1944–45 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1944–45 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Conference	Big Ten Conference
1944–45 record	13–7 (7–5 Big Ten)
Head coach	Douglas R. Mills
Assistant coach	Howie Braun
Assistant coach	Wally Roettger
MVP	Walton Kirk
Captain	Selected each game
Home arena	Huff Hall

	Conf				Overall
1944–45 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Iowa	11	–	1	.917	17	–	1	.944
Ohio State	10	–	2	.833	15	–	5	.750
Illinois	7	–	5	.583	13	–	7	.650
Purdue	6	–	6	.500	9	–	11	.450
Michigan	5	–	7	.417	12	–	7	.632
Wisconsin	4	–	8	.333	10	–	11	.476
Minnesota	4	–	8	.333	8	–	13	.381
Northwestern	4	–	8	.333	7	–	12	.368
Indiana	3	–	9	.250	10	–	11	.476
Chicago	0	–	0	–	7	–	8	.467

Rankings from AP Poll

"1944-45 Fighting Illini men's basketball team"

The 1944–45 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular Season

After the second worst season in Doug Mills tenure as the head coach of the Fighting Illini, the ongoing war created even more havoc with the 1944-45 season. The Illini were required to play games close to home which meant they played certain teams multiple times. For example, the team played Great Lakes three times, Chanute Field, in nearby Rantoul, Illinois, two times and George Mikan and the DePaul Blue Demons two times as well. As the season progressed, Mills experimented with several lineups, including a 19 player barrage versus Nebraska. These varied lineups allowed Mills to play an impressive freshman, Johnny Orr, playing his only season for Illinois prior to rejoining his high school coach, Dolph Stanley, at Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin.

The Big Ten Conference season was unusual as well. The Illini dropped their opening game to Michigan followed by a seven-game winning streak then concluding with four consecutive losses. The heaviest load fell on the hands of sophomores Walt Kirk and Howard Judson with freshman Walt Kersulis, Jack Burmaster, and Orr also being major contributors. Kirk would be named a Consensus All-American for his performance during the season.

The team completed their season with an overall record of 13 wins and 7 losses with a conference mark of 7 and 5 for a third place finish. They finished with a 7 - 3 record at home and a road record of 5 - 4. The starting lineup consisted of Walton Kirk, Howard Judson, Johnny Orr, Jack Burmaster, Don Delaney and Walt Kersulis.

Roster

No	Player	Position	Class	Hometown
3	Carl Bontemps	Guard	Freshman	Taylorville, Illinois
4	Vic Bubas	Guard	Freshman	Gary, Indiana
5	Jack Burmaster	Guard	Freshman	Elgin, Illinois
6	Don Delaney	Center	Junior	Sacramento, California
7	Maurice Dolan	Center	Junior	Champaign, Illinois
8	William Eddleman	Forward	Junior	Anna, Illinois
9	Leo Gedvillas	Guard	Sophomore	Spring Valley, Illinois
10	Gordon Hortin	Guard	Senior	Evansville, Indiana
11	Howard Judson	Forward	Sophomore	Hebron, Illinois
12	Walt Kersulis	Center	Freshman	East St. Louis, Illinois
13	Walt Kirk	Guard	Junior	Mt. Vernon, Illinois
14	John Larson	Center	Junior	Sioux City, Iowa
15	Roger Little	Guard	Freshman	Champaign, Illinois
16	Bob Morton	Forward	Sophomore	Elgin, Illinois
17	Walter Mroz	Forward	Freshman	Chicago, Illinois
18	Johnny Orr	Forward	Freshman	Taylorville, Illinois
19	Paul Schnackenberg	Forward	Freshman
20	Jim Seyler	Guard	Junior	Champaign, Illinois
21	Jake Staab	Forward	Junior	Chillicothe, Illinois
22	Lee Stickler	Guard	Sophomore	Alton, Illinois
23	Joe Sulenski	Forward	Freshman

Head Coach: Douglas Mills (9th year at Illinois) ^[1]

Record

Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Location	Attendance
December 2, 1944	Chanute Field	64–25	Win	Champaign, IL	3,500
December 8, 1944	Great Lakes	44–40	Win	Chicago, IL	9,845
December 9, 1944	Great Lakes	56–53	Win	Great Lakes, IL	2,400
December 16, 1944	DePaul	43–40	Win	Chicago, IL	-
December 20, 1944	Great Lakes	45–52	Loss	Champaign, IL	4,000
December 29, 1944	Nebraska	77–39	Win	Champaign, IL	2,500
January 1, 1945	DePaul	56–63	Loss	Champaign, IL	4,158
January 6, 1945	Michigan	38–43	Loss	Champaign, IL	4,200
January 13, 1945	Michigan	55–37	Win	Ann Arbor, MI	4,000
January 19, 1945	Northwestern	51–42	Win	Champaign, IL	4,210
January 26, 1945	Iowa	43–42	Win	Champaign, IL	6,000
February 6, 1945	Chanute Field	58–46	Win	Rantoul, IL	-
February 10, 1945	Minnesota	50–32	Win	Minneapolis, MN	4,520
February 12, 1945	Indiana	71–48	Win	Champaign, IL	4,620
February 16, 1945	Ohio State	56-41	Win	Champaign, IL	7,100
February 19, 1945	Minnesota	49–48	Win	Champaign, IL	4,657
February 23, 1945	Ohio State	44–60	Loss	Columbus, OH	-
February 24, 1945	Northwestern	45–47	Loss	Chicago, IL	15,862
February 28, 1945	Indiana	55–65	Loss	Bloomington, IN	3,500
March 3, 1945	Iowa	37–43	Loss	Iowa City, IA	14,400

Bold Italic connotes conference game

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Points
Walt Kirk	20	78	56	212
Howard Judson	20	73	24	170
Jack Burmaster	16	64	24	152
John Orr	20	51	18	120
Walt Kersulis	19	37	16	90
Don Delaney	19	30	23	83
Jimmy Seyler	20	29	16	74
Jake Staab	19	14	22	50
Robert Morton	14	17	7	41
Leo Gedvilas	12	11	3	25
Paul Schnackenberg	7	6	3	15
Joe Sulenski	3	2	0	4
Carl Bontemps	2	2	0	4
Vic Bubas	6	1	0	2
Jack Larson	1	1	0	2
Wallie Mroz	4	0	0	0
Gordon Hortin	5	0	0	0
William Eddleman	2	0	0	0
Maurice Dolan	1	0	0	0

^[2]

Awards and honors

Johnny Orr
- Big Ten Coach of the Year (1974) Michigan
- National Coach of the Year (1976) Michigan
Walt Kirk
- Consensus First-Team All-American (1945)
- Helms First-Team All-American (1945)
- Argosy Magazine Second-Team All-American (1945)
- Converse Honorable Mention All-American (1945)
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[3]

References

Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Venues	Kenney Gym (1906–1925) Huff Hall (1926–1963) State Farm Center (1963–present)

Rivalries	Missouri

Culture & lore	Whiz Kids Flyin' Illini Orange Krush Fighting Illini Sports Network Oskee Wow-Wow Illinois Loyalty Chief Illiniwek

People	Head coaches NBA draftees Consensus All-Americans

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 1999–00 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

Helms and NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics