The season was cut short as three of the five starters headed off to active duty in the armed forces.

Illinois won the Big Ten Conference Title and had finished the regular season as the nations' top ranked team.

These players were so dominant in the Big Ten, that only Northwestern's Otto Graham could crack the all-conference team.

Head coach Doug Mills made a decision in February 1943 that all five always supported: the club did not participate in either the NCAA or NIT tournament.

[3] Four of the five, minus Mathisen, returned to Illinois and tried to recapture the glory for one more season in 1946–47 after the war ended, but the chemistry had changed as well as their talent.