Each year the Illinois Mr. Basketball award is given to the person chosen as the best high school boys basketball player in the U.S. state of Illinois.
The award has been given since 1981. Most of the award winners have gone on to play at the highest levels of college basketball, and many have gone on to play in the National Basketball Association. On April 5, 2010, Jon Scheyer became the second winner to also have played on both a high school state championship and a Division 1 NCAA championship team, along with Brian Sloan. In 2010 Jereme Richmond became the 11th winner to enroll at the University of Illinois. In 2012 Jabari Parker became the first non-senior to win the award.
Voting is done on a points system. Each voter selects first, second, and third-place votes. A player receives five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote, and one point for a third-place vote. The player who receives the most points receives the award.
| Year | Illinois Mr. Basketball | School | Points received | College |
| 2012 | Jabari Parker | Simeon Career Academy, Chicago | ||
| 2011 | Ryan Boatright Chasson Randle |
East Aurora High School, Aurora Rock Island High School, Rock Island |
257 | Connecticut Stanford |
| 2010 | Jereme Richmond | Waukegan High School, Waukegan | 455 | Illinois |
| 2009 | Brandon Paul | Warren Township High School, Gurnee | 337 | Illinois |
| 2008 | Kevin Dillard | Homewood-Flossmoor High School, Flossmoor | 228 | Southern Illinois University (transfer to Dayton) |
| 2007 | Derrick Rose | Simeon Career Academy, Chicago | 720 | Memphis |
| 2006 | Jon Scheyer | Glenbrook North High School, Northbrook | 1187 | Duke |
| 2005 | Julian Wright | Homewood-Flossmoor High School, Flossmoor | 645 | Kansas |
| 2004 | Shaun Livingston | Peoria Central High School, Peoria | 1056 | NBA (Letter of Intent: Duke) |
| 2003 | Shannon Brown | Proviso East High School, Maywood | 887 | Michigan State |
| 2002 | Dee Brown | Proviso East High School, Maywood | 952 | Illinois |
| 2001 | Eddy Curry | Thornwood High School, South Holland | 1443 | NBA (Letter of Intent: DePaul) |
| 2000 | Darius Miles | East St. Louis High School, East St. Louis, Illinois | 1264 | NBA (Letter of Intent: St. Johns) |
| 1999 | Brian Cook | Lincoln Community High School, Lincoln | 903 | Illinois |
| 1998 | Frank Williams | Manual High School, Peoria | 1049 | Illinois |
| 1997 | Sergio McClain | Manual High School, Peoria | 1361 | Illinois |
| 1996 | Ronnie Fields | Farragut Academy, Chicago | 1270 | CBA (letter of intent: DePaul) |
| 1995 | Kevin Garnett | Farragut Academy, Chicago | 1443 | NBA (letter of intent: DePaul) |
| 1994 | Jarrod Gee | St. Martin de Porres High School | 658 | Illinois |
| 1993 | Rashard Griffith | King College Prep High School, Chicago | 1329 | Wisconsin |
| 1992 | Chris Collins | Glenbrook North High School, Northbrook | 1195 | Duke |
| 1991 | Howard Nathan | Manual High School, Peoria | 822 | DePaul |
| 1990 | Jamie Brandon | King College Prep High School, Chicago | 826 | Louisiana State |
| 1989 | Deon Thomas | Simeon Vocational High School, Chicago | 959 | Illinois |
| 1988 | Eric Anderson | St. Francis de Sales High School, Chicago | 1490 | Indiana |
| 1987 | Marcus Liberty | King College Prep High School, Chicago | 1286 | Illinois |
| 1986 | Nick Anderson | Simeon Vocational High School, Chicago | 876 | Illinois |
| 1985 | Ed Horton | Lanphier High School, Springfield | 1735 | Iowa |
| 1984 | Brian Sloan | McLeansboro High School, McLeansboro | 1303 | Indiana |
| 1983 | Marty Simmons | Lawrenceville High School, Lawrenceville | 2056 | Evansville |
| 1982 | Bruce Douglas | Quincy Senior High School, Quincy | 1700 | Illinois |
| 1981 | Walter Downing | Providence Catholic High School, New Lenox | 1301 | Marquette |
Famous quotes containing the words illinois and/or basketball:
“An Illinois woman has invented a portable house which can be carried about in a cart or expressed to the seashore. It has also folding furniture and a complete camping outfit.”
—Lydia Hoyt Farmer (1842–1903)
“Perhaps basketball and poetry have just a few things in common, but the most important is the possibility of transcendence. The opposite is labor. In writing, every writer knows when he or she is laboring to achieve an effect. You want to get from here to there, but find yourself willing it, forcing it. The equivalent in basketball is aiming your shot, a kind of strained and usually ineffective purposefulness. What you want is to be in some kind of flow, each next moment a discovery.”
—Stephen Dunn (b. 1939)