UCLA’s best teams made their mark on hoops history

  Photos from UCLA Sports Information Gail
Goodrich led the 1963-64 team to an undefeated season.

By Chris Umpierre
Daily Bruin Staff An unprecedented five preseason All-Americans.
Five potential NBA draft picks. A possible No. 1 overall pick.
Could this year’s Arizona Wildcats be the greatest team in
college basketball history? Some say the No. 5 Wildcats (5-1), who
start point guard Jason Gardner, shooting guard Gilbert Arenas,
power forward Michael Wright, small forward Richard Jefferson and
center Loren Woods, could be the best of all time when the 2000-01
season is all said and done. Jefferson said you couldn’t put
together a better college basketball squad. “If you had to
draw up a college basketball team, how could you draw up a better
team?” he told ESPN.com. “We’ve got a strong
point guard who distributes the ball, a lanky two-guard who can
score in so many different ways, an athletic three-man in myself, a
strong power forward and a strong 7-footer who loves to block
shots. “On paper, we’re as good as it gets.”

  Lew Alcindor was the leader of the
1966-67 and 1967-68 teams. Only time will tell if Arizona’s
potential will translate into a national championship, the one and
only indicator of a team’s greatness. Of course, UCLA ““
holder of eleven national titles ““ knows a thing or two about
great college basketball teams.

As a result of the recent talk surrounding this year’s
Arizona team, here is a study of UCLA’s greatest basketball
teams and the top five to ever don the blue and gold.

5) 1963-1964 This is the only UCLA team on the list without an
Alcindor or a Walton on the roster. It is the Bruins’ fifth
greatest team not only because it won the school’s first of
eleven national titles, but because it won with ingenuity. Despite
an undersized center, 6-foot-5 Fred Slaughter, Bruin head coach
John Wooden decided to use his team’s quickness to employ a
devastating press. UCLA’s coach stationed Gail Goodrich and
Fred Slaughter under the basket while Walt Hazzard and Jack Hirsch
were behind them with Keith Erickson as the safety. The plan worked
beautifully as the Bruins’ quickness routinely beat out their
opponent’s height and strength. The team was led by
All-American senior Hazzard, who could fill the lane and was a
tremendous passer. Junior guard Goodrich, who would later have a
successful career with the Los Angeles Lakers, was the team’s
main scorer. He finished with an average of 21.5 points per game.
For the first time ever, a UCLA team won all 30 of its games en
route to the school’s first NCAA title.

4) 1966-1967 If not for their youth, these Bruins would be
ranked higher. The 1967 Bruins started four sophomores (read: bad
news for opponents in the future) including perhaps UCLA’s
best-ever backcourt tandem in Lucius Allen and Mike Warren.
Sweet-shooting forward Lynn Shakelford and a 7-foot center by the
name of Lew Alcindor rounded out the starters. To be known as a
great team, a squad needs a go-to player, and Alcindor was that and
then some. Playing in his first college contest, Alcindor shrugged
off the rookie jitters and dropped a school record 56 points on
rival USC. The legendary career of Alcindor (later Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar) was off and running. On an assortment of short hooks
and jams, Alcindor spearheaded the UCLA attack with 29 points per
game and an NCAA record 67 percent shooting from the field. This
dominant first campaign for the big man led the NCAA in later years
to outlaw the slam dunk (a law directed at Alcindor). The only way
teams would get close to these Bruins is by playing a delay game,
where the opponent held the ball for long periods of time. UCLA
crushed Houston 73-58 in the NCAA semifinal and Dayton 79-64 in the
NCAA final to capture the title. The dynasty had just begun. 3)
1971-1972 The 1972 UCLA team was young but it was dominant. It was
led by a 6-foot-11 center that some have called the best college
basketball center of all time, Bill Walton. Walton led a group of
unmatched sophomores (freshmen were not allowed to play) this year.
Versatile sophomore forward Keith Wilkes and sophomore point guard
Greg Lee stepped into the starting lineup. UCLA’s only
veteran player this year was 6-foot-1 shooting guard Henry Bibby.
Experience or no experience, this team won. And they won big. As
UCLA entered NCAA tournament play, their average margin of victory
was 32.2 points per game, surpassing the record of 27.2 by the 1954
Kentucky team. Led by the redheaded sophomore center, the Bruins
continued their dominance into the tournament. Against Louisville
in the NCAA semifinal, UCLA won 96-77. Walton’s line, you
ask? The center finished with 33 points (11 of 13), 21 rebounds and
six blocked shots. The Bruins had some difficulty in the
championship game, as Florida State gave them a run before
succumbing 81-76. Showing that it wasn’t just the Bill Walton
show, sophomore Wilkes stepped up with 23 points including a hoop
in the final minute to ice the game.

2) 1967-1968 While this team did lose a game and had some scares
during the season, it’s UCLA’s second greatest team
because of its experience and depth. And the fact that it had
Alcindor didn’t hurt matters. The 1968 team had all you could
want in a squad. It had a scoring guard (Allen averaged 15 points
per game), it had the marksman (Shackelford), it had the playmaker
(Warren), it had the defensive stopper (Kenny Heitz) and it had
probably the game’s most dominant big man (Alcindor). Wooden
also had the benefit of going to players such as Mike Lynn and
Edgar Lacey. Add to that the fact that they were one year wiser
after winning the title in 1967. The only loss this team suffered
came at the hands of the Elvin Hayes-led Houston Cougars in a game
that changed the face of college basketball. In front of a record
52,693 fans, the Cougars stunned the basketball world by beating
the Bruins 71-69 at the Houston Astrodome. But UCLA was not at 100
percent for the game as their leader Alcindor suffered from an eye
injury. The center was just 4 of 18 from the field. With a healthy
Alcindor, the Bruins creamed the Cougars 101-69 in the NCAA
semifinal. Alcindor, Allen and Lynn had 19 points each. The next
day, UCLA garnered its fourth NCAA title in five years by
humiliating North Carolina 78-55. The 23-point spread was the
largest in championship game history.

1) 1972-1973 The reason this team, out of all the great Bruin
teams, gets the nod for the greatest in UCLA history is because,
well, the legendary Wooden said it. After his Bruins trounced
Memphis State in the title game 87-66, Wooden told reporters
“I’d have to say this is my best team ever.”
Another reason this is UCLA’s greatest team is they
didn’t just win, they destroyed teams. This squad
didn’t have a close call the entire season. The 1973 Bruins
won every game by at least six points and 23 of the 26 by ten or
more. For instance, many predicted that UCLA would be challenged
when they traveled to South Bend, Ind., to take on Notre Dame, the
last team to beat them in a regular season game in the last two
years. However, the Bruins dismantled the Irish 82-63. The win,
UCLA’s 61st straight, gave the team the record for the most
consecutive victories. Oh, and this team had that Walton guy.
Perhaps installing himself as college basketball’s greatest
center, the All-American was unstoppable during the NCAA title
game. He set an NCAA record by making an unbelievable 21 of 22
shots and scoring 44 points to lead UCLA to its seventh straight
NCAA title. But a team is not just a one-man show, and the 1973
Bruin squad showed that. In addition to Walton, this team featured
All-American forward Keith Wilkes, who averaged 14.8 points per
game. A quote by a UCLA opponent says it all about this team.
“That’s an awesome team,” Indiana’s John
Ritter said after playing the Bruins in the NCAA semifinal.
“You know the Yankees were awesome like that a few years
back. Even if we’d beaten them, they’d still be the
best.”

STARTING LINEUPS FOR UCLA’S TOP FIVE BASKETBALL
TEAMS During these five seasons, the Bruins men’s
basketball program went 149-1 overall. 1972-1973 (30-0, Pacific-8
14-0) F Larry Farmer, Sr. F Keith Wilkes, So. C Bill Walton, Jr. G
Larry Hollyfield, Sr. G Greg Lee, Jr. 1971-1972 (30-0, Pacific-8
14-0) F Larry Farmer, Jr. F Keith Wilkes, So. C Bill Walton, So. G
Greg Lee, So. G Henry Bibby, Sr. 1963-1964 (30-0, AAWU 15-0) F
Keith Erickson, Jr. F Jack Hirsch, Sr. C Fred Slaughter, Sr. G Walt
Hazzard, Sr. G Gail Goodrich, Jr. 1966-1967 (30-0, AAWU 14-0) F
Lynn Shackelford, So. F Kenny Heitz, So. C Lew Alcindor, So. G
Lucius Allen, So. G Mike Warren, Jr. 1967-1968 (29-1, AAWU 14-0) F
Lynn Shackelford, Jr. F Mike Lynn, Sr. C Lew Alcindor, Jr. G Lucius
Allen, Jr. G Mike Warren, Sr. SOURCE: UCLA Sports Info Original
graphic by JACOB LIAO/Daily Bruin Web adaptation by CHRISTINE
TAN/Daily Bruin