The 1949-50 season looked to have solid promise based on the fact that the team had 3 returning starters from a "Final Four" team a year earlier. Unfortunately for the Fighting Illini men's basketball team, the conference season proved to be more difficult than expected. With 5 of the team's 8 losses coming at the hands of conference competition, the Illini, not only placed in a third place tie in the Big Ten, they also missed out on the opportunity to play in a post-season tournament. Head coach Harry Combes had guided the team a year earlier to a Big Ten championship, a third place finish in the 1949 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and a final AP ranking of No. 4 in the nation. The 1949-50 team compiled an overall record of 14 wins and 8 losses with a conference record of 7 wins and 5 losses. The starting lineup included captainWilliam Erickson, Roy Gatewood and Donald Sunderlage as forwards, Rodney Fletcher, and Burdette Thurlby at guard and Walter Osterkorn and Mack Follmer rotating at the center position.[1]
Roster
1949–50 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
1949, illinois, fighting, illini, basketball, team, 1949, illinois, fighting, illini, basketball, team, represented, university, illinois, 1949, illinois, fighting, illini, basketballconferencebig, conferencerecord14, head, coachharry, combesassistant, coachho. The 1949 50 Illinois Fighting Illini men s basketball team represented the University of Illinois 1949 50 Illinois Fighting Illini men s basketballConferenceBig Ten ConferenceRecord14 8 7 5 Big Ten Head coachHarry CombesAssistant coachHowie BraunMVPWally OsterkornCaptainBill EricksonHome arenaHuff HallSeasons 1948 491950 51 1949 50 Big Nine Conference men s basketball standingsvte Conf OverallTeam W L PCT W L PCTNo 2 Ohio State 11 1 917 22 4 846No 16 Wisconsin 9 3 750 17 5 773No 20 Indiana 7 5 583 17 5 773Illinois 7 5 583 14 8 636Iowa 6 6 500 15 7 682Minnesota 4 8 333 13 9 591Michigan 4 8 333 11 11 500Northwestern 3 9 250 10 12 455Purdue 3 9 250 9 13 409Rankings from AP Poll Contents 1 Regular season 1 1 Roster 2 Schedule 3 Rankings 4 Player stats 5 Awards and honors 6 Team players drafted into the NBA 7 Rankings 8 ReferencesRegular season EditThe 1949 50 season looked to have solid promise based on the fact that the team had 3 returning starters from a Final Four team a year earlier Unfortunately for the Fighting Illini men s basketball team the conference season proved to be more difficult than expected With 5 of the team s 8 losses coming at the hands of conference competition the Illini not only placed in a third place tie in the Big Ten they also missed out on the opportunity to play in a post season tournament Head coach Harry Combes had guided the team a year earlier to a Big Ten championship a third place finish in the 1949 NCAA Men s Division I Basketball Tournament and a final AP ranking of No 4 in the nation The 1949 50 team compiled an overall record of 14 wins and 8 losses with a conference record of 7 wins and 5 losses The starting lineup included captain William Erickson Roy Gatewood and Donald Sunderlage as forwards Rodney Fletcher and Burdette Thurlby at guard and Walter Osterkorn and Mack Follmer rotating at the center position 1 Roster Edit 1949 50 Illinois Fighting Illini men s basketball teamPlayers CoachesPos Name Height Weight Year Previous school HometownG 7 Jim Cottrell 5 ft 10 in 1 78 m 167 lb 76 kg Jr Champaign Central High School Champaign IllinoisF 8 Roy Gatewood 6 ft 2 in 1 88 m 174 lb 79 kg Sr Salem High School Salem IllinoisG 11 Don Sunderlage 6 ft 1 in 1 85 m 180 lb 82 kg Jr Elgin High School Elgin IllinoisC 13 Walter Osterkorn 6 ft 4 5 in 1 94 m 207 lb 94 kg Sr Amundsen High School Chicago IllinoisF 14 Burdette Thurlby 6 ft 2 in 1 88 m 180 lb 82 kg Sr Kirkland High School Kirkland IllinoisC 21 Walt Kersulis 6 ft 4 in 1 93 m 197 lb 89 kg Sr East St Louis Senior High School East St Louis IllinoisF 22 Van Anderson 6 ft 2 in 1 88 m 185 lb 84 kg Sr Sullivan Community High School Sullivan IllinoisF 23 Ted Beach 6 ft 1 in 1 85 m 165 lb 75 kg Jr Champaign Central High School Champaign IllinoisC 27 Mack Follmer 6 ft 4 in 1 93 m 200 lb 91 kg So Forrest High School Forrest IllinoisF 30 Glen Trugillo 5 ft 11 in 1 8 m 160 lb 73 kg Jr East High School Rockford IllinoisG 33 Bill Erickson C 6 ft 1 in 1 85 m 184 lb 83 kg Sr East High School Rockford IllinoisG 34 Seymour Gantman 5 ft 7 in 1 7 m 165 lb 75 kg So Marshall High School Chicago IllinoisG 35 Ren Alde 6 ft 2 in 1 88 m 180 lb 82 kg So Pana High School Pana IllinoisG 37 Rod Fletcher 6 ft 4 in 1 93 m 194 lb 88 kg So Champaign Central High School Champaign IllinoisG 38 Herb Gerecke 6 ft 1 in 1 85 m 180 lb 82 kg So Pekin High School Pekin IllinoisJohn Marks Jr Edwardsville High School Edwardsville IllinoisCliff Fulton Sr Mooseheart High School Mooseheart Illinois Head coachHarry Combes University of Illinois 3rd year Assistant coach es Howie Braun University of Illinois 13th year Legend C Team captain S Suspended I Ineligible W Walk on Injured Current redshirtAll Time Illini RosterSource 2 Schedule EditSource 3 Datetime TV Rank Opponent Result Record Site attendance city stateNon Conference regular season12 3 1949 no no No NR Butler W 60 56 1 0 Hinkle Fieldhouse 7 704 Indianapolis IN12 8 1949 no no No NR vs Toledo W 67 51 2 0 Huff Hall 6 905 Champaign IL12 10 1949 no no No NR Oklahoma L 47 55 2 1 McCasland Field House 4 500 Norman OK12 14 1949 no no No NR vs Arkansas W 65 53 3 1 Huff Hall 6 905 Champaign IL12 17 1949 no no No NR vs Oklahoma W 57 47 4 1 Huff Hall 6 905 Champaign IL12 22 1949 no no No NR vs St Louis W 59 47 5 1 Huff Hall 5 333 Champaign IL12 23 1949 no no No NR vs UCLA L 63 65 5 2 Huff Hall 6 905 Champaign IL12 27 1949 no no No NR vs Columbia W 58 46 6 2 Huff Hall 4 760 Champaign IL12 30 1949 no no No NR vs Princeton W 68 61 7 2 Huff Hall 4 593 Champaign ILBig Ten regular season1 2 1950 no no No NR Wisconsin L 50 59 7 3 0 1 Wisconsin Field House 13 000 Madison WI1 7 1950 no no No 16 Ohio State L 62 83 7 4 0 2 Ohio Expo Center Coliseum Columbus OH1 9 1950 no no No NR vs Purdue W 59 54 8 4 1 2 Huff Hall 6 905 Champaign IL1 16 1950 no no No NR vs Northwestern W 76 50 9 4 2 2 Huff Hall 6 905 Champaign IL1 21 1950 no no No NR vs Ohio State No 11 W 66 50 10 4 3 2 Huff Hall 6 905 Champaign IL2 1 1950 no no No 20 St Louis L 42 62 10 5 Bauman Eberhardt Center St Louis MO2 4 1950 no no No NR Minnesota W 67 57 11 5 4 2 Williams Arena 13 527 Minneapolis MN2 11 1950 no no No NR Iowa Rivalry L 65 70 11 6 4 3 Iowa Field House 13 394 Iowa City IA2 13 1950 no no No NR vs Indiana No 16 Rivalry L 72 83 11 7 4 4 Huff Hall 6 905 Champaign IL2 18 1950 no no No NR vs Michigan W 70 60 12 7 5 4 Huff Hall 6 905 Champaign IL2 25 1950 no no No NR vs Wisconsin W 76 58 13 7 6 4 Huff Hall 6 905 Champaign IL2 27 1950 no no No NR Indiana No 17 Rivalry L 66 80 13 8 6 5 The Field House 10 036 Bloomington IN3 4 1950 no no No NR vs Northwestern W 69 52 14 8 7 5 Chicago Stadium 14 200 Chicago IL Non conference game Rankings from AP Poll Tournament seedings in parentheses All times are in Central Time Rankings EditMain article 1949 50 NCAA men s basketball rankingsPlayer stats EditPlayer Games Played Field Goals Free Throws PointsWally Osterkorn 22 125 83 333Bill Erickson 22 78 73 229Burdette Thurlby 21 57 52 166Don Sunderlage 22 54 45 153Rod Fletcher 19 39 24 102Roy Gatewood 17 38 18 94Mack Follmer 22 34 13 81Van Anderson 19 25 14 64Walt Kersulis 19 23 14 60Ted Beach 19 20 13 53Cliff Fulton 17 7 7 21Herb Gerecke 6 3 5 11Seymour Gantman 7 3 3 9Jim Cottrell 4 1 2 4John Marks 1 1 0 2Glen Trugillo 2 1 0 2Ron Alde 1 0 0 0 4 Awards and honors EditBill Erickson Converse Honorable Mention All American 1950 Wally Osterkorn Team Most Valuable Player 5 Team players drafted into the NBA EditRound Pick Player NBA Club2 15 Wally Osterkorn Chicago Stags7 83 Bill Erickson Tri Cities Blackhawks 6 Rankings EditMain article 1949 50 NCAA Division I men s basketball rankingsReferences Edit Fighting Illini Basketball A Hardwood History By News Gazette Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1 58261 356 7 Men s Basketball Roster University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1949 50 Archived 2014 04 07 at the Wayback Machine FightingIllini com Season Stats Archived from the original on 2014 04 07 Retrieved 2014 03 31 List of MVPs PDF Archived from the original PDF on 2014 10 30 Retrieved 2013 01 15 1950 NBA Draft Archived 2010 01 17 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 1949 50 Illinois Fighting Illini men 27s basketball team amp oldid 1132905324, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
