1944–45 Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team

American college basketball season

1944–45 Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball

Big Ten Champions
Conference	Big Ten
Record	17–1 (11–1 Big Ten)
Head coach	Pops Harrison
MVP	Dick Ives Herb Wilkinson
Home arena	Iowa Field House
Seasons ← 1943–44 1945–46 →

1944–45 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Iowa	11	–	1	.917	17	–	1	.944
Ohio State	10	–	2	.833	15	–	5	.750
Illinois	7	–	5	.583	13	–	7	.650
Purdue	6	–	6	.500	9	–	11	.450
Michigan	5	–	7	.417	12	–	7	.632
Wisconsin	4	–	8	.333	10	–	11	.476
Minnesota	4	–	8	.333	8	–	13	.381
Northwestern	4	–	8	.333	7	–	12	.368
Indiana	3	–	9	.250	10	–	11	.476
Chicago	0	–	0	–	7	–	8	.467

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1944–45 Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team represented the University of Iowa in intercollegiate basketball during the 1944–45 season. The team finished the season with a 17–1 record^[1] and was retroactively named the national champion by the Premo-Porretta Power Poll.^[2]

Despite being Big Ten champions, Iowa declined a bid to the 8-team NCAA tournament.^[3] The conference's bid went to Ohio State. The Buckeyes, who finished a game behind Iowa in the standings, defeated Kentucky to reach the Final Four.

Roster

1944–45 Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
F	3	Murray Wier	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	150 lb (68 kg)	Fr	Muscatine HS	Muscatine, IA
F	4	Ned Postels	—	—	Jr
	7	Dick Ives	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	155 lb (70 kg)	So	–	Diagonal, Iowa
C	11	Clayton Wilkinson	—	—	Jr	East HS	Salt Lake City, Utah
G	20	Jack Spencer	—	—	So
G	28	Herb Wilkinson	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	—	So	East HS	Salt Lake City, Utah

Head coach

Pops Harrison (Iowa)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular reason
Dec 9, 1944*	Western Illinois	W 101–23	1–0	Iowa Field House Iowa City, Iowa
Dec 11, 1944*	South Dakota State	W 87–37	2–0	Iowa Field House Iowa City, Iowa
Dec 16, 1944*	at Nebraska	W 61–45	3–0	Nebraska Coliseum Lincoln, Nebraska
Dec 19, 1944*	Denver	W 60–41	4–0	Iowa Field House Iowa City, Iowa
Dec 23, 1944*	Notre Dame	W 63–46	5–0	Iowa Field House Iowa City, Iowa
Dec 30, 1944*	Michigan State	W 66–29	6–0	Iowa Field House Iowa City, Iowa
Jan 6, 1945	Minnesota	W 41–34	7–0 (1–0)	Iowa Field House Iowa City, Iowa
Jan 13, 1945	Purdue	W 61–34	8–0 (2–0)	Iowa Field House Iowa City, Iowa
Jan 19, 1945	at Michigan	W 29–27	9–0 (3–0)	Yost Field House Ann Arbor, Michigan
Jan 22, 1945	Indiana	W 56–51	10–0 (4–0)	Iowa Field House Iowa City, Iowa
Jan 26, 1945	at Illinois Rivalry	L 42–43	10–1 (4–1)	Huff Hall (6,000) Champaign, Illinois
Feb 3, 1945	Michigan	W 50–37	11–1 (5–1)	Iowa Field House Iowa City, Iowa
Feb 10, 1945	at Indiana	W 45–40	12–1 (6–1)	The Fieldhouse Bloomington, Indiana
Feb 12, 1945	at Purdue	W 48–43	13–1 (7–1)	Mackey Arena West Lafayette, Indiana
Feb 19, 1945	Wisconsin	W 54–53	14–1 (8–1)	Iowa Field House Iowa City, Iowa
Feb 24, 1945	at Wisconsin	W 68–38	15–1 (9–1)	Wisconsin Field House Madison, Wisconsin
Feb 26, 1945	at Minnesota	W 55–48	16–1 (10–1)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota
Mar 3, 1945	Illinois	W 43–37	17–1 (11–1)	Iowa Field House Iowa City, Iowa
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

^[4]

Awards and honors

References

^ "Iowa season-by-season results". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
^ ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. p. 573. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
^ "Iowa Turned Down NCAA Bids in '40s". Sports Illustrated. March 13, 2023. Retrieved September 3, 2023.
^ "2022-23 Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). University of Iowa Athletics. Retrieved September 3, 2023.

v t e Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball
Venues	Close Hall (1901–1904) First Iowa Armory (1905–1922) Second Iowa Armory (1922–1926) Iowa Field House (1927–1983) Carver–Hawkeye Arena (1983–present)
Rivalries	Iowa "Big Four" Iowa State (Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series) Illinois
Culture & lore	History Herky the Hawk "Iowa Fight Song" First 5-on-5 college basketball game
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1892–93 1893–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–1901 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 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
NCAA Final Four appearances in italics