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Underwood: "It's not a good day, it's a great day for the history of Illinois basketball"
Underwood: Don't care about stars on guy. It's about fitting pieces of puzzle. This one just happens to be a 5-star
Underwood: After watching Ayo play for 5-10 minutes, this is a guy who fit a big piece of our puzzle.
Underwood: We have a system that we recruit to. Ayo is a winner, first and foremost. High-character young man.
Underwood: Ayo's talent speaks for itself. He's a top-30 kid. What I love the most about him is his competitive drive not to be good but to be great.
Underwood: When he was matched against other high-profile guards, there's no question who won those battles.
Underwood: Ayo has tremendous charisma and personality that is very, very contagious.
Underwood: Ayo has great speed, great length. Chance to be an elite defender who can guard multiple positions. Best layup maker I've seen in a long time.
Underwood: He's a guy who continued to improve. I take note of that.
Underwood: I think you'll see Ayo's stock rise. He's a potential McDonald's All-American. He's a potential Mr. Basketball. We're elated to have him.
Underwood: We have two scholarships left. We'll add a shooter in this class. And then we need to try to add one more piece of size.
Who those people will be, there's a lot of options out there. We'll continue to look for them.
Underwood: Important for us to take care of our home base, whether he plays in Chicago Public League or downstate.
Underwood: Ayo's got size and exceptional speed. I like guys who are different than other guys on roster. Has unique ability to get his own shot. A blur in transition.
Underwood: Wed' be foolish not to sell what Jawun Evans did in our system. There's a lot of similarities.
Underwood: I truly believe this, great players want to play with great players.
Underwood: Chin obviously had some previous history with Ayo. We group-recruit. We all dealt with his recruitment.
Underwood: One thing Ayo will continue to do is add strength. Biggest adjustment will be playing against guys who are older.
Underwood: "We got the best strength coach in the country" @Adam_Fletcher41
Underwood: I think Ayo is an underrated shooter. He doesn't have to shoot as many 3s because of how good he is at attacking the rim.
Underwood: Ayo and Mark Smith "are so similar in terms of what drives them."
Desire to not just be good but great
Underwood: Ayo and Mark "hit it off. Great players want to play with great players."
Underwood: Important for both Smith and Dosunmu to represent state.
Underwood: We'll take the two scholarships into the spring. A challenge for us is identifying our current team and what our needs are.
Underwood: If the right transfer comes along, we'll be interested.
Underwood: The world's a big place. We have a staff that recruits worldwide.
Underwood: Transfer has to have the immediate impact. Has to fit a need. I like growth, which is why I like HS guys.
Underwood: We got our guy. We got the guy who impacts our program.
Underwood: Hope our relationship in Chicago is great.
Underwood: We lost our swagger. I'm here to bring it back. I'm going to bring it back. There's no question about that.
Underwood: We're not just going to be a player in this state. We're going to be a major player.
Asked Underwood about Chicago recruiting being territorial. Said media focuses on that more than the reality. "We do the best thing we can for Illinois basketball in terms of fitting our puzzle."
