1948–49 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

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Ranking
AP	No. 4

1948–49 Big Nine Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	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

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

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

No.	Player	Position	Height	Weight	Class	Hometown	High School
6	Jim Cottrell	G	5–10	167	So.	Champaign, Illinois	Champaign Central High School
8	Roy Gatewood	F	6–2	174	Jr.	Salem, Illinois	Salem High School
9	Dick Foley	G	6–0	165	Sr.	Paris, Illinois	Paris High School
10	Bill Boyer	C	6–4	190	So.	Beardstown, Illinois	Beardstown High School
11	Don Sunderlage	G	6–0	180	So.	Elgin, Illinois	Elgin High School
12	Richard Brogren	G	5–11	175	So.	Rockford, Illinois	Rockford East High School
13	Wally Osterkorn	F-C	6–4 1/2	207	Jr.	Chicago, Illinois	Amundsen High School
14	Burdette Thurlby	G	6–2	180	Jr.	Kirkland, Illinois	Kirkland High School
15	Paul Eckert	G	6–1	178	So.	Herrin, Illinois	Herrin High School
21	Walt Kersulis	C	6–4	197	Jr.	East St. Louis, Illinois	East St. Louis Senior High School
22	Van Anderson	F	6–2	185	Jr.	Sullivan, Illinois	Sullivan Community High School
23	Ted Beach	F	6–1	165	So.	Champaign, Illinois	Champaign High School
24	Benton Odum	F	6-1/2	175	Jr.	Marion, Illinois	Marion High School
27	Jim Marks	F	6–2	177	Sr.	Edwardsville, Illinois	Edwardsville High School
30	Glen Trugillo	F	5–11	160	So.	Rockford, Illinois	East High School
31	Bill Hoffman	G	6–0	175	So.	Chicago, Illinois	Wells High School
33	Bill Erickson	G	6–1	184	Jr.	Rockford, Illinois	East High School
36	Al Leavitt	C	6–5	230	So.	Chicago, Illinois	Sullivan High School
40	Dwight Eddleman (captain)	F	6–2	189	Sr.	Centralia, Illinois	Centralia High School
48	Fred Green	C	6–7	208	Sr.	Urbana, Illinois	Urbana High School

Head Coach: Harry Combes (2nd year at Illinois)^[1]

Schedule

Source^[2]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
12/3/1948* no, no	No. NR	vs. Butler	W 67-62	1-0	Huff Hall (-) Champaign, IL
12/8/1948* no, no	No. NR	@ Notre Dame	W 59–58 ^ot	2-0	Notre Dame Fieldhouse (-) Notre Dame, IN
12/11/1948* no, no	No. NR	vs. DePaul	L 50–60	2-1	Chicago Stadium (17,189) Chicago, IL
12/13/1948* no, no	No. NR	vs. Oklahoma	W 73–68	3-1	Huff Hall (6,902) Champaign, IL
12/18/1948* no, no	No. NR	vs. Pennsylvania	W 80–61	4-1	Huff Hall (3,943) Champaign, IL
12/20/1948* no, no	No. NR	vs. DePaul	W 89–51	5-1	Huff Hall (6,013) Champaign, IL
12/21/1948* no, no	No. NR	vs. Cornell	W 71–47	6-1	Huff Hall (3,042) Champaign, IL
12/29/1948* no, no	No. NR	vs. Colgate	W 77–54	7-1	Huff Hall (4,541) Champaign, IL
12/30/1948* no, no	No. NR	vs. Colgate	W 85–55	8-1	Huff Hall (3,880) Champaign, IL
1/3/1949 no, no	No. NR	vs. Wisconsin	W 62–50	9-1 (1-0)	Huff Hall (-) Champaign, IL
1/8/1949 no, no	No. NR	@ Indiana	W 44–42 ^2ot	10-1 (2-0)	Men's Gymnasium (10,000) Bloomington, IN
1/10/1949 no, no	No. NR	@ Ohio State	W 64–63	11-1 (3-0)	Ohio Expo Center Coliseum (6,958) Columbus, OH
1/15/1949* no, no	No. NR	vs. Creighton	W 96–30	12-1	Huff Hall (6,958) Champaign, IL
1/29/1949 no, no	No. 7	vs. Minnesota (#4)	W 45–44	13-1 (4-0)	Huff Hall (6,905) Champaign, IL
1/31/1949 no, no	No. 6	@ Purdue	L 53–55	13-2 (4-1)	Lambert Fieldhouse (10,000) West Lafayette, IN
2/5/1949 no, no	No. 4	@ Wisconsin	W 61–54	14-2 (5-1)	Wisconsin Field House (13,500) Madison, WI
2/7/1949 no, no	No. 4	vs. Northwestern	W 85–66	15-2 (6-1)	Huff Hall (12,088) Champaign, IL
2/12/1949 no, no	No. 4	vs. Ohio State (#18)	W 64–49	16-2 (7-1)	Huff Hall (6,905) Champaign, IL
2/21/1949 no, no	No. 4	vs. Iowa	W 80–49	17-2 (8-1)	Huff Hall (-) Champaign, IL
2/26/1949 no, no	No. 4	vs. Northwestern	W 81–64	18-2 (9-1)	Chicago Stadium (17,905) Chicago, IL
2/28/1949 no, no	No. 4	vs. Indiana	W 91–28	19-2 (10-1)	Huff Hall (-) Champaign, IL
3/7/1949 no, no	No. 4	@ Michigan	L 53–70	19-3 (10-2)	Yost Ice Arena (-) Ann Arbor, MI
3/21/1949* no, no	No. 4	vs. Yale NCAA Tournament^[3]	W 71–67	20-3	Madison Square Garden (18,051) New York, NY
3/22/1949* no, no	No. 4	vs. Kentucky (#1) 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

^[4]

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

^[5]

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 ^[6]
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

^[7]

Rankings

References

[1] All-Time Illini Rosters

[2] University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1948-49, FightingIllini.com

[3] ttp://www.databasesports.com/ncaab/tourney.htm?yr=1949

[4] ttp://www.databasesports.com/ncaab/tourney.htm?yr=1949

[5] Season Stats

[6] List of MVPs

[7] 1949 NBA Draft

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

v t e Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Venues	Kenney Gym (1906–1925) Huff Hall (1926–1963) State Farm Center (1963–present) Prairie Capital Convention Center (2015)
Rivalries	Indiana Iowa Missouri Northwestern
Culture & lore	Whiz Kids Flyin' Illini Orange Krush Fighting Illini Sports Network Oskee Wow-Wow Illinois Loyalty Chief Illiniwek 1960s slush fund scandal
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics