1948–49 Syracuse Nationals season

NBL professional basketball team season March 2026 Syracuse Nationals 1949 40 23 NBL 2 Eastern Al Cervi (player-coach) Danny Biasone George Mingin Danny Biasone (majority)George Mingin (minority) West Jefferson Street Armory Lost Eastern Division Semifinals to the Anderson Duffey Packers, 1–3 SYR The 1948–49 Syracuse Nationals season was the third season of the franchise in the National Basketball League, which ended up becoming the 12th and final season of that particular league's existence. The Nationals finished this season with their first winning season in franchise history, as well as their only winning season while in the NBL, which made this their best NBL season by default. Syracuse would sweep the Hammond Calumet Buccaneers 2–0 in the opening round, but lost to the eventual champion Anderson Duffey Packers 3–1 in the semifinal round of the final NBL Playoffs ever held. Months after the end of what became the final NBL season as a whole, the NBL officially agreed to merge operations with the more upstart Basketball Association of America to become the modern-day National Basketball Association, with the NBA ultimately keeping the history of the BAA around over that of the NBL despite it being the longer-lasting league, though the NBA would also keep every surviving NBL team from the previous season outside of the Dayton Rens, Hammond Calumet Buccaneers, and Oshkosh All-Stars (with Oshkosh being a last-minute subtraction on their end) alongside keeping the NBL's planned expansion team in the Indianapolis Olympians, while the BAA side also kept every team of theirs outside of the Indianapolis Jets (formerly the NBL's Indianapolis Kautskys) and the Providence Steamrollers for the merger. However, the Nationals and the Tri-Cities Blackhawks would become the only NBL teams in the NBL side of things by 1949 to survive to the present day, albeit as the Philadelphia 76ers and Atlanta Hawks respectively. Draft picks The Syracuse Nationals would participate in the 1948 NBL draft, which occurred right after the 1948 BAA draft when plans for a joint draft between the National Basketball League and the rivaling Basketball Association of America ultimately fell out when the defending NBL champion Minneapolis Lakers, Rochester Royals, Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, and Indianapolis Kautskys turned Jets all defected from the NBL to the BAA. However, as of 2026, no records of what the Nationals' draft picks might have been for the NBL have properly come up, with any information on who those selections might have been being lost to time in the process. Roster 1948–49 Syracuse Nationals #D0103A #FFFFFF #0046AD #FFFFFF Bob Calihan G/F 6 3 200 Detroit 1918-08-02 Al Cervi G/F 5 11 170 East HS (NY) 1917-02-12 John Chaney basketball, born 1920 G/F 6 3 185 Louisiana State 1920-02-29 Billy Gabor G/F 5 11 170 Syracuse 1922-05-13 Jim Homer G/F 6 5 220 Alabama 1921-12-05 Johnny Macknowski G/F 6 0 180 Seton Hall 1923-01-07 Hank O'Keeffe F 6 3 195 Canisius 1923-12-12 Ed Peterson C 6 9 220 Cornell 1924-06-27 50 Jerry Rizzo G 5 7 150 Fordham 1919-04-21 Dolph Schayes F/C 6 7 195 NYU 1928-05-19 Paul Seymour basketball G/F 6 1 180 Toledo 1928-01-30 Paul Yesawich F 6 2 190 Niagara 1923-11-27 Al Cervi https://www.basketball-reference.com/nbl/teams/SYN/1949.html Note: Jerry Rizzo was not on the playoff roster due to the season-long suspension that was implemented following a road match against the original Denver Nuggets team (with Paul Yesawich probably also being the same way for a different reason as well).SYRACUSE NATIONALS https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/season/syracuse-nationals/ Pro Basketball EncyclopediaPeach Basket Society: 1948-49 Syracuse Nationals (NBL) https://peachbasketsociety.blogspot.com/2016/06/1948-49-syracuse-nationals-nbl.html Peach Basket Society 26 March 2026 22 June 20161948-49 Syracuse Nationals basketball Roster on StatsCrew.com https://www.statscrew.com/basketball/roster/t-SYR/y-1948 StatsCrew.com 26 March 2026 Season standings Eastern Division standings 1948–49 NBL season summary NBL Schedule Not to be confused with exhibition or other non-NBL scheduled games that did not count towards Syracuse's official NBL record for this season. An official database created by John Grasso detailing every NBL match possible (outside of two matches that the Kankakee Gallagher Trojans won over the Dayton Metropolitans in 1938) would be released in 2026 showcasing every team's official schedules throughout their time spent in the NBL. As such, these are the official results recorded for the Syracuse Nationals during their third and final season in the NBL before moving on into the NBA. # Date Opponent Score Record 1 November 7 Denver 54–40 1–0 2 November 11 Anderson 65–62 2–0 3 November 14 Sheboygan 53–45 3–0 4 November 17 Tri-Cities 58–56 4–0 5 November 21 Anderson 66–60 5–0 6 November 23 N Detroit 78–54 6–0 7 November 24 @ Waterloo 59–68 6–1 8 November 25 @ Sheboygan 65–63 7–1 9 November 27 @ Oshkosh 64–54 8–1 10 November 28 @ Hammond 65–71 8–2 11 November 29 @ Anderson 59–65 8–3 12 December 2 Waterloo 68–59 9–3 13 December 3 N Waterloo 72–71 10–3 14 December 5 Denver 76–64 11–3 15 December 12 Sheboygan 77–65 12–3 16 December 13 N Oshkosh 68–55 13–3 17 December 16 @ Sheboygan 46–67 13–4 18 December 18 @ Oshkosh 55–60 13–5 19 December 19 @ Tri-Cities 66–67 13–6 20 December 20 @ Denver 54–60 13–7 21 December 22 @ Denver 59–49 14–7 22 December 26 Anderson 57–73 14–8 23 December 28 N Tri-Cities 87–74 15–8 24 December 30 Tri-Cities 83–74 16–8 25 January 2 Hammond 59–70 16–9 26 January 6 Oshkosh 75–70 17–9 27 January 9 Sheboygan 65–57 18–9 28 January 13 Oshkosh 79–72 19–9 29 January 16 @ Tri-Cities 72–83 19–10 30 January 17 N Sheboygan 75–66 20–10 31 January 20 Denver 59–55 21–10 32 January 23 Denver 82–57 22–10 33 January 27 Tri-Cities 58–55 23–10 34 January 29 N Dayton 85–65 24–10 35 January 30 Dayton 78–68 25–10 36 January 31 N Dayton 65–55 26–10 37 February 3 Hammond 68–49 27–10 38 February 6 Waterloo 79–75 28–10 39 February 9 @ Hammond 67–76 28–11 40 February 13 Hammond 83–61 29–11 41 February 14 @ Anderson 61–71 29–12 42 February 16 @ Denver 71–66 30–12 43 February 18 @ Denver 54–71 30–13 44 February 20 @ Tri-Cities 66–75 30–14 45 February 21 N Waterloo 76–65 31–14 46 February 22 @ Oshkosh 38–61 31–15 47 February 24 Dayton 66–49 32–15 48 February 27 @ Tri-Cities 40–51 32–16 49 February 28 @ Anderson 69–72 32–17 50 March 3 Oshkosh 67–55 33–17 51 March 6 Dayton 61–57 34–17 52 March 9 N Waterloo 61–51 35–17 53 March 10 Waterloo 61–65 35–18 54 March 13 @ Hammond 73–64 36–18 55 March 14 @ Anderson 75–82 36–19 56 March 15 N Dayton 51–69 36–20 57 March 17 Oshkosh 61–63 36–21 58 March 20 Hammond 77–63 37–21 59 March 24 Sheboygan 79–73 38–21 60 March 27 Anderson 71–60 39–21 61 March 29 @ Hammond 74–69 (OT) 40–21 62 March 30 @ Sheboygan 66–91 40–22 63 March 31 @ Waterloo 68–69 40–23 A 64th game was intended to have been played for this season, but it was ultimately cancelled for whatever reason (likely due to the cancellation of the Detroit Vagabond Kings and the subsequent replacement of the Dayton Rens for the rest of the season). NBL Playoffs NBL Eastern Division Opening Round (2E) Syracuse Nationals vs. (3E) Hammond Calumet Buccaneers: Syracuse wins series 2–0 Game 1: April 1, 1949 @ Hammond: Syracuse 80, Hammond 69Bradley Grasso Robert John Total Basketball: The Ultimate Basketball Encyclopedia 2003 SPORT Media Publishing, Inc. 1-894963-01-6, p. 423 Game 2: April 3, 1949 @ Syracuse: Syracuse 72, Hammond 66 NBL Eastern Division Semifinals (2E) Syracuse Nationals vs. (1E) Anderson Duffey Packers: Anderson wins series 3–1 Game 1: April 8, 1949 @ Syracuse: Anderson 89, Syracuse 74 Game 2: April 10, 1949 @ Syracuse: Syracuse 80, Anderson 62 Game 3: April 11, 1949 @ Anderson: Anderson 76, Syracuse 59 Game 4: April 13, 1949 @ Anderson: Anderson 90, Syracuse 84 Awards and records Al Cervi – NBL Coach of the Year, All-NBL First Team Dolph Schayes – NBL Rookie of the Year, NBL All-Rookie First Team Ed Peterson – NBL All-Rookie Second Team Billy Gabor – NBL All-Rookie Second Team References Category:Philadelphia 76ers seasons Syracuse Syracuse Nationals Syracuse Nationals