UCLA Bruins: The Greatest College Basketball Team(s) of All Time

by Achilles on Mar 25, 2011 8:42 AM PDT

There is no debate about this issue in Bruins Nation, but in case anyone was interested, the Sporting News has "settled the score":

In celebration of its 125th anniversary, Sporting News will be settling the score on The Great Sports Debates. This month's debate puts to rest the argument of the greatest college basketball teams of all time, asking an All-Star panel of former players, current and former coaches and basketball contributors to cast their votes.

The 1966-67 UCLA Bruins came out on top. Starting the program's run of seven consecutive NCAA titles, coach John Wooden's 30-0 team averaged 90.2 points per game, won all four NCAA Tournament games by at least 15 points and introduced the world to sophomore Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, national player of the year and one of the most dominant forces in the game of basketball.

Abdul-Jabbar said about that remarkable team, "On the court, I believe we had the size and the balance to make us competitive with any college team that came before or after us. As a matter of fact, the only team I can think of outside of the great UCLA years that might have been at our level is Bill Russell's University of San Francisco team that won 60 games in a row (from 1954 to '56)--that was a dominant, great team. I learned how to play the game by watching him play. If you could've put our teams in the same era, it would've been quite a tough match for both of us."

The 1972-73 Bruins, whose 30-0 championship season laid the foundation for their men's record 88-game winning streak, are No. 2. The last NCAA champion to complete an undefeated season, the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers, are No. 3. The 1981-82 North Carolina Tar Heels, whose starters James Worthy and Michael Jordan went on to become two of the 50 greatest players in NBA history, come in at No. 4. Rounding out the top five are the 1954-55 San Francisco Dons. Led by center Bill Russell, the 28-1 NCAA champions began a 60-game winning streak that stood as a record until UCLA won 88 straight. The 1991-92 UNLV Rebels, 1973-74 N.C. State Wolfpack, 1991-92 Duke Blue Devils, 1983-84 Georgetown Hoyas and 1995-96 Kentucky Wildcats make the list at six through 10, respectively.

But what about all the other great UCLA teams?

Shouldn't other Bruin teams also be on the list? We would love to hear perspectives from the "geezers" in Bruins Nation.

Another cool thing to note - no other school had 2 teams on TSN's list.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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From what I have heard

The 67-68 was the best. Since I wasn’t around back then, I’ll defer to our geezers to confirm if that is true.

by bruinbabe2000 on Mar 25, 2011 9:26 AM PDT reply actions

Missing one from 6-10.

Thanks for the post. Is there a link yet to the SI story?

by BrendonBruin on Mar 25, 2011 10:50 AM PDT reply actions

Clicking through from the official site linked above

eventually gets you to the SN story here.

Roses are red, violets are blue...f*** $C.

by KSBruin on Mar 25, 2011 10:53 AM PDT up reply actions

Steve Lavin was on the panel of experts that chose these

Don’t disagree with the order or choices though, at least from reading about historical teams. Sadly have had little to no chance to actually see any of them.

by Harsha on Mar 25, 2011 1:10 PM PDT reply actions

Best ever: 1967-68

The only loss was by 2 points at Houston (supposed Game of the Century) when Alcindor was recovering from a scratched eye and missed most of his shots. Plus Elvin Hayes went over a Bruin’s back for what should’ve been his fifth foul, but the officials didn’t call it.

In the Final Four, UCLA beat the #1 team in the country, Houston, by more than 30 points — which was after the subs came in and let a 40-plus point lead erode a bit.

In the Championship Game, UCLA beat North Carolina by a then-record margin of victory. It has only been surpassed by UNLV, which had the advantage of the 3-point shot. (Can you imagine what the N.C. margin would have been if Shackleford shots counted for three?)

The ‘68 team had all the starters from the ’67 squad back, with a year’s experience under Coach, and they added Mike Lynn (back from suspension) and, for a time, Edgar Lacey. I would put them against any Bruin, or non-Bruin, team ever — and offer a lot of points.

by ucla7477 on Mar 25, 2011 3:42 PM PDT reply actions

I was there

I started at UCLA in 67 as a junior and saw every game at Pauley those two years. I remember a friend who wasn’t into sports asking me how could the games possibly be fun if the margins of victory was were virtually always in excess of 30 points. Well, you just had to be there. It was thrilling and magical and the fans were in a constant state of berserkery (not a word, but should be). I will never forget that time and agree that 67-68 should be number one.

by TriedandTrueBruin on Mar 25, 2011 5:43 PM PDT reply actions

How can you get tickets?

Weren’t they sellouts?

by LA Bruin on Mar 25, 2011 8:45 PM PDT up reply actions

Back In those days the students got first choice and there were thousands of us at the games.

(Also, my parents were Pauley benefactors, which helped. And it got me free parking in any lot on campus through my college and law school career. Those were the good old days.)

by BrendonBruin on Mar 25, 2011 9:19 PM PDT up reply actions

How can you get tickets?--simple

You buy student tickets.

And they were not all sellouts. But it was entirely different from the way it is now. For starters, there was a freshman game which was fun to watch because you got to see future NBA hall of famers light up some local junior college team. Also, the frosh game consisted of the student section filled (much bigger than the seats filled by students now) and the rest of Pauley was virtually empty. Oh, there was an older couple at the freshman games—the Woodens.

And the game itself would often start with UCLA building a 23-7 lead as the crowd screamed in unison, “Poor it on Bruins, pour it on.” The lead would often be built by the use of a smothering zone press which would shut down the visiting offenses and blistering fast breaks off of defensive rebounds. When Lewis (now Kareem) and later Bill would get the defensive rebound, the outlet pass would break the sound barrier as it went out to the likes of Mike Warren or Greg Lee.

It was the best there ever was.

by peggysue69 on Mar 25, 2011 9:26 PM PDT up reply actions

As I recall, tickets were a quarter a game.

The doors opened for the freshman game at 5:00, and at 5:05, every seat in the student section was taken, and that’s not an exaggeration. I ushered those games. (The notion of getting paid to watch UCLA basketball in Pauley still strikes me as something quite remarkable.) I thought they were sellouts. I know I had Walter Matthau in my section once, and as I recall, John Robinson (yeah, the trogan) came to a game.

by Fox 71 on Mar 26, 2011 7:32 PM PDT up reply actions

I was at UCLA from 63 to 70 (law school).

The Walt Hazzard-Gail Goodrich team was incredible, with no player over 6’5", but the ’68 team was the best ever.

I sat in the student section for 7 years and started the cheer (I think it was directed to Bobby Knight, but somebody wearing red) “take off those reeeed socks.”

Lew Alcindor was pretty amazing as a freshman and I also saw the frosh team beat the national champions in the freshman-varsity game. Good things were coming, But it was a different era. Because of Lew the NCAA banned the dunk. So Alcindor developed his fade away hook., which couldn’t be defended.

by BrendonBruin on Mar 25, 2011 8:06 PM PDT reply actions

Thanks to the NCAA

for turning a dominant player to an unstoppable machine.

by UCLAngels on Mar 26, 2011 10:37 AM PDT up reply actions

Tickets

As I recall, those of us who camped out all night when the season tickets went on sale had tickets to every game. Of course, that was 43 years ago. But I recall having tickets to every home game. Because they were so coveted, if you couldn’t go, you gave your tickets away or sold them to other students.

by TriedandTrueBruin on Mar 25, 2011 9:16 PM PDT reply actions