Eastern Washington University Athletics

23-7; Coach Red Reese

When he retired, Red Reese called his 1949-50 team "my best basketball club." Eastern won its first Evergreen Conference title in the second year of the league's existence, finishing with a 13-1 record. Eastern lost an EvCo game at Puget Sound by one point, then won its next 13 by more than 20 points per game (an average score of 70.7 - 48.5).  Due in part to injuries that sidelined two of its best players, Eastern lost in the playoffs by three points to Puget Sound, which eventually won a first-round game in the NAIA Tournament. During its preseason schedule, Eastern defeated Washington State, Idaho and Montana after losing to those same three schools earlier in the season. Eastern was led by junior forward Dick Eicher, who was inducted into the Eastern Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998. He averaged 15.1 points per game, making 52.8 percent of his field goal attempts and 69.5 percent of his free throws. Senior center Gene Burke chipped in 14.1 points per game, and was also an impressive shooter by making 50.9 percent of his shots from the field and 66.1 percent from the line. Burke averaged a team-leading 16.3 points per game during league play to earn first-team All-Evergreen Conference honors. Eicher was a second-team pick, as was junior guard Bill Hallett (9.1 points per game) and senior guard Dick Luft (8.5). Forward Pat Whitehill, a Hall of Fame inductee in 2001, was a junior on the 1949-50 squad and averaged 6.0 points per game. Eastern was directed by Red Reese, who coached Eastern to 470 victories in 31 seasons and was an inaugural Hall of Fame member in 1996.