One of college basketball’s biggest stars will have to wait a few extra days to begin his 2021–22 campaign.
Illinois junior center Kofi Cockburn, a returning Consensus All-American and the Big Ten’s preseason Player of the Year, has been suspended by the NCAA for the first three games of the season, per an Illinois release. The suspension relates to Cockburn selling his Illini team-issue gear on a website, The Players Trunk, in June, when Cockburn was still testing the NBA draft waters and widely expected, at that point, to remain in the draft. The sales were promoted well before July 1, when new NCAA name, image and likeness legislation took effect.