The 1944–45 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1944, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the

1945 NCAA basketball tournament The 1945 NCAA basketball tournament was an eight-team single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) college basketball. It began on March 22, 1945, and ended with the c ...

championship game on March 27, 1945, at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. The Oklahoma A&M Aggies won their first NCAA national championship with a 49–45 victory over the

NYU Violets NYU Violets is the nickname of the sports teams and other competitive teams at New York University. The school colors are purple and white. Although officially known as the Violets, the school mascot is a bobcat. The Violets compete as a member ...

Rule changes

* Along with the ball on the rim, defensive interference by touching the ball after it had started its downward flight during an opponent's field goal attempt was declared a goal for the shooting team.orangehoops.org History of NCAA Basketball Rule Changes
/ref> * A player fouls out after committing five fouls, including fouls committed in

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

. Previously, a player fouled out after committing four fouls in regulation or a fifth foul in overtime. An extra foul was not permitted in overtime games. * Unlimited substitution is permitted for the first time. Previously, a player could re-enter a game only twice. * It became a violation for an offensive player to remain in the free-throw lane for more than three seconds.

Season headlines

*The

three-point shot A three-point field goal (also 3-pointer, three, or triple) is a field goal in a basketball game made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc surrounding the basket. A successful attempt is worth three points, in contrast to the two ...

— called a "long goal" at the time — was used experimentally for the first time in a college basketball game, played between Columbia and Fordham on February 7, 1945, with the three-point line from the basket. Columbia made 11 "long goals," while Fordham made nine. The game also experimented with allowing free-throw shooters to take their shots from the normal for one point or to attempt a "long foul" shot from for two points. The teams combined for eight "long fouls" during the game, which Columbia won 73–58. *The February 7, 1945, game between Columbia and Fordham also saw the first use of the free-throw lane, an experiment at a time when the free-throw lane was standardized at wide. The free-throw lane eventually was adopted for the 1955–56 season. * After its football team won the

1945 Cotton Bowl Classic The 1945 Cotton Bowl Classic featured the TCU Horned Frogs and the Oklahoma A&M Cowboys. Background Oklahoma A&M won the Missouri Valley Conference and had only lost to Norman NAS (a naval team). TCU was lucky to be there, with a 7–2–1 reco ...

on January 1, Oklahoma A&M's

basketball team Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

won the 1945 NCAA tournament on March 27, making Oklahoma A&M the first school to win both a

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

and the NCAA basketball tournament in the same

academic year An academic year, or school year, is a period that schools, colleges and university, universities use to measure the duration of studies for a given educational level. Academic years are often divided into academic terms. Students attend classe ...

. *More than 18,000 fans attended the final installment of an annual

American Red Cross The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...

benefit game between the NCAA Tournament and NIT champions at

. Oklahoma A&M, led by

Bob Kurland Robert Albert Kurland (December 23, 1924 – September 29, 2013) was an American basketball center, who played for the two-time NCAA champion Oklahoma A&M Aggies (now Oklahoma State Cowboys). Standing tall, he has been credited as the first pe ...

, defeated

George Mikan George Lawrence Mikan Jr. (; June 18, 1924 – June 1, 2005), nicknamed "Mr. Basketball", was an American professional basketball player for the Chicago American Gears of the National Basketball League (NBL) and the Minneapolis Lakers of ...

's DePaul 52–44. Kurland scored 14 points while Mikan scored 9 before fouling out in only 14 minutes of playing time. * In 1995, the

Premo-Porretta Power Poll The Premo-Porretta Power Poll is a retroactive end-of-year ranking for American college basketball teams competing in the 1895–96 through the 1947–48 seasons. The Premo-Porretta Polls are intended to serve collectively as a source of informa ...

retroactively selected

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

as its national champion for the 1944–45 season.

Premo-Porretta Power Poll

In 1995, the

retroactively ranked teams during the 1944–45 season as follows by reviewing results, opponents, and margins of victory.

Conference membership changes

Regular season

Conferences

Conference winners and tournaments

Conference standings

Major independents

A total of 62 college teams played as major independents. (14–1) had the best

winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage or Copeland score is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the to ...

(.933). (24–4) and (24–4) finished with the most wins.

Statistical leaders

* Scoring leader –

averaged 23.3 points per game and was retroactively declared the "unofficial" season scoring leader. Between 1935–36 and 1946–47, there were no official NCAA scoring champions. The statistics during that era were compiled from the ''National Basketball Committee Official Basketball Guide'', which was not regulated by NCAA authorities. Therefore, those players are included in the annual NCAA men's basketball media guide, but are listed as unofficial season scoring leaders. No other personal statistics were tracked during the 1944–45 basketball season.

Post-season tournaments

NCAA tournament

Semifinals & final

National Invitation tournament

Semifinals & finals

Award winners

Consensus All-American teams

Major player of the year awards

Helms Foundation Player of the Year The Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year was an annual men's college basketball award given to the most outstanding men's player in the United States. It was awarded by the Helms Athletic Foundation, an organization founded in 19 ...

, DePaul * ''Sporting News'' Player of the Year: George Mikan, DePaul

Other major awards

* NIT/Haggerty Award (Top player in NYC area): Bill Kotsores, St. John's

Coaching changes

A number of teams changed coaches during the season and after it ended.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1944-45 Ncaa Men's Basketball Season