“He is in town”: Kofi Cockburn Back In Champaign, Still Undecided On Basketball Future

Kofi Cockburn has been back in Champaign-Urbana but Illinois head coach Brad Underwood has no update on his future basketball plans.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Kofi is back, sort of.

Kofi Cockburn, the 7-foot center, who just finished his first season of college basketball as the Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Year selection, has returned to Champaign-Urbana after spending most of the spring in a COVID-19 stay-at-home order inside the Queens neighborhood of his hometown of New York. 

Illinois head coach Brad Underwood confirmed this news during a segment on a local ESPN radio show ‘The Drive with Lon Tay & Derek Piper’ but said the Jamaican-born post player was not ready to announce any future plans regarding his draft status.

“Kofi is going through the process of the draft, but he is in town and that’s for a lot of various reasons as we’ve had to deal with COVID,” Underwood said.

Underwood on Kofi:

"Kofi is going through the process of the Draft. But he is in town, and that's for a lot of various reasons, as we've had to deal with COVID... but he's still gathering information and doing that interview process as he continues to examine his future."

— The Drive w/ Lon Tay & Derek Piper (@TheDrive935) June 17, 2020

Illinois is currently still waiting on an official draft decision from both Cockburn and All-Big Ten guard Ayo Dosunmu. However, Dosunmu has maintained his position throughout the spring during multiple media opportunities that he’s “100% locked in” on turning pro.

“Whenever they announce a date, I'm prepared,” Dosunmu said in April. “Thirty GMs are going to see what I'm made of. Straight ice in my veins."

Underwood sounded rightfully concerned about the well-being of his highly-touted center when doing a media teleconference in April less than a month after the season ended due to the worldwide coronavirus epidemic. Cockburn had been spending the months of March and April in an aggressive stay-at-home order in New York, which was considered one of the hot spots for positive tests, hospitalizations and deaths in the country.

“The safety and the concern of our athletes is first and foremost, but he’s still gathering information and doing that interview process as he continues to examine his future,” Illinois head coach Brad Underwood said on the ESPN radio show ‘The Drive with Lon Tay & Derek Piper’. “But it’s always good to see that big fella walking around.”

He’s still gathering information and doing that interview process as he continues to examine his future,” Underwood on the ESPN radio show. “But it’s always good to see that big fella walking around.”

Cockburn was named the Big Ten Conference’s Freshman of the Year selection by both the media and coaches after averaging 13.3 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks while shooting 53.2 percent from the field. The 7-foot, 290-pound center from Queens, New York via Jamaica was an unanimous selection to the coaches' All-Freshman team and was a third-team All-Big Ten pick by the media while garnering All-Big Ten honorable mention accolades from the coaches. Cockburn was the fourth Illini player in school history to win the league's freshman of the year award, following Cory Bradford in 1999, Brian Cook in 2000 and D.J. Richardson in 2010.

Cockburn declared his intention to investigate the NBA Draft process on April 7 but declined to sign with an agent in order to preserve his eligibility for a potential sophomore season. In his latest draft rankings, The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie had Cockburn rated 100th among draft-eligible prospects in this 2021 player crop. The NBA Draft is typically just 60 selections per season.

According to Vecenie, the NBA, which is still finalizing a bubble plan to resume and finish its 2020-21 season at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, is planning “target date for a combine” in early-to-mid September. 

However, Illini fans will know Cockburn’s decision before a draft combine is likely to take place as the NCAA set a deadline to when draft-eligible prospects can pull out of consideration and officially return to their college programs. The NCAA announced early this month that men’s basketball players will have until 10 days after the NBA draft combine or a more likely date of Aug. 3 to withdraw from the postponed 2020 NBA draft and retain their eligibility.

“This provides the utmost flexibility to student-athletes testing the waters to make the most informed decision about their future during this uncertain time,” NCAA senior vice president for basketball Dan Gavitt said. “And by deciding before classes start for the fall semester, it also encourages student-athletes who choose to return to school to be fully engaged in their academic pursuits and the tremendous experience and opportunity to play college basketball.”