1951–52 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1951–52 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Big Ten conference champions
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament, Final Four
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	#2
AP	#2
1951–52 record	22–4 (12-2 Big Ten)
Head coach	Harry Combes
Assistant coach	Howie Braun
Assistant coach	Cal Luther
MVP	Rod Fletcher
Captain	Rod Fletcher
Home arena	Huff Hall

	Conf				Overall
1951–52 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
#2 Illinois	12	–	2	.857	22	–	4	.846
#7 Iowa	11	–	3	.786	19	–	3	.864
Minnesota	10	–	4	.714	15	–	7	.682
Indiana	9	–	5	.643	16	–	6	.727
Michigan State	6	–	8	.429	13	–	9	.591
Ohio State	6	–	8	.429	8	–	14	.364
Wisconsin	5	–	9	.357	10	–	12	.455
Michigan	4	–	10	.286	7	–	15	.318
Northwestern	4	–	10	.286	7	–	15	.318
Purdue	3	–	11	.214	8	–	14	.364

Rankings from AP Poll

"1951-52 Fighting Illini men's basketball team"

"1951-52 Fighting Illini men's basketball team"

The 1951–52 Illinois Fighting Illini men’s basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1951-52 Fighting Illini men's basketball team had reached a level of national prominence that was only bettered by the 1914-15 national championship team. Head coach Harry Combes had guided his team to a Big Ten championship, a third place finish in the 1952 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and a final AP ranking of #2 in the nation. Combes was beginning to build a dynasty in Champaign with 3 Big Ten Championships and 3 third place finishes in the NCAA tournament in his first 5 years at the helm. The 1951-52 season not only brought Illinois another Big Ten title, it also introduced John Kerr, a center from Tilden Tech in Chicago. He began his three-year reign as Illinois’ top scorer with a sophomore-record 357 points. The Illini recorded a 22-4 overall mark and went 12-2 in the conference. Once again, Illinois advanced to the national semifinals and ran into underdog St. John’s. The Redmen fought their way to a 61-59 victory in the NCAA’s first Final Four, in Seattle. Illinois took another third-place award home after beating Santa Clara, 67-64, behind 26 points by Kerr. At the conclusion of the tournament, Kerr and James Bredar were named to the Final Four All-Tournament team. Subsequently, at the conclusion of the season, Rodney Fletcher was named a Consensus 1st team All-American.

The starting lineup for the season included captain Rodney Fletcher, James Bredar and Irving Bemoras at guard, Clive Follmer at the forward slot with Robert Peterson and, future hall of famer Johnny "Red" Kerr at the center position. The team also included former University of Minnesota head coach Jim Dutcher.^[1]

Roster

No.	Player	Position	Height	Weight	Class	Hometown	High School
9	Elmer Plew	Guard	6-0	170	Freshman	Paris, Illinois	Paris High School
11	Jim Dutcher	Forward	6–3	185	Freshman	Downers Grove, Illinois	Downers Grove High School
16	Jim Wright	Guard	6–0	160	Sophomore	Lawrenceville, Illinois	Lawrenceville High School
19	James Bredar	Guard	5–11	167	Junior	Salem, Illinois	Salem High School
22	Johnny Kerr	Center	6–9	205	Sophomore	Chicago, Illinois	Tilden High School
24	Ed Makovsky	Forward	6–5	194	Freshman	Cicero, Illinois	Morton High School
25	Robert Peterson	Center	6–8	235	Junior	Wayne, Illinois	Elgin High School
26	Irving Bemoras	Guard	6–3 1/2	185	Junior	Chicago, Illinois	Marshall High School
27	Mack Follmer	Center	6–4	200	Senior	Forrest, Illinois	Forrest High School
29	Max Baumgardner	Forward	6-3	175	Junior	Sterling, Illinois	Sterling High School
33	Clive Follmer	Forward	6-4	195	Junior	Forrest, Illinois	Forrest High School
34	Seymour Gantman	Guard	5–7	165	Senior	Chicago, Illinois	Marshall High School
35	Ren Alde	Guard	6–2	180	Senior	Pana, Illinois	Pana Senior High School
37	Rod Fletcher (captain)	Guard	6–4	194	Senior	Champaign, Illinois	Champaign Central High School
38	Herb Gerecke	Guard	6–1	180	Senior	Pekin, Illinois	Pekin High School
41	Max Hooper	Forward	6–5	200	Sophomore	Mt. Vernon, Illinois	Mt. Vernon High School
44	Walt Moore	Guard	6–2	165	Freshman	Mt. Vernon, Illinois	Mt. Vernon High School
47	Dick Christiansen	Forward	6–3 1/2	180	Senior	Winnetka, Illinois	New Trier High School
48	James Schuldt	Guard	6–0	193	Junior	Dundee, Illinois	Dundee Community High School

Head Coach: Harry Combes (5th year at Illinois)^[2]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Location	Attendance
December 8, 1951	Butler	68–57	Win	Indianapolis, IN	3,043
December 12, 1951	Loyola (Chicago)	74–66	Win	Champaign, IL	-
December 13, 1951	Oklahoma	69–51	Win	Champaign, IL	6,505
December 20, 1951	North Carolina	86–66	Win	Champaign, IL	2,899
December 22, 1951	DePaul	70–61	Win	Champaign, IL	-
December 28, 1951	UCLA (ranked #16)	73–67	Win	Champaign, IL	-
December 21, 1951	Marquette	68–57	Win	Champaign, IL	-
January 5, 1952	Minnesota	52–43	Win	Minneapolis, MN	17,862
January 7, 1952	Wisconsin	53–49	Win	Champaign, IL	6,912
March 12, 1952	Michigan	67–51	Win	Ann Arbor, MI	6,300
January 14, 1952	Indiana (ranked #4)	78–66	Win	Champaign, IL	6,912
January 26, 1952	DePaul	65–69	Loss	Chicago, IL	-
January 28, 1952	Purdue	84–57	Win	West Lafayette, IN	-
February 2, 1952	Ohio State	66–62	Win	Columbus, OH	8,265
February 9, 1952	Iowa (ranked #9)	68–73	Loss	Iowa City, IA	-
February 11, 1952	Michigan State	84–62	Win	Champaign, IL	6,912
February 16, 1952	Ohio State	80–53	Win	Champaign, IL	6,912
February 18, 1952	Indiana (ranked #20)	77–70	Win	Bloomington, IN	10,556
February 23, 1952	Iowa	78–62	Win	Champaign, IL	6,912
March 1, 1952	Purdue	82–71	Win	Champaign, IL	6,912
March 3, 1952	Northwestern	95–74	Win	Champaign, IL	6,912
March 8, 1952	Wisconsin	48–58	Loss	Madison, WI	13,000

Bold Italic connotes conference game

NCAA Mideast Regional, Chicago

Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Location	Attendance
March 21, 1952	Dayton (ranked #11)	80–61	Win	Chicago, IL	-
March 22, 1952	Duquesne (ranked #4)	74–68	Win	Chicago, IL	-

NCAA Finals, Seattle

Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Location	Attendance
March 25, 1952	St. Johns (ranked #10)	59–61	Loss	Seattle, WA	-
March 26, 1952	Santa Clara	67–64	Win	Seattle, WA	-

NCAA basketball tournament

East
- Illinois 80, Dayton 61
- Illinois 74, Duquesne 68
Final Four
- St. Johns, New York 61, Illinois 59
Third Place Game
- Illinois 67, Santa Clara 64

^[3]

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Points
John Kerr	26	143	71	357
Rod Fletcher	26	105	80	290
Irv Bemoras	26	108	69	285
Jim Bredar	26	104	52	260
Bob Peterson	26	87	77	251
Clive Follmer	20	73	91	237
Max Hooper	20	29	11	69
Herb Gerecke	20	21	17	59
Jim Wright	12	5	2	12
Dick Christiansen	10	5	1	11
Ed Makovsky	9	1	5	7
Jim Schuldt	7	1	4	6
Max Baumgardner	7	3	0	6
Jim Dutcher	5	2	2	6
Walt Moore	4	2	1	5
Mack Follmer	9	0	4	4

^[4]

Awards and honors

Rod Fletcher
- Consensus 1st team All-American (1952)
- Look Magazine 1st team All-American (1952)
- Converse 1st team All-American (1952)
- Helms 1st team All-American (1952)
- Associated Press 2nd team All-American (1952)
- United Press International 2nd team All-American (1952)
- International News Service 2nd team All-American (1952)
- Collier's Weekly 2nd team All-American (1952)
- National Association of Basketball Coaches 2nd team All-American (1952)
- Athletic Publications 2nd team All-American (1952)
- Team Most Valuable Player^[5]
Irv Bemoras
- Converse Honorable Mention All-American (1952)
- United Press International Honorable Mention All-American (1952)
Johnny Kerr
- NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team (1952)
- Converse Honorable Mention All-American (1952)
- United Press International Honorable Mention All-American (1952)
- Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American (1952)
Jim Bredar
- NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team (1952)
- United Press International Honorable Mention All-American (1952)
- Converse Honorable Mention All-American (1952)
Bob Peterson
- United Press International Honorable Mention All-American (1952)

Team players drafted into the NBA

Player	NBA Club
Rod Fletcher	Minneapolis Lakers

^[6]

References

↑ Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
↑ All-Time Illini Rosters
↑ http://www.databasesports.com/ncaab/tourney.htm?yr=1952
↑ Season Stats
↑ List of MVPs
↑ 1952 NBA Draft

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