1944–45 NCAA men's basketball season

Season headlines

• More than 18,000 fans attended Madison Square Garden for the final installment of an annual American Red Cross benefit game between the NCAA Tournament and NIT champions. Oklahoma A&M, led by Bob Kurland, defeated George Mikan's DePaul 52–44. Kurland scored 14 points while Mikan scored 9 before fouling out in only 14 minutes of playing time.

  Major 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.
• Five personal fouls disqualify a player. An extra foul was not permitted in overtime games.
• Unlimited substitution was permitted.
• It became a violation for an offensive player to remain in the free-throw lane for more than three seconds.

  Premo-Porretta power poll

Regular season

Conference winners and tournaments

Conference standings

Statistical leaders

• Scoring leader – George Mikan 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.

  Award winners

Consensus All-American teams

Major player of the year awards

• Helms Foundation Player of the Year: George Mikan, DePaul
• Sporting News Player of the Year: George Mikan, DePaul

  Other major awards

• NIT/Haggerty Award : Bill Kotsores, St. John's