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Best Illinois basketball players: All-time Illini starting lineup

By Cody Williams

CHAMPAIGN, IL - JANUARY 05: Dee Brown #11 of the Illinois Fighting Illini brings the ball upcourt on his way to a career high 34 points against the Michigan State Spartans on January 5, 2006 in the Assembly Hall at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois. Illinois defeated Michigan State 60-50. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL - JANUARY 05: Dee Brown #11 of the Illinois Fighting Illini brings the ball upcourt on his way to a career high 34 points against the Michigan State Spartans on January 5, 2006 in the Assembly Hall at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois. Illinois defeated Michigan State 60-50. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /
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Best Illinois basketball players
(Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

Now we look to the wing where the first player in the Illinois basketball all-time starting lineup is Nick Weatherspoon — even if putting him at small forward is cheating a bit considering he played the bulk of his career dominating in the post. The 6-foot-7 forward came to the Fighting Illini and made an immediate impact.

Weatherspoon put up 16.6 points and 10.7 rebounds per game in his first year in the program. While those numbers are impressive in their own right, it speaks to Weatherspoon’s dominance that those were the worst numbers of his collegiate career.

As a sophomore in the 1971-72 season, the forward put up 20.8 points and 11.0 rebounds per contest. And as good as those numbers were, Weatherspoon, saved the best for his final season in the program as he posted averages of 25.0 points and 12.3 rebounds during the 1972-73 campaign, which earned him All-American and All-Big Ten selections.

Because of shorter seasons in his error (he only played in 24 games per year) and that he only played three years in college, Weatherspoon doesn’t rank terribly high on any career totals in Illinois basketball history. Having said that, his impact can still be measured.

Dominant in his era, Weatherspoon’s 20.9 points per game average for his entire career and 11.4 rebounds per game average for his career are the best in Fighting Illini history to date. And while he may be more of a big, he has the size to slot in at small forward.