The foundation for the effusive praise Donovan and teammates, from DeMar DeRozan to Zach LaVine to Alex Caruso, have heaped on the rookie has been laid for years. Not that any of this comes as a surprise to those who know Dosunmu. “I do it as a proud coach, because he was fun to coach, and I'm glad he's growing every day.
“I spend as much time texting through his moments as I do everything else,” Underwood chided. And every break in the action a chance to recount the young guard’s exploits in text chains with Illinois players, fellow coaches, and even Dosunmu’s family. In turn, every Bulls broadcast has become not just appointment viewing (Underwood says he’s watched at least segments of every game), but a celebration. In Ayo's case, you couldn't ask for a better situation." “It's nice to have one of your former players doing great and starting to achieve and starting to grow and get better. But really good players have to go through some adversity to make it. “All of a sudden here we go, second semester, and we've got a completely different guy. “After that, you find out - some kids quit, some mope around - Ayo just got back in the gym and said ‘I'm getting better,’” Underwood said. A few weeks later, the calendar flipped, and the Morgan Park High School product followed suit, averaging 15 points on 45.1 percent field-goal shooting in the season’s final 20 games. He went through some tough moments.”īut Underwood, who coached Dosunmu for three seasons at Illinois, also remembers what happened next. “And you looked out there and Ayo had elbow pads on, knee pads, thigh pads, shin pads, tailbone pads. “He might've set a missed record for the most missed layups,” Underwood recalled in a phone interview with NBC Sports Chicago. Making matters worse, promising freshman Ayo Dosunmu looked lost and out of sorts, scoring 5 points on 1-for-9 shooting. 5, 2018, Illinois had just dropped to 2-7 with a neutral-site loss to 19th-ranked Ohio State at the United Center.
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