1948–49 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1948–49 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

1948–49 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Big Ten Conference champions
NCAA men's Division I tournament, Final Four
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
AP	No. 4
Record	21–4 (10–2 Big Ten)
Head coach	Harry Combes (2nd season)
Assistant coaches	Howie Braun (12th season) Wally Roettger (14th season)
MVP	Dike Eddleman
Captain	Dike Eddleman
Home arena	Huff Hall

1948–49 Big Nine Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 4 Illinois	10	–	2		.833			21	–	4		.840
No. 6 Minnesota	9	–	3		.750			18	–	3		.857
Michigan	7	–	5		.583			15	–	6		.714
No. 20 Ohio State	6	–	6		.500			14	–	7		.667
Indiana	6	–	6		.500			14	–	8		.636
Purdue	6	–	6		.500			13	–	9		.591
Wisconsin	5	–	7		.417			12	–	10		.545
Iowa	3	–	9		.250			10	–	10		.500
Northwestern	2	–	10		.167			5	–	16		.238
Rankings from AP Poll

"1948-49 Fighting Illini men's basketball team"

Regular season

The 1948-49 squad, led by Dike Eddleman, Bill Erickson, and Walter Osterkorn, was Illinois’ first 20-game winner since 1908, finishing 21-4. Illinois beat Yale, 71-67, to advance to a national semifinal showdown with Kentucky at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Illini fell to the Wildcats, 76-47, forcing Illinois to defeat Oregon State, 57-53, in Seattle for third place.

Roster

1948–49 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown G 7 Jim Cottrell 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 167 lb (76 kg) So Champaign Central High School Champaign, Illinois F 8 Roy Gatewood 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 174 lb (79 kg) Jr Salem High School Salem, Illinois G 9 Dick Foley 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 165 lb (75 kg) Sr Paris High School Paris, Illinois C 10 Bill Boyer 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) So Beardstown High School Beardstown, Illinois G 11 Don Sunderlage 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 180 lb (82 kg) So Elgin High School Elgin, Illinois G 12 Richard Brogren 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So East High School Rockford, Illinois C 13 Walter Osterkorn 6 ft 4.5 in (1.94 m) 207 lb (94 kg) Jr Amundsen High School Chicago, Illinois F 14 Burdette Thurlby 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Jr Kirkland High School Kirkland, Illinois G 15 Paul Eckert 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 178 lb (81 kg) So Herrin High School Herrin, Illinois C 21 Walt Kersulis 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 197 lb (89 kg) Jr East St. Louis Senior High School East St. Louis, Illinois F 22 Van Anderson 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Jr Sullivan Community High School Sullivan, Illinois F 23 Ted Beach 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 165 lb (75 kg) So Champaign Central High School Champaign, Illinois F 24 Benton Odum 6 ft 0.5 in (1.84 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Jr Marion High School Marion, Illinois F 27 Jim Marks 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 177 lb (80 kg) Sr Edwardsville High School Edwardsville, Illinois F 30 Glen Trugillo 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 160 lb (73 kg) So East High School Rockford, Illinois G 31 Bill Hoffman 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So Wells High School Chicago, Illinois G 33 Bill Erickson 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 184 lb (83 kg) Jr East High School Rockford, Illinois C 36 Al Leavitt 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 230 lb (104 kg) So Sullivan High School Chicago, Illinois F 40 Dwight Eddleman (C) 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 189 lb (86 kg) Sr Centralia High School Centralia, Illinois C 48 Fred Green 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 208 lb (94 kg) Sr Urbana High School Urbana, Illinois	Head coach Harry Combes (University of Illinois) (2nd year) Assistant coach(es) Wally Roettger (University of Illinois) (14th year) Howie Braun (University of Illinois) (12th year) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Schedule

Source

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/3/1948* no, no		Butler	W 67–62	1–0	Huff Hall (–) Champaign, IL
12/8/1948* no, no		at Notre Dame	W 59–58 OT	2–0	Notre Dame Fieldhouse (–) Notre Dame, IN
12/11/1948* no, no		vs. DePaul	L 50–60	2–1	Chicago Stadium (17,189) Chicago, IL
12/13/1948* no, no		Oklahoma	W 73–68	3–1	Huff Hall (6,902) Champaign, IL
12/18/1948* no, no		Pennsylvania	W 80–61	4–1	Huff Hall (3,943) Champaign, IL
12/20/1948* no, no		DePaul	W 89–51	5–1	Huff Hall (6,013) Champaign, IL
12/21/1948* no, no		Cornell	W 71–47	6–1	Huff Hall (3,042) Champaign, IL
12/29/1948* no, no		Colgate	W 77–54	7–1	Huff Hall (4,541) Champaign, IL
12/30/1948* no, no		Colgate	W 85–55	8–1	Huff Hall (3,880) Champaign, IL
Big Ten regular season
1/3/1949 no, no		Wisconsin	W 62–50	9–1 (1–0)	Huff Hall (–) Champaign, IL
1/8/1949 no, no		at Indiana Rivalry	W 44–42 2OT	10–1 (2–0)	The Field House (10,000) Bloomington, IN
1/10/1949 no, no		at Ohio State	W 64–63	11–1 (3–0)	Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (6,958) Columbus, OH
1/15/1949* no, no		Creighton	W 96–30	12–1	Huff Hall (6,958) Champaign, IL
1/29/1949 no, no	No. 7	No. 4 Minnesota	W 45–44	13–1 (4–0)	Huff Hall (6,905) Champaign, IL
1/31/1949 no, no	No. 6	at Purdue	L 53–55	13–2 (4–1)	Lambert Fieldhouse (10,000) West Lafayette, IN
2/5/1949 no, no	No. 4	at Wisconsin	W 61–54	14–2 (5–1)	Wisconsin Field House (13,500) Madison, WI
2/7/1949 no, no	No. 4	Northwestern Rivalry	W 85–66	15–2 (6–1)	Huff Hall (12,088) Champaign, IL
2/12/1949 no, no	No. 4	No. 18 Ohio State	W 64–49	16–2 (7–1)	Huff Hall (6,905) Champaign, IL
2/21/1949 no, no	No. 4	Iowa Rivalry	W 80–49	17–2 (8–1)	Huff Hall (–) Champaign, IL
2/26/1949 no, no	No. 4	vs. Northwestern Rivalry	W 81–64	18–2 (9–1)	Chicago Stadium (17,905) Chicago, IL
2/28/1949 no, no	No. 4	Indiana Rivalry	W 91–28	19–2 (10–1)	Huff Hall (–) Champaign, IL
3/7/1949 no, no	No. 4	at Michigan	L 53–70	19–3 (10–2)	Yost Field House (–) Ann Arbor, MI
NCAA tournament
3/21/1949* no, no	No. 4	vs. Yale NCAA tournament	W 71–67	20–3	Madison Square Garden (18,051) New York, NY
3/22/1949* no, no	No. 4	vs. No. 1 Kentucky NCAA Tournament Final Four	L 47–76	20–4	Madison Square Garden (15,126) New York, NY
3/26/1949* no, no	No. 4	vs. Oregon State NCAA Tournament 3rd place game	W 57–53	21–4	Hec Edmundson Pavilion (–) Seattle, WA
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

NCAA basketball tournament

• Eastern
  • Illinois 71, Yale 67
• Final Four
  • Kentucky 76, Illinois 47
• Third-place game
  • Illinois 57, Oregon State 53

Rankings

Main article: 1948–49 NCAA men's basketball rankings

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Points
Dwight Eddleman	25	130	69	329
Wally Osterkorn	25	90	81	261
Bill Erickson	25	91	79	261
Fred Green	25	65	24	154
Don Sunderlage	25	57	39	153
Jim Marks	20	53	27	133
Walt Kersulis	20	43	23	109
Burdette Thurlby	17	36	21	93
Van Anderson	23	32	8	72
Dick Foley	24	24	11	59
Ted Beach	14	13	8	34
Roy Gatewood	9	9	4	22
Richard Brogren	6	4	3	11
Glen Trugillo	10	2	2	6
Benton Odum	3	1	3	3
Jim Cottrell	5	1	1	3
Bill Boyer	2	0	0	0

Awards and honors

• Dwight Eddleman
  • Converse 1st team All-American (1949)
  • Associated Press 2nd team All-American (1949)
  • United Press International 2nd team All-American (1949)
  • Chicago Tribune Silver Basketball award (1949)
  • Big Ten Player of the Year (1949)
  • Fighting Illini All-Century team (2005)
  • Team Most Valuable Player
• Bill Erickson
  • Consensus 2nd team All-American (1949)
  • Helms 1st team All-American (1949)
  • Collier's Weekly 1st team All-American (1949)
  • National Association of Basketball Coaches 1st team All-American (1949)
  • United Press International 3rd team All-American (1949)
  • Sporting News 3rd team All-American (1949)
  • Converse Honorable Mention All-American (1949)

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
3	N/A	Dike Eddleman	Chicago Stags

Rankings

Main article: 1948–49 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings