1968–69 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team

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1968–69 UCLA Bruins men's basketball
Pac-8 Championship (First as Pac-8, 6th overall)
NCAA National Championship Game
vs. Purdue, W, 92–72
Conference Pacific-8 Conference
Ranking
Coaches #1
AP #1
1968–69 record 29–1 (13–1 Pac-8)
Head coach John R. Wooden
Assistant coach Denny Crum
Assistant coach Gary Cunningham
MVP Lew Alcindor
Home arena Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, California
Seasons
« 1967–68 1969–70 »

The 1968–69 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team won UCLA's fifth NCAA National Basketball Championship under head coach John R. Wooden with a win over Purdue, coach Wooden's alma mater.[1] The Bruins started the season with a 25–0 record.

At the West Regional, played in Pauley Pavilion, the Bruins defeated New Mexico State 53–38 and Santa Clara 90–52. Lew Alcindor had a total of 33 points in the two games on March 13 and 14.

On March 20, UCLA had a two-point lead over Drake, 41–39, at half time and then went on to defeat Drake by three points, 85–82, to advance to the championship game against Purdue. Wooden graduated from Purdue in 1932, after earning All-American honors as a guard on the school's basketball team that he captained during his junior and senior years. The Boilermakers won two Big Ten titles and the 1932 National Championship during his years there. Wooden also played baseball during his freshman year.

The "Money Man", John Vallely, scored 29 points and Alcindor had 25 points at the semi-final game. Alcindor scored 37 points with 20 rebounds in the championship game.[2]

Players

Schedule and results

Date Opponent AP/Rk Site Score, W/L
11/30 Purdue 1/10 H 94–82 W
12/6 Ohio State 1/13 A 84–73 W
12/7 Notre Dame 1/5 A 88–75 W
12/20 Minnesota 1/- H 90–51 W
12/21 West Virginia 1/- H 95–56 W
12/27 Providence 1/- N 98–81 W
12/28 Princeton 1/- N 83–67 W
12/30 St. John’s 1/- A 74–56 W
1/4 Tulane 1/- H 96–64 W
1/10 Oregon 1/- A 93–64 W
1/11 Oregon State 1/- A 83–64 W
1/18 Houston 1/- H 100–64 W
1/24 Northwestern 1/- N 81–67 W
1/25 Loyola-Chicago 1/- A 84–65 W
1/31 California 1/- H 109–74 W
2/1 Stanford 1/- H 98–61 W
2/7 Washington 1 1/- H 62–51 W
2/8 Washington State 1 1/- H 108–80 W
2/15 Washington State 1 1/- A 83–59 W
2/17 Washington 1/- A 53–44 W
2/21 Oregon State 1/- H 91–66 W
2/22 Oregon 1/- H 103–69 W
2/28 Stanford 1/- A 81–60 W
3/1 California 1/- A 84–77 W
3/7 USC 1/- A 61–55 W
3/8 USC 1/- H 44–46 L
3/13 New Mexico State 1/12 H 53–38 W
3/15 Santa Clara 1/3 H 90–52 W
3/20 Drake 1/11 N 85–82 W
3/22 Purdue 1/6 N 92–72 W

Notes

  • Three consecutive national championships for the Bruins, five in six years.
  • This was the first year in which the Athletic Association of Western Universities officially adopted the name Pacific-8 Conference, although that name had been used unofficially since the 1964–65 season after Oregon and Oregon State joined the conference.
  • USC, after losing a 61–55 double-overtime game to UCLA at the Sports Arena the night before, defeated the Bruins, 46–44, at Pauley Pavilion with a slowdown game. The Trojans' win ended four extended winning streaks by the Bruins:[3]
    • 51 games in Pauley Pavilion.
    • 41 overall.
    • 45 in AAWU/Pac-8 play.
    • 17 over USC.
  • Last season for the 7-foot-1 and 1/2-inch center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor), who led the Bruins to an overall three-year record (1967-68-69) of 88–2, and is the only player in history to be named three-time NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player. In 1969, Abdul-Jabbar earned the first ever Naismith Trophy, given to the nation's top player.
  • On the 40th anniversary, the team was honored at halftime of UCLA's Senior Day game, March 7, 2009, at Pauley Pavilion.
  • Lew Alcindor's father played trombone with the UCLA band during the championship game.[4]

Awards and honors

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round Pick Player NBA Team
1 1 Lew Alcindor Milwaukee Bucks
1 3 Lucius Allen Seattle SuperSonics
5 48 Kenny Heitz Milwaukee Bucks
7 85 Bill Sweek Phoenix Suns
7 90 Lynn Shackelford San Diego Rockets

[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Official Collegiate Basketball Guide
  2. ↑ 1964 and 1965 NCAA Championship Teams to be Honored
  3. ↑ Jerry Crowe, "Mack Calvin waited it out with USC to beat UCLA", Los Angeles Times, February 2, 2009
  4. ↑ Jeff Borzello, Top 16 college basketball teams of all time, cbssports.com, March 21, 2012
  5. ↑ http://www.naismithawards.com/History/NaismithTrophy/tabid/58/Default.aspx
  6. ↑ http://www.databasebasketball.com/draft/draftyear.htm?lg=N&yr=1969

External links

  • Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons
  • 1968–69 UCLA Bruins at Sports-Reference.com
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