1967–68 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team
| 1967–68 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball | |
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| Conference | Big Ten Conference |
| Ranking | |
| Coaches | No. Not Ranked |
| AP | No. Not Ranked |
| 1967–68 record | 11–13 (6–8 Big Ten) |
| Head coach | Harv Schmidt |
| Assistant coach | Dick Campbell |
| MVP | Dave Scholz |
| Captain | Ben Louis |
| Home arena | Assembly Hall |
| 1967–68 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ohio State | 10 | – | 4 | .714 | 21 | – | 8 | .724 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Iowa | 10 | – | 4 | .714 | 16 | – | 9 | .640 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Purdue | 9 | – | 5 | .643 | 15 | – | 9 | .625 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Northwestern | 8 | – | 6 | .571 | 13 | – | 10 | .565 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wisconsin | 7 | – | 7 | .500 | 13 | – | 11 | .542 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Michigan State | 6 | – | 8 | .429 | 12 | – | 12 | .500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Illinois | 6 | – | 8 | .429 | 11 | – | 13 | .458 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Michigan | 6 | – | 8 | .429 | 11 | – | 13 | .458 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Indiana | 4 | – | 10 | .286 | 10 | – | 14 | .417 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minnesota | 4 | – | 10 | .286 | 7 | – | 17 | .292 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rankings from AP Poll | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 1967–68 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.
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.
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