I remember watching that national championship game against Memphis St. on TV when Walton made 21 of 22 shots from the field. As I recall most of those shots were not layups but 10-12 foot fall away jump shots from the left side that he banked off the glass. It was an amazing performance. However Coach Wooden always maintained that the greatest performance by one of his players in a championship game was not Walton’s performance but Gail Goodrich’s 42 points against Michigan in 1965.

A friend of mine who was from New Jersey and who came to UCLA for graduate school told me that at the very start of Walton’s first varsity season in 1971 he thought that Walton had to be way overrated and overhyped. His first chance to see Walton play was when they played Ohio St. early in the season. He said that Ohio St. had a center who had been All American honorable mention, and he thought he would outplay Walton. My friend who watched at floor level said that he became a believer when on the first shot taken by the Ohio St. center, a baseline jumper, he completely faked out Walton yet Walton still blocked the shot!