1907–08 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

American college basketball season

1907–08 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball

Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	20–6 (6–5 Big Ten)
Head coach	Fletcher Lane (1st season)
Captain	Maurice Dadant
Home arena	Kenney Gym
Seasons← 1906–07 1908–09 →

1907–08 Western Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Chicago	7	–	1	.875	23	–	2	.920
Wisconsin	7	–	1	.875	10	–	2	.833
Illinois	6	–	5	.545	20	–	6	.769
Minnesota	2	–	6	.250	12	–	7	.632
Purdue	0	–	8	.000	5	–	9	.357
Iowa	-	–	-	–	10	–	6	.625
Indiana	-	–	-	–	9	–	6	.600
Northwestern	-	–	-	–	2	–	7	.222

The 1907–08 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

Regular season

The 1907–08 season saw the third coach in three years take the reins at the University of Illinois. Fletcher Lane was Illinois’ third coach, but lasted just one season. Even though he led his team to a 20–6 record, the university, as well as the athletes, deemed Lane's coaching style as subpar. Lane's team benefited from a long Southern trip in which the team beat several YMCA and club teams from Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, and Georgia. The starting lineup consisted of forwards Albert Penn and H. J. Popperfuss, center Avery Brundage, and guards Thomas E. Thompson and captain M. G. Dadant.

Roster

1907–08 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
F	Charles Stewart	—	—	Sr	New York, New York
G	Edward Ryan	—	—	Sr	Chicago, Illinois
F	Henry Popperfuss	—	—	So	Tomah, Wisconsin
F	Maurice Dadant (C)	—	—	Sr	Hamilton, Illinois
G	Avery Brundage	—	—	Jr	Chicago, Illinois
G	Thomas E. Thompson	—	—	So	Williams Bay, Wisconsin
G	Roy Rennacker	—	—	So	Winnetka, Illinois
G	Carl Watson	—	—	Fr	DeKalb, Illinois
F	Albert Penn	—	—	Jr	Syracuse, New York
G	Strother Ambrose Briggs	—	—	Fr	Minier, Illinois
G	Benjamin Albert Horn	—	—	So	Chicago, Illinois

Head coach

Fletcher Lane (University of Nebraska) (1st year)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule

Source

Date time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-Conference regular season
12/19/1907* no, no	at Decatur YMCA	W 33-28	1-0	Decatur YMCA Decatur, IL
12/20/1907* no, no	at WashingtonU	W 36–25	2-0	Francis Gymnasium St. Louis, MO
12/21/1907* no, no	at Cairo Athletic Club	W 92–14	3-0	Cairo Athletic Club Cairo, IL
12/23/1907* no, no	at Memphis YMCA	W 56–8	4-0	Memphis YMCA Memphis, TN
12/25/1907* no, no	at Ft. Worth YMCA	W 41–25	5-0	Ft. Worth YMCA Ft. Worth, TX
12/25/1907* no, no	at Ft. Worth YMCA	W 32–20	6-0	Ft. Worth YMCA Ft. Worth, TX
12/26/1907* no, no	at Waco YMCA	W 58–20	7-0	Waco YMCA Waco, TX
12/27/1907* no, no	at Temple YMCA	W 36–17	8-0	Temple YMCA Temple, TX
12/28/1907* no, no	at Galveston YMCA	W 41–21	9-0	Galveston YMCA Galveston, TX
12/30/1907* no, no	at Beaumont YMCA	W 34–17	10-0	Beaumont YMCA Beaumont, TX
1/1/1908* no, no	at Mobile YMCA	W 22–21	11-0	Mobile YMCA Mobile, AL
1/2/1908* no, no	at Columbus YMCA	W 31-30	12-0	Columbus YMCA Columbus, GA
1/2/1908* no, no	at Montgomery YMCA	L 21–31	12-1	Montgomery YMCA Montgomery, AL
1/3/1908* no, no	at Birmingham Athletic Club	W 46–24	13-1	Birmingham Athletic Club Birmingham, AL
1/4/1908* no, no	at Rose Polytechnic Institute	W 35–26	14-1	Terre Haute High School Terre Haute, IN
Big Ten regular season
1/11/1908 no, no	at Purdue	W 24–23	15-1 (1-0)	Lafayette Colliseum West Lafayette, IN
1/18/1908 no, no	Wisconsin	L 20–28	15-2 (1-1)	Kenney Gym Urbana, IL
1/25/1908 no, no	Indiana Rivalry	W 39–12	16-2 (2-1)	Kenney Gym Urbana, IL
2/8/1908 no, no	University of Chicago	L 21–35	16-3 (2-2)	Kenney Gym Urbana, IL
2/14/1908 no, no	at Iowa Rivalry	L 36–46	16-4 (2-3)	Iowa Armory Iowa City, IA
2/15/1908 no, no	at Minnesota	W 16–15	17-4 (3-3)	University of Minnesota Armory Minneapolis, MN
2/29/1908 no, no	Purdue	W 38–15	18-4 (4-3)	Kenney Gym Urbana, IL
3/6/1908 no, no	at University of Chicago	L 17–42	18-5 (4-4)	Bartlett Gymnasium Chicago, IL
3/7/1908 no, no	at Northwestern Rivalry	W 18–13	19-5 (5-4)	Patten Gymnasium Evanston, IL
3/9/1908 no, no	at Wisconsin	L 14–27	19-6 (5-5)	University of Wisconsin Armory and Gymnasium Madison, WI
3/12/1908 no, no	Minnesota	W 22–20	20-6 (6-5)	Kenney Gym Urbana, IL
*Non-conference game. Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Awards and honors

First 20 win season for the Fighting Illini men's basketball program.

References

A Century of Orange and Blue: Celebrating 100 Years of Fighting Illini Basketball By Loren Tate, Jared Gelfond pg.20 ISBN 1-58261-793-7
Fighting Illini Basketball: A Hardwood History By News-Gazette, Sports Publishing LLC ISBN 1-58261-356-7
University of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1907-08 Archived 2015-02-10 at the Wayback Machine, FightingIllini.com

v t e 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 Iowa Missouri Northwestern
Culture & lore	Whiz Kids Flyin' Illini Orange Krush Fighting Illini Sports Network Oskee Wow-Wow Illinois Loyalty Chief Illiniwek 1960s slush fund scandal
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
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 1999–2000 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 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

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