1968–69 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team

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	No. 1
AP	No. 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

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

Lew Alcindor, now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (#33, 24.0 ppg/14.6 rpg)
John Ecker (#52)
George Farmer (#34)
Kenny Heitz (#22, 6.5 ppg/2.3 rpg)
Jim Nielsen (#34)
Steve Patterson (#32)
Curtis Rowe (#30, 12.9 ppg/7.6 rpg)
Don Saffer (#25)
Terry Schofield (#42)
Bill Seibert (#54)
Lynn Shackelford (#53, 7.0 ppg/4.0 rpg)
Bill Sweek (#45)
John Vallely (#40, 11.0 ppg/3.2 rpg)
Lee Walczuk (#44)
Sidney Wicks (#35)

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

Lew Alcindor, NCAA Basketball Tournament MOP (1969)
Lew Alcindor, Naismith College Player of the Year ^[5]
Lew Alcindor, Helms Foundation Player of the Year award
Lew Alcindor, First Team All-American

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]

References

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

External links

Media related to 1968–69 UCLA Bruins men's basketball season at Wikimedia Commons
1968–69 UCLA Bruins at Sports-Reference.com

UCLA Bruins Men's Basketball 1968–69 NCAA Champions

22 Kenny Heitz 30 Curtis Rowe 32 Steve Patterson 33 Lew Alcindor (MOP) 34 George Farmer 35 Sidney Wicks 40 John Vallely 42 Terry Schofield 45 Bill Sweek 52 John Ecker 53 Lynn Shackelford Head Coach John Wooden Assistant Coaches Denny Crum Gary Cunningham

UCLA Bruins men's basketball

Venues	Men's Gym (1932–1965) Pan-Pacific Auditorium (alternate; 1949–1959) Venice High School (1955–1956) Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (1959–1965; 2011–2012) Honda Center (2011–2012) Pauley Pavilion (1965–present)

Rivalries	Arizona Notre Dame USC

Culture & lore	Game of the Century UCLA High Post Offense Joe Bruin

People	Head coaches Retired numbers NBA players

Seasons	1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17

NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

NCAA Division I Men's Basketball champions

1939: Oregon
1940: Indiana
1941: Wisconsin
1942: Stanford
1943: Wyoming
1944: Utah
1945: Oklahoma A&M
1946: Oklahoma A&M
1947: Holy Cross
1948: Kentucky
1949: Kentucky
1950: CCNY
1951: Kentucky
1952: Kansas
1953: Indiana
1954: La Salle
1955: San Francisco
1956: San Francisco
1957: North Carolina
1958: Kentucky
1959: California
1960: Ohio State
1961: Cincinnati
1962: Cincinnati
1963: Loyola (IL)
1964: UCLA
1965: UCLA
1966: Texas Western
1967: UCLA
1968: UCLA
1969: UCLA
1970: UCLA
1971: UCLA
1972: UCLA
1973: UCLA
1974: NC State
1975: UCLA
1976: Indiana
1977: Marquette
1978: Kentucky
1979: Michigan State
1980: Louisville
1981: Indiana
1982: North Carolina
1983: NC State
1984: Georgetown
1985: Villanova
1986: Louisville
1987: Indiana
1988: Kansas
1989: Michigan
1990: UNLV
1991: Duke
1992: Duke
1993: North Carolina
1994: Arkansas
1995: UCLA
1996: Kentucky
1997: Arizona
1998: Kentucky
1999: Connecticut
2000: Michigan State
2001: Duke
2002: Maryland
2003: Syracuse
2004: Connecticut
2005: North Carolina
2006: Florida
2007: Florida
2008: Kansas
2009: North Carolina
2010: Duke
2011: Connecticut
2012: Kentucky
2013: Louisville
2014: Connecticut
2015: Duke
2016: Villanova

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