1973–74 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

1973–74 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. Not ranked
AP	No. Not ranked
1973–74 record	5–18 (2–12 Big Ten)
Head coach	Harv Schmidt
Assistant coach	Dick Campbell
Assistant coach	Marshall Stoner
Assistant coach	Jodie Harrison/Bob Brown
MVP	Rick Schmidt
Captain	Jeff Dawson
Home arena	Assembly Hall

1973–74 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
#9 Indiana	12	–	2	.857	23	–	5	.821
#6 Michigan	12	–	2	.857	22	–	5	.815
#11 Purdue	10	–	4	.714	21	–	9	.700
Wisconsin	8	–	6	.571	16	–	8	.667
Michigan State	8	–	6	.571	13	–	11	.542
Minnesota	6	–	8	.429	12	–	12	.500
Iowa	5	–	9	.357	8	–	16	.333
Ohio State	4	–	10	.286	9	–	15	.375
Northwestern	3	–	11	.214	9	–	15	.375
Illinois	2	–	12	.143	5	–	18	.217

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1973–74 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1973-74 Fighting Illini men's basketball team had done something that no other Illinois team in history had accomplished, finishing last in the Big Ten, tenth place. In the history of the school, Illinois has only had one worse finish, the 1998-99 season, where they ended the year in eleventh place. However, the 1998-99 team played for the Big Ten Tournament championship, losing to Michigan State in the championship game.

The 1973-74 season also witnessed the conclusion of a very difficult tenure at the position of head coach. Harv Schmidt, a former player turned head coach, finished his seventh season at Illinois with an overall record of 89 wins and 77 losses. Unfortunately for Schmidt, several situations contributed to his demise, most of the problems being not of his doing. He was a disciplinarian and demanded attention to detail. He worked his players hard yet he was fair and considerate of their needs. Schmidt had high expectations from his team and set a good example by working as hard as he expected his players to work.

Team

No.	Player	Hometown	High School	Class	Position
10	Garvin Roberson	Elkhart, Indiana	Elkhart Central High School	Sr.	Guard
11	Dave Roberts	Maywood, Illinois,	Proviso East High School	Jr.	Guard
14	C.J. Schroeder	Davenport, Iowa	Davenport West High School	Jr.	Guard
15	Tom Carmichael	Rochelle, Illinois	Rochelle Township High School	Sr.	Center
20	Dennis Graff	Gibson City, Illinois	Gibson City High School	So.	Guard
22	Howie Johnson	Marshall, Illinois	Marshall High School	Fr.	Guard
24	Jeff Dawson	Oak Park, Illinois	Downers Grove North High School	Sr.	Guard
25	Donn Deputy	Pekin, Illinois	Pekin High School	Jr.	Forward
30	Mike Wente	Effingham, Illinois	St. Anthony High School	Sr.	Center
31	Mark Bondeson	Des Plaines, Illinois	Maine East High School	So.	Forward
32	Rick Schmidt	Royal, Illinois	St. Joseph-Ogden High School	Jr.	Forward
33	Otho Tucker	Paris, Illinois	Paris High School	So.	Guard
41	Dave Smith	Clarendon Hills, Illinois	Hinsdale Central High School	So.	Forward/Center
42	Tim Bushell	Lincoln, Illinois	Lincoln Community High School	Fr.	Forward/Guard
43	Brad Farnham	Paris, Illinois	Paris High School	Fr.	Forward
53	Bill Rucks	Waukegan, Illinois	Waukegan High School	So.	Forward
54	Mike Dempsey	Moline, Illinois	Moline High School	Fr.	Center

Head Coach Harv Schmidt (7th year at Illinois) ^[1]

Schedule

Source^[2]

Date Time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site (Attendance) City, State
11/30/1973* no, no	@ #15 Arizona	L 80-101	0 - 1	McKale Center (13,658) Tucson, AZ
12/3/1973* no, no	vs. Tulane	W 99-78	1 - 1	Assembly Hall (5,676) Champaign, IL
12/8/1973* no, no	vs. Southern California	L 60-71	1 - 2	Assembly Hall (6,450) Champaign, IL
12/11/1973* no, no	vs. Detroit	W 64-60	2 - 2	Assembly Hall (6,121) Champaign, IL
12/14/1973* no, no	vs. Northern Michigan	W 82-72	3 - 2	Assembly Hall (5,617) Champaign, IL
12/27/1973* no, no	vs. St. Johns ECAC Holiday Festival	L 60-76	3 - 3	Madison Square Garden (8,403) New York, NY
12/29/1973* no, no	vs. Duquesne ECAC Holiday Festival	L 83-85	3 - 4	Madison Square Garden (-) New York, NY
1/5/1974 no, no	@ Ohio State	W 75-73	4 - 4 ( 1 - 0 )	St. John Arena (10,641) Columbus, OH
1/12/1974 no, no	vs. Purdue	L 69-91	4 - 5 ( 1 - 1 )	Assembly Hall (7,163) Champaign, IL
1/14/1974 no, no	vs. Michigan State	L 82-90	4 - 6 ( 1 - 2 )	Assembly Hall (4,685) Champaign, IL
1/19/1974 no, no	@ #19 Wisconsin	L 75-101	4 - 7 ( 1 - 3 )	Wisconsin Field House (9,173) Madison, WI
1/24/1974* no, no	vs. Bradley	L 88-105	4 - 8	Chicago Stadium (4,415) Chicago, IL
1/26/1974* no, no	vs. Jacksonville	L 86-89	4 - 9	Chicago Stadium (-) Chicago, IL
1/28/1974 no, no	@ Michigan State	L 82-93	4 - 10 ( 1 - 4 )	Jenison Fieldhouse (6,758) East Lansing, MI
2/2/1974 no, no	vs. #20 Michigan	L 77-101	4 - 11 ( 1 - 5 )	Assembly Hall (7,771) Champaign, IL
2/9/1974 no, no	@ #12 Indiana	L 67-107	4 - 12 ( 1 - 6 )	Assembly Hall (17,054) Bloomington, IN
2/11/1974 no, no	@ Minnesota	L 61-80	4 - 13 ( 1 - 7 )	Williams Arena (10,925) Minneapolis, MN
2/16/1974 no, no	@ Northwestern	L 75-86	4 - 14 ( 1 - 8 )	Welsh-Ryan Arena (3,798) Evanston, IL
2/18/1974 no, no	vs. #12 Indiana	L 83-101	4 - 15 ( 1 - 9 )	Assembly Hall (7,368) Champaign, IL
2/23/1974 no, no	vs. Iowa	W 91-84	5 - 15 ( 2 - 9 )	Assembly Hall (7,667) Champaign, IL
2/25/1974 no, no	vs. Minnesota	L 52-72	5 - 16 ( 2 - 10 )	Assembly Hall (7,720) Champaign, IL
3/2/1974 no, no	@ Purdue	L 83-94	5 - 17 ( 2 - 11 )	Mackey Arena (10,307) West Lafayette, IN
3/9/1974 no, no	vs. Ohio State	L 78-79	5 - 18 ( 2 - 12 )	Assembly Hall (7,697) Champaign, IL
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Player stats

Player	Games Played	Field Goals	Free Throws	Rebounds	Assists	Points
Rick Schmidt^[3]	23	191	111	165	34	493
Jeff Dawson^[4]	23	173	72	41	73	418
Dennis Graff^[5]	18	125	50	18	13	162
Dave Roberts^[6]	23	42	37	75	22	121
Tom Carmichael^[7]	23	48	21	127	17	117

Awards and honors

Rick Schmidt
- Team Most Valuable Player ^[8]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
9	168	Jeff Dawson	Kansas City Kings

^[9]

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

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

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