1945–46 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1945–46 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Conference	Big Ten Conference
1945–46 record	14–7 (7–5 Big Ten)
Head coach	Douglas R. Mills
Assistant coach	Howie Braun
Assistant coach	Wally Roettger David M. Bullock (Trainer)^[1]
MVP	Bob Doster
Captain	Walton Kirk
Home arena	Huff Hall

1945–46 Big Nine Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Ohio State	10	–	2	.833	16	–	5	.762
Indiana	9	–	3	.750	18	–	3	.857
Iowa	8	–	4	.667	14	–	4	.778
Northwestern	8	–	4	.667	15	–	5	.750
Illinois	7	–	5	.583	14	–	7	.667
Minnesota	7	–	5	.583	14	–	7	.667
Michigan	6	–	6	.500	12	–	7	.632
Purdue	4	–	8	.333	10	–	11	.476
Wisconsin	1	–	11	.083	4	–	17	.190
Chicago	0	–	12	.000	6	–	14	.300

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1945–46 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The modern era of college basketball unofficially began with the 1945-46 season and the University of Illinois was quick to offer a team that was rebuilding its post-war image to that of a contender. Future hall of fame coaches Johnny Orr and Vic Bubas left the team to join in with the war effort as did Walt Kersulis, a top 5 scorer from the previous season and Consensus First-Team All-American and team captain Walt Kirk. The addition of freshman Bob Doster and Dwight Humphrey to a lineup that included team Jack Burmaster, Robert Rowe and Walter Mroz became formidable opponents to every team they played including a no. 1 ranked DePaul. On December 29, 1945, the Fighting Illini took on George Mikan's Blue Demons, who had lost just eight games in three years, and defeated them by a score of 56-37. In the game Burmaster and Doster each scored 14 points with Mroz adding 11 in the second half. The victory proved that, even without team captain Kirk, who had gone to serve in the armed services, the young team was ready to take on all comers. The 1945 Blue Demons went on to win the 1945 National Invitation Tournament. Additionally, the 1945-46 season would be the finale for the University of Chicago as part of the Big Ten. Illinois would defeat the Maroons two times during the year, 70-28 and 85-24. Due to the departure of Chicago, the Big Ten would become the Big Nine until Michigan State joined the conference in 1950.

Mills used 31 players during the course of the season and had an overall record of 14 wins and 7 losses with a conference mark of 7 and 5, finishing in a fifth place tie in the Big Ten. The team finished with an 11 - 2 record at home and a road record of 3 - 5. Future All-American Dwight "Dike" Eddleman would appear in two games during the course of the season, as well as future North Carolina A&T Aggies, hall-of-fame men's basketball coach, Cal Irvin, would appear in one game.

Roster

No	Player	Position	Height	Weight	Class	Hometown	High School
7	Hal Craig	Forward	6' 0"	160	Freshman	Decatur, Illinois	Decatur High School
9	Jimmy Seyler	Guard	5' 11"	170	Senior	Centralia, Illinois	Centralia High School
10	Jake Staab	Forward	6' 2"	170	Senior	Chillicothe, Illinois	Chillicothe High School
11	Leo Swinford	Forward	5' 10"	160	Freshman	Paris, Illinois	Paris High School
12	Leo Gedvilas	Guard	6' 0"	175	Sophomore	Spring Valley, Illinois	Hall High School
13	Walt Kirk (captain)	Guard	6' 3"	175	Junior	Mt. Vernon, Illinois	Mt. Vernon High School
14	Arthur Smiley	Guard	6' 3"	195	Junior	Waterman, Illinois	Waterman High School
15	Robert Menke	Center	6' 3"	185	Freshman	Elgin, Illinois	Elgin High School
16	Robert Doster	Forward	6' 0"	165	Freshman	Decatur, Illinois	Decatur High School
17	Joseph Rodriguez	Guard	5' 10"	165	Sophomore	Niagara Falls, New York	Niagara Falls High School
18	Paul Eckert	Guard	6' 1"	180	Freshman	Herrin, Illinois	Herrin High School
19	Robert Rowe	Center	6' 7"	195	Freshman	Warren, Illinois	Warren High School
20	Walter Mroz	Forward	5' 9"	145	Sophomore	Chicago, Illinois	Chicago Public Schools
22	Dean Meador	Forward	5' 8"	140	Freshman	Patoka, Illinois	Patoka Senior High School
23	William Eddleman	Guard	6' 0"	170	Senior	Anna, Illinois	Anna-Jonesboro Community High School
24	Van Anderson	Forward	6' 1"	185	Freshman	Sullivan, Illinois	Sullivan Community High School
26	George Leddy	Guard	6' 0"	165	Freshman	Chicago, Illinois	Chicago Public Schools
27	Ray McClure	Forward	5' 11"	156	Freshman	Galesburg, Illinois	Galesburg High School
29	Dwight Humphrey	Forward	5' 8"	138	Freshman	Moline, Illinois	Moline High School
30	Robert Jones	Center	6' 3"	200	Freshman	West Frankfort, Illinois	Frankfort Community High School
31	William Edwards	Center	6' 2"	176	Freshman	Staunton, Illinois	Staunton High School
33	Robert Olson	Guard	6' 0"	180	Freshman	St. Elmo, Illinois	St. Elmo Junior-Senior High School
38	Jack Burmaster	Guard	6' 2"	175	Sophomore	Elgin, Illinois	Elgin High School
40	Dwight Eddleman	Forward	6' 2"	190	Sophomore	Centralia, Illinois	Centralia High School
41	Jack Pierce	Guard	5' 10"	175	Sophomore	Pontiac, Illinois	Pontiac Township High School
48	Fred Green	Center	6' 7"	210	Freshman	Urbana, Illinois	Urbana High School
	Bob Dannehl	Reserve			Freshman	Onarga, Illinois	Onarga High School
	Cal Irvin	Reserve			Freshman	East Orange, New Jersey	Orange High School
	Tony Esposito	Reserve			Freshman	Chicago, Illinois	Chicago Public Schools
	Russell "Harold" Strange	Reserve			Graduate	Mount Pleasant, Michigan	Mount Pleasant High School
	Al Leavitt	Reserve			Freshman	Chicago, Illinois	Chicago Public Schools

Head Coach: Douglas Mills (10th year at Illinois) ^[2]

Record

Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Location	Attendance
December 1, 1945	Wright Field	52–56	Loss	Champaign, IL	4,291
December 5, 1945	St. Louis	54–46	Win	Champaign, IL	3,766
December 8, 1945	Great Lakes	58–41	Win	Champaign, IL	4,995
December 8, 1945	Great Lakes Hospital	51–23	Win	Champaign, IL	4,995
December 11, 1945	Detroit	51–34	Win	Champaign, IL	4,475
December 15, 1945	Ohio State	46-50	Loss	Champaign, IL	5,640
December 18, 1945	Drake	64-42	Win	Champaign, IL	5,640
December 20, 1945	Nebraska	62–51	Win	Lincoln, NE	3,000
December 22, 1945	Iowa	39–41	Loss	Iowa City, IA	14,300
December 29, 1945	DePaul	56–37	Win	Champaign, IL	5,079
January 1, 1946	Wisconsin	38–31	Win	Madison, WI	8,000
January 5, 1946	Michigan	48–49	Loss	Ann Arbor, MI	7,000
January 12, 1946	Ohio State	35–41	Loss	Columbus, OH	2,800
January 14, 1946	Northwestern	45–38	Win	Champaign, IL	6,310
January 19, 1946	University of Chicago	70–28	Win	Chicago, IL	1,500
January 26, 1946	Great Lakes	42–67	Loss	Great Lakes, IL	2,500
February 4, 1946	University of Chicago	85–24	Win	Champaign, IL	3,616
February 9, 1946	Michigan	49–44	Win	Champaign, IL	7,005
February 16, 1946	Northwestern	43–48	Loss	Chicago, IL	20,442
February 18, 1946	Wisconsin	72–53	Win	Champaign, IL	5,992
February 23, 1946	Iowa	57–51	Win	Champaign, IL	7,214

Bold Italic connotes conference game

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Points
Bob Doster	20	107	59	273
Jack Burmaster	20	15	4	34
Wallie Mroz	17	53	20	126
Robert Rowe	20	26	16	68
Bob Menke	17	25	17	67
Dwight Humphrey	20	26	16	20
Jimmy Seyler	16	23	17	63
Fred Green	4	16	9	41
Ray McClure	16	17	4	38
Jack Smiley	4	13	8	34
Hal Craig	12	14	6	34
George Leddy	19	5	16	26
Leo Gedvilas	17	9	1	19
Van Anderson	7	9	1	19
Robert Olson	7	5	7	17
William Edwards	8	4	4	12
Dean Meador	6	3	0	6
Dwight Eddleman	2	3	0	6
Bob Dannehl	2	2	1	5
Cal Irvin	1	2	0	4
William Eddleman	3	2	0	4
Jack Pierce	1	2	0	4
Tony Esposito	1	2	0	4
Jake Staab	3	0	2	2
Harold Strange	1	1	0	2
Al Leavitt	3	1	0	2
Paul Eckert	1	0	1	1
Robert Jones	3	0	1	1
Joe Rodriguez	5	0	1	1

^[3]

Awards and honors

Jack Burmaster
- Sporting News Honorable Mention All-American (1946)
Bob Doster
- Sporting News Honorable Mention All-American (1946)
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[4]

References

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 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 2016–17 2017–18
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

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