votes, with the remaining 12 split evenly between Iowa and Wisconsin, which finished third in the voting and only three points behind the Hawkeyes.

For a fourth straight year, the voting was tabulated as a joint venture by The Dispatch and The Athletic.

The Fighting Illini return Ayo Dosunmu, a first-team all-league player as voted by the media last season, and Kofi Cockburn, who was voted Big Ten freshman of the year by both the coaches and the media. Both players turned down the opportunity to enter the NBA draft to return and play for coach Brad Underwood, now entering his fourth season with the program.

Last season, the Illini finished fourth in the league with a 13-7 record, one game behind co-champions Maryland, Michigan State and Wisconsin. Illinois has won 17 Big Ten titles but none since 2005.

Iowa senior center Luka Garza, who like Dosunmu and Cockburn flirted with the NBA before deciding to return, was voted Big Ten preseason player of the year. He was voted player of the year last season by the coaches and media after leading the league in scoring at 23.9 points per game and finishing fourth in rebounding at 9.8.

Garza received 24 of the possible 28 votes. The other four went to Dosunmu.

Both players were unanimous selections to the all-conference team. They are joined by Indiana's Trayce JacksonDavis, a consensus third-team allleague pick and unanimous selection for the all-freshman team last season after averaging 13.5 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. Jackson-davis received 24 votes, and there was a threeway tie for the final two spots — Wisconsin's Nate Reuvers, Michigan's Franz Wagner and Cockburn each received 11 votes.

Illinois freshman Adam Miller (12 votes) edged out Indiana's Khristian Lander (10 votes) for preseason freshman of the year. Miller was the No. 33 national recruit in the 2020 class according to the 247Sports.com composite rankings, six spots below Lander, who was a five-star prospect. ajardy@dispatch.com @Adamjardy

PATRICK GORSKI/USA TODAY SPORTS Illinois looks loaded with, from left, guard Alan Griffin, forward Giorgi Bezhanishvili, guard Ayo Dosunmu, and center Kofi Cockburn. Dosunmu, a first-team all-league player last season and last year’s Big Ten freshman of the year, both turned down the opportunity to enter the NBA draft.