1964-65

The Game of the Year came on Dec.30, 1964, when Cazzie Russell and Michigan beat Bill Bradley and Princeton by two points in the finals of the Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden.

Bradley fouled out with less than five minutes to go after scoring 41 points to give the Tigers a 12–point lead over the No.1 Wolverines. The ovation Bradley received as he left the game rocked the Garden and has stayed with fans who were there long after the final score has faded from memory.

The two teams met again in the NCAA semifinals in Portland, but this time Michigan won easily, 93–76. Player of the Year and tourney MVP Bradley said goodbye to college ball with 58 points in the consolation game, which overshadowed defending champ UCLA's nine-point victory over Michigan in the title game.

Unranked St. John's upset No.8 Villanova by four to win the NIT, a retirement gift to coach and basketball legend Joe Lapchick.

Final AP Top 10 (Writers' poll taken before major tournaments. From 1962–63 through 1967–68, AP ranked only 10 teams).

Note: UCLA won the NCAAs.

Second 10 (Taken from final UPI coaches' poll).

Note: Unranked St. John's (17–8, Joe Lapchick, 21–8) won the NIT.

Consensus All-America (By position, in alphabetical order)

  First Team

·         Rick Barry, Miami (FL)

·         Bill Bradley, Princeton

·         Gail Goodrich, UCLA

·         Fred Hetzel, Davidson

·         Cazzie Russell, Michigan

  Second Team

·         Bill Buntin, Michigan

·         Wayne Estes, Utah St.

·         Clyde Lee, Vanderbilt

·         Dave Schellhase, Purdue

• Dave Stallworth, Wichita St.

AP POLL

1. Michigan
2. UCLA
3. St. Joseph's
4. Providence
5. Vanderbilt
6. Davidson
7. Minnesota
8. Villanova
9. BYU
10. Duke

UPI COACHES POLL

1. Michigan
2. UCLA
3. St. Joseph's
4. Providence
5. Vanderbilt
6. BYU
7. Davidson
8. Minnesota
9. Duke
10. San Francisco

NCAA Results

First Round
Princeton 60, Penn State 58
St. Joseph's 67, Connecticut 61
Providence 91, West Virginia 67
DePaul 99, Eastern Kentucky 52
Dayton 66, Ohio University 65
Houston 99, Notre Dame 98
Oklahoma City 70, Colorado State 68
Regional Semifinals
Princeton 66, North Carolina State 48
Providence 81, St. Joseph's 73
Vanderbilt 83, DePaul 78 (OT)
Michigan 98, Dayton 71
Wichita State 86, Southern Methodist 81
Oklahoma State 75, Houston 60
UCLA 100, Brigham Young 76
San Francisco 91, Oklahoma City 67
Regional Third Place
East: N.C. State 103, St. Joseph's 81
Mideast: Dayton 75, DePaul 69
Midwest: SMU 89, Houston 87
West: Oklahoma City 112, BYU 102
Regional Finals
East: Princeton 109, Providence 69
Mideast: Michigan 87, Vanderbilt 85
Midwest: Wichita State 54, Oklahoma State 46
West: UCLA 101, San Francisco 93
National Semifinals
Michigan 93, Princeton 76
UCLA 108, Wichita State 89
National Third Place
Princeton 118, Wichita State 82
Championship Game
UCLA 91, Michigan 80

UCLA leaders: Gail Goodrich, G, Sr.; Keith Erickson, F, Sr.; Fred Goss, G, Jr.; Edgar Lacey, F, So.; Kenny Washington, F, Jr.

All-NCAA Tournament Team

Top 10

All-America Team

Leaders
Team
Offense: Miami (Florida), 98.4
Defense: Tennessee, 55.64

Individual Scoring

Rebounding

Notes

• St. John’s def. Villanova 55-51 to win the NIT title.

• Utah State’s Wayne Estes died from electrocution in a freak accident Feb. 8, 1965. After that, Barry put together six 50-point games to stay ahead in the scoring race.

• After his pro basketball career, Princeton's Bill Bradley became a U.S. Senator from New Jersey.

HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

1965
*Walter A. Brown, Contributor
*Paul D. Hinkle, Contributor
*Howard A. Hobson, Coach
*William G. Mokray, Contributor

Bruins sneak in back door

Though the UCLA Bruins were coming off an undefeated season, so much media attention was directed elsewhere in 1965 that the defending national champions were overlooked, if not forgotten, as they moved steadily toward another Final Four.

The public's preoccupation with UCLA began to wane after the Bruins lost their first game of the year, 110-83, at Illinois. A loss to another Big Ten Conference team (Iowa) several weeks later seemed to confirm that UCLA was back among the mortal.

But the Bruins' departure from center stage wasn't as much a reflection of their fall from grace as it was a tribute to the rise of a star in the East and a program in the Midwest. The clash of those two forces in the semifinal round of a holiday tournament in New York colored the entire season. No one who was there would ever forget the night Bill Bradley took on mighty Michigan and almost won.

The game was played December 30, 1964, in the ECAC Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden. Bradley, a 6-foot-5 forward, had been a consensus All-America selection as a junior, but his Princeton team appeared hopelessly young (three sophomores among the first six players) and barely a cut above its Ivy League competition.

Michigan was ranked first in the nation and, in 6-5 junior guard Cazzie Russell, possessed the most celebrated player in the country.

Bradley grew into a legend that night. Before fouling out with 4:37 remaining he scored 41 points, gathered nine rebounds, added four assists and limited his opponent to one point. More significant, Bradley provided the Tigers with a shocking 75-63 lead.

"I never thought one man could control a game like that," Michigan coach Dave Strack said.

The true value of his presence, however, was underscored by his absence. With Bradley on the bench, Princeton collapsed. The Wolverines roared from behind to tie the score in the final minute and to prevail, 80-78, on a jump shot by Russell with three seconds left. Because of the remarkable nature of that game, both Princeton and Michigan spent the rest of the season in the spotlight.

Few people outside New York would remember that Michigan lost the championship game of the Holiday Festival to St. John's by a single point. After the loss, the Wolverines promptly launched a 13-game winning streak that was halted in their regular-season finale at Ohio State.

Russell was the star shooter, but the Big Ten champions squashed opponents with a brutal inside game featuring 6-7, 235-pound center Bill Buntin and 6-7, 220-pound forward Oliver Darden. The smallest starter on the of big shoulders was George Pomey, a 6-4, 196-pound guard.

Although Princeton was not a physically impressive team, coach Bill van Breda Kolff's Tigers were lifted to unprecedented heights by Bradley.

Bradley was that rare individual who made everyone around him play to his maximum potential and perhaps beyond. Part of the fascination with Bradley was, of course, his intelligence. At an elite school, he was among the more elite students. He already had been designated a Rhodes scholar and planned to pass up professional basketball, at least temporarily, to attend Oxford University.

Despite his academic bent, Bradley practiced basketball with an almost religious fervor. He wasn't particularly fast or strong, and he didn't jump well. But through diligent work, he had become a great shooter and developed a total comprehension of the game. With Bradley as the focal point, Princeton won the Ivy League title and an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Returning to the tournament for the fourth consecutive year was defending champion UCLA, which again was using the zone press. After seeing how well the defense worked for the Bruins, teams throughout the country began using versions of the press with varying results. Even Michigan's lumberjacks had opted for a half-court zone press, as much to get their own offense in gear as to harass opponents.

"All I am asked about is the UCLA press," Strack said. "But anybody can press. To make it work, you need the personnel.

"The UCLA press is mostly the UCLA players."

The players were not the same in 1965 and neither was the press. Fred Slaughter had been replaced in the pivot and on the front line of the press by junior Doug McIntosh. Junior Fred Goss had moved into Walt Hazzard's backcourt spot, and sophomore Edgar Lacey had taken the place of forward Jack Hirsch. Returning to the starting lineup were guard Gail Goodrich and forward Keith Erickson.

The Bruins still were short and quick, but the synchronization was not as fine as it had been in 1964 and teams were better prepared for the press this time.

Still, UCLA unquestionably played the defense better than any of its imitators. Coach John Wooden was concerned enough about scouts taking notes that he called off the zone press in his team's final regular-season games, both against Southern Cal. Without the pressure defense, the Bruins struggled to win both games.

Another UCLA returnee was forward Kenny Washington, who specialized in high-scoring championship games.

"I just didn't want to give anyone the opportunity to personally analyze the press," Wooden said.

UCLA began defense of its title as the second-ranked team in the nation. No. 1-ranked Michigan was the tournament favorite, an honor it did nothing to dispel in winning the Mideast Regional. In the West, the Bruins routed Brigham Young but had to rally to beat San Francisco. Wichita State survived underwhelming competition in the Midwest.

But the regional that drew the greatest interest was the East, where Princeton came of age. After squeezing past Penn State and handling North Carolina State with surprising ease, the Tigers were matched against Providence.

The Friars, featuring Jimmy Walker, were ranked fourth in the nation, had lost only one game and were heavy favorites. They never had a chance.

Bradley made 14-of-20 field-goal attempts as well as all 13 free throws for 41 points. He also had 10 rebounds and nine assists and precipitated the 109-69 rout of an outstanding team. His indelible performance earned Princeton its first trip to the Final Four and made possible a rematch with Michigan.

"I'll just tell them," said Wolverines assistant Tom Jorgensen, who was scouting the Tigers, "that he's the greatest that ever lived because they won't believe anything else."

By then, the other Tigers not only believed in Bradley but in themselves. All of them -- center Robby Brown, point guard Gary Waiters and reserve center Ed Hummer (all sophomores) as well as guard Don Rodenbach and forward Bob Haarlow (both juniors) -- played magnificently against Providence. The entire team made 68.3 percent of its field-goal tries and, in one 12-minute stretch, connected on 14 consecutive shots from the field.

The Tigers, haunted by their Holiday Festival defeat all season, were pleased to have another shot at the Wolverines.

"We have been thinking of only one thing since December 30," Bradley said. "We have been thinking about beating Michigan."

The semifinal encounter at the Portland Memorial Coliseum, however, did not live up to the expectations of Princeton or the general public. Bradley was charged with his fourth foul early in the second half, forcing Princeton into an unfamiliar zone that Michigan shredded. The Tigers stayed reasonably close until Bradley fouled out with five minutes remaining, then were overrun, 93-76.

UCLA met only limited resistance from outmanned Wichita State, which relied upon, of all things, a full-court press. The Bruins won as they pleased, 108-89.

That set up the long-awaited final between the bulls and the bears. But first, the crowd in the Oregon city was granted an unusual treat. Bradley, appearing in his last college game, set a Final Four record with 58 points (on 22-of-29 shooting from the field, 14-of-15 from the free-throw line) in Princeton's 118-82 demolition of Wichita State.

His was such a captivating finale that referee Bob Korte sought out Bradley afterward and said, ". . . that was the greatest exhibition I ever saw. It was a pleasure to watch, and I wanted to thank you."

Yet all Bradley's artistry did was decide third place in the tournament. Goodrich didn't top the performance, but he came close, and unlike Bradley he was rewarded with a championship. The littlest Bruin regular dazzled the Wolverines and set a scoring record for a title game with 42 points.

Goodrich was 6-1 and slender with a boyish face that, according to one observer, would not have been out of place underneath a beanie and a propeller. He had assumed a larger role for UCLA as the season progressed, scoring a school-record 40 points against BYU and then 30 against San Francisco in the team's West Regional victories.

Against Michigan, darting around the massive Wolverines, the All-American was uncanny.

For the second consecutive year, the Bruins also got another lift from forward Kenny Washington. The sixth man hit 7-of-9 attempts from the floor and was the team's second-leading scorer with 17 points. He had scored a career-high 26 in UCLA's title-winning triumph over Duke a year earlier.

"I guess if we can just make it to the finals," Wooden mused, "Washington will take care of us."

Despite the tremendous efforts by Goodrich and Washington, UCLA's emphatic 91-80 triumph would not have been possible without the press. Michigan started fast and held a 20-13 lead barely seven minutes into the game. Furthermore, a leg injury had sidelined Erickson, UCLA's co-captain and floor leader, forcing the young Lacey to play the vital safety position in the press.

It didn't matter. As had happened to so many opponents in the last two years, the Wolverines became unglued. They couldn't get the ball across midcourt. Their passes were tipped or intercepted. The Bruins pulled even midway through the first half and then inched ahead for good.

They won the game, for all intents and purposes, with a 12-1 run in the final four minutes of the first half, taking a 47-34 lead that proved insurmountable. The Bruins were up by 20 when Wooden slowed down the offense in the second half. He sat back and watched his players draw fouls and sink free throw after free throw down the stretch.

Finesse had triumphed over muscle. The Bruins were national champions for the second year in a row. And as long as Wooden coached, UCLA never again would be overlooked.