1967–68 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

American college basketball season March 2026 August 2023 Basketball 1967–68 Illinois Fighting Illini 1967–68_Illinois_Fighting_Illini_men's_basketball_team.jpg 300px Big Ten Conference Big Ten 11–13 6–8 Harv Schmidt Dick Campbell 1st 1st Ben Louis Dave Scholz Assembly Hall The 1967–68 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois. Regular season Harv Schmidt, the 1957 Illini MVP and team captain, returned to his alma mater in 1967 after serving as an assistant at New Mexico for three years. Schmidt succeeded legendary coach Harry Combes after his dismissal related to a "slush-fund" scandal that devastated both the basketball and football programs for many years into the future. Schmidt, originally from Kankakee, was the slender 6 foot 6 inch star Illini forward who came highly recommended as both a coach and recruiter. Unfortunately, he had never been a head coach before, but he was considered the best the under the circumstances. Within three years of his arrival, he had brought Illinois back to among the elite programs in the Big Ten. The beginning of his tenure marked what possibly was the high-water mark in fan enthusiasm. Illinois led the nation in attendance in 1970, averaging 16,128 per home contest, with students routinely camped out for tickets outside the state-of-the-art Assembly Hall. Even though Schmidt lacked coaching experience, he believed in the importance of an aggressive, overplaying defense with the intent of frustrating opponents, generating turnovers and creating easy baskets. He was a stickler to detail and used scouting techniques to learn ways of shutting down opponents offenses. Schmidt was always teaching, as well as coaching his teams, in order to compete favorably against any competition. Due to the scandal that plagued the Illini, Schmidt's first team was primarily made up of walk-ons. Expectations of the 1967–68 team were low, however, they began to surprise even the experts when, in just their second game of the season, the Illini took on hall of fame player Elvin Hayes and the nationally ranked Houston Cougars at the Assembly Hall. During the matchup, Randy Crews, a 6-foot 5 inch high school All-American guard from Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School, became a defensive stopper in just his second varsity game by taking on the 6 foot 9 inch Hayes. The Illini were forced to use a slow-down style to keep the game close and stayed with the Cougars the whole game, losing by a final score of 54–46. During the remainder of the season, the Illini defeated such teams as Georgia Tech, Texas El Paso, Notre Dame, Michigan State, Iowa and Michigan. Unfortunately, the Ilini would lose 7 of their last 9 games of the Big Ten season to finish with a 6–8 conference record and an 11–13 mark overall, good for a second straight 7th-place finish in the Big Ten. Positive signs for the Illini included a freshman team that included future varsity players Greg Jackson, Fred Miller, Rick Howat and Bob Windmiller. As sophomores, they would combine with returnees Dave Scholz, Randy Crews, future New York Knicks draft pick Mike Price, Alabama transfer Jodie Harrison, Dennis Pace and walk-on Les Busboom to form the best group Schmidt would ever coach. Scholz would finish this season by being named 1st team All-American by the Helms Foundation and to the Converse honorable mention All-American team. The 1967–68 team's starting lineup included Crews and Benny Louis at the forward spots, Price and Harrison as guards and Scholz at center. Roster 1967 Illinois Fighting Illini y yes Benny Louis 11 G 6 3 180 SR Pinckneyville, Illinois Pinckneyville Community High School n C Paul Nitz 12 F/C 6 6 195 JR Woodstock, Illinois Marian Central Catholic High School n Mike Price 15 G 6 3 195 SO Indianapolis, Indiana Arsenal Technical High School y Mike Price (basketball) Dan Kuemmerle 24 G/F 6 3 190 SR Danville, Illinois Schlarman High School n Steve Kohn 25 G 6 4 190 SO Creve Coeur, Missouri Ladue High School n Randy Crews 30 F 6 5 210 SO Kankakee, Illinois Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School n Les Busboom 32 G/F 6 4 190 JR Royal, Illinois St. Joseph-Ogden High School n Jodie Harrison 33 G 6 3 200 JR Streator, Illinois Streator High School n Denny Pace 34 G/F 6 3 175 JR Collinsville, Illinois Collinsville High School n Dave Scholz 40 C 6 8 210 JR Decatur, Illinois Stephen Decatur High School y Jim Skarda 42 F 6 5 190 SO Lake Geneva, Wisconsin Badger High School n Rich Crusius 43 F 6 6 190 SR Bloomington, Illinois Bloomington High School n Ron Armbrust 44 G 6 1 180 SO Lincoln, Illinois Lincoln High School n Bill Jones 45 G 6 1 195 SO Chicago, Illinois Waller High School n Harv Schmidt (University of Illinois) (1st year) Dick Campbell (1st year) https://fightingillini.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/1967-68 Schedule SourceUniversity of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1967-68 https://web.archive.org/web/20140110190743/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1967.html 2014-01-10 , FightingIllini.com yes yes |- !colspan=12 style="background:#DF4E38; color:white;"| Non-Conference regular season 12/2/1967 yes yes 1967 Butler Bulldogs Butler Hinkle Fieldhouse Indianapolis 75-57 5,875 1-0 12/9/1967 yes Houston Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois 46-54 7,605 1-1 12/14/1967 yes 1967 BYU Cougars BYU Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois 63-55 6,842 2-1 12/15/1967 yes yes 1967 Tennessee Volunteers Tennessee Stokely Athletic Center Knoxville, Tennessee Volunteer Classic 42-66 8,500 2-2 12/16/1967 yes yes 1967 Army Black Knights Army Stokely Athletic Center Knoxville, Tennessee Volunteer Classic 57-65 9,650 2-3 12/22/1967 yes yes 1967 Stanford Cardinal Stanford Maples Pavilion Stanford, California 72-74 1,800 2-4 12/23/1967 yes yes 1967 California Golden Bears California Haas Pavilion Berkeley, California 72-89 3,400 2-5 12/28/1967 yes yes 1967 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Georgia Tech Chicago Stadium Chicago 65-54 5,212 3-5 12/30/1967 yes yes 1967 UTEP Miners UTEP Chicago Stadium Chicago 68-50 5,108 4-5 |- !colspan=9 style="background:#DF4E38; color:#FFFFFF;"|Big Ten regular season 1/6/1968 Michigan State Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois 66-56 7,932 5-5 1-0 1/9/1968 Indiana Assembly Hall Champaign, Il Rivalry 60-61 ot 6,396 5-6 1-1 1/13/1968 yes 1967 Minnesota Golden Gophers Minnesota Williams Arena Minneapolis 61-60 6,676 6-6 2-1 1/27/1968 yes yes 1967 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Notre Dame Chicago Stadium Chicago 68-67 13,472 7-6 2/3/1968 Iowa Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois Rivalry 66-63 8,553 8-6 3-1 2/6/1968 yes Wisconsin Wisconsin Field House Madison, Wisconsin 68-60 10,094 9-6 4-1 2/10/1968 yes 1967 Northwestern Wildcats Northwestern McGaw Memorial Hall Evanston, Illinois Rivalry 71-78 8,349 9-7 4-2 2/13/1968 Michigan Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois 65-67 8,850 9-8 4-3 2/17/1968 1967 Purdue Boilermakers Purdue Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois 68-75 11,941 9-9 4-4 2/20/1968 yes Michigan Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, Michigan 72-64 6,500 10-9 5-4 2/24/1968 Northwestern Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois Rivalry 62-61 12,857 11-9 6-4 2/26/1968 yes Ohio State St. John Arena Columbus, Ohio 75-95 12,591 11-10 6-5 3/2/1968 yes Iowa Iowa Field House Iowa City, Iowa Rivalry 56-61 12,900 11-11 6-6 3/4/1968 Ohio State Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois 64-67 9,227 11-12 6-7 3/9/1968 yes Michigan State Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, Michigan 59-62 5,112 11-13 6-8 |- Central Time Player stats Player Games played Field goals Free throws Rebounds PointsDave Scholzhttp://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1967.html Season Stats 2014-01-10 https://web.archive.org/web/20140110190743/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1967.html 2014-01-10 dead 2422383230529Jodie Harrisonhttp://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1967.html Season Stats 2014-01-10 https://web.archive.org/web/20140110190743/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1967.html 2014-01-10 dead 248861100237Randy Crewshttp://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1967.html Season Stats 2014-01-10 https://web.archive.org/web/20140110190743/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1967.html 2014-01-10 dead 238860155236Mike Pricehttp://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1967.html Season Stats 2014-01-10 https://web.archive.org/web/20140110190743/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1967.html 2014-01-10 dead 247162123204Denny Pacehttp://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1967.html Season Stats 2014-01-10 https://web.archive.org/web/20140110190743/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1967.html 2014-01-10 dead 19532256128Benny Louishttp://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1967.html Season Stats 2014-01-10 https://web.archive.org/web/20140110190743/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1967.html 2014-01-10 dead 2437195093Les Busboomhttp://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1967.html Season Stats 2014-01-10 https://web.archive.org/web/20140110190743/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1967.html 2014-01-10 dead 2433209286Paul Nitz 9681120Ron Armbrust 61103Dan Kuemmerle 51032Jim Skarda 21002Rich Crusius 50111Bill Jones 40010Steven Kohn 10000 Awards and honors Dave Scholz Team Most Valuable Player http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/ill/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/05_mbb_guide_06.pdf List of MVPs 2014-01-10 2014-10-30 https://web.archive.org/web/20141030004049/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/ill/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/05_mbb_guide_06.pdf dead 1st team All-American (Helms) Honorable Mention All-American (Converse) Team players drafted into the NBA Player NBA club Round PickRon Dunlap*Chicago Bulls251968 NBA Draft *Dunlap was forced to skip his last two years of basketball due to the "Slush-Fund" scandal in 1966. Rankings 1967–68 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings References Illinois Fighting Illini Category:Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball seasons Category:1967 in sports in Illinois Category:1968 in sports in Illinois