Hindsight is 20/40: A look back at UCLA men’s basketball’s last two national titles

1974-1975 (28-3, 12-2 Pac-8)

Before the 1975 NCAA title game, John Wooden told his players in the locker room that regardless of the outcome, that would be the last college game he would ever coach.

Wooden held true to his word, retiring after the game. The Bruins held true to the standard that Wooden set over the preceding 12 years in Westwood, winning the national championship for the 10th time during that period in school history.

The 1974-1975 UCLA men’s basketball team didn’t have a superstar like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Bill Walton to lead the way, but it had a band of players who played well together and found ways to win night in and night out. One night, it would be the team’s leading scorer – senior forward Dave Meyers – galvanizing the Bruin attack, while on other nights it would be sophomore forwards Richard Washington or Marques Johnson leading the way.

In the Final Four, it was Richard Washington who emerged as the superstar of Wooden’s final championship team. He scored 26 points in UCLA’s 75-74 overtime victory over Louisville in the national semifinal, and added 28 more points in the NCAA Final against Kentucky, catalyzing a 92-85 Bruin victory.

With its cast of unheralded contributors, this Bruins team may not have the prestige of many of Wooden’s earlier championship teams. But the team received all the validation it could ask for when Wooden himself said that he never had a team that he was more proud of in HBO’s “The Dynasty” documentary.

1994-1995 (32-1, 17-1 Pac-10)

UCLA’s 1994-1995 NCAA title run harkens back to one number: 4.8 seconds.

That was the amount of time the No. 1 Bruins had to travel the length of the court and score a basket to avoid a 74-73 upset defeat at the hands of the No. 8 seed Missouri Tigers in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Then came a play that has etched itself into March Madness lore ever since.

Senior guard Tyus Edney took the inbounds pass inside the key, about 84 feet away from the basket. Six dribbles and 3.5 seconds later, Edney was in the middle of the key on the opposite side of the court, putting up a floater for the win. Just 1.3 seconds after that, Edney was being mobbed by his teammates and the Bruins were moving on to the Sweet 16.

Edney’s buzzer-beater in the second round blazed the trail for UCLA all the way to its first NCAA title in 20 years. The Bruins would win the next three games by an average of 12.7 points before facing the defending national champion Arkansas Razorbacks in the NCAA Championship game. Facing Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson’s “40 minutes of Hell” defense, the Bruins refused to go under, shooting 48.5 percent from the field and putting up 49 second-half points to seal an 89-78 victory.

If not for a loss at Oregon in early January, the 1994-1995 UCLA men’s basketball team would have been the only unbeaten Division I men’s college basketball team since 1976. The Bruins rallied off 26 straight wins to end the season, capped by the victory over the Razorbacks in the NCAA title game.

Compiled by Matthew Joye, Bruin Sports senior staff.