1968-69

The Lew Alcindor Era came to an unprecedented close as UCLA became the first team to win three straight NCAA championships and Alcindor became the tournament's first three-time Most Outstanding Player.

The victory in the finals gave Alcindor an overall record of 88–2 in three seasons, the only losses coming to Houston in 1968 and Southern Cal this year—a 46–44 freeze-o-rama in the final Pac-8 game of the season that broke the Uclans' 85-game winning streak at home.

Any thought that UCLA might be ripe for the picking in the NCAAs vanished when No.3 Santa Clara (26–1) met the Bruins in the West Regional final and was trashed, 90–52. UCLA had a lot of trouble with Drake in the semifinals before winning by three, then drubbed Purdue by 20 in the title game as Alcindor bowed out with 37 points.

La Salle, 23–1 and ranked second in the country, was ineligible for the tournament due to academic and recruiting violations that occurred before Tom Gola took over the program in 1968.

Maravich won the scoring title again, breaking his single season record with an average of 44.2. And University of Detroit sophomore Spencer Haywood, the hero of the 1968 U.S. Olympic team, was the nation's rebounding leader with 21.5 boards a game. Haywood turned pro before the year was out and led Denver to an ABA championship in 1970 while being named Rookie of the Year and MVP.

Final AP Top 20 (Writers' poll taken before major tournaments).

*on probation
Note: UCLA won the NCAAs and Temple (18–8, Harry Litwack, 22–8) won the NIT.

Consensus All-America  (In alphabetical order)

First Team

·         Lew Alcindor, UCLA

·         Spencer Haywood, Detroit

·         Pete Maravich, LSU

·         Rick Mount, Purdue

·         Calvin Murphy, Niagara

Second Team

·         Dan Issel, Kentucky

·         Mike Maloy, Davidson

·         Bud Ogden, Santa Clara

·         Charlie Scott, North Carolina

AP POLL

1. UCLA
2. La Salle
3. Santa Clara
4. North Carolina
5. Davidson
6. Purdue
7. Kentucky
8. St. John's
9. Villanova
10. Maryland

UPI COACHES POLL

1. UCLA
2. North Carolina
3. Davidson
4. Santa Clara
5. Kentucky
6. La Salle
7. Purdue
8. St. John's
9. New Mexico
10. Duquesne

NCAA Results

Duquesne 74, St. Joseph's 52
Davidson 75, Villanova 61
St. John's 72, Princeton 63
Marquette 82, Murray State 62
Miami (Ohio) 63, Notre Dame 60
Texas A&M 81, Trinity (Tex.) 66
Colorado State 52, Dayton 50
New Mexico State 74, Brigham Young 62
Weber State 75, Seattle 73
Regional Semifinals
North Carolina 79, Duquesne 78
Davidson 79, St. John's 69
Marquette 81, Kentucky 74
Purdue 91, Miami (Ohio) 71
Drake 81, Texas A&M 63
Colorado State 64, Colorado 56
UCLA 53, New Mexico State 38
Santa Clara 63, Weber State 59 (ot)
Regional Third Place
East: Duquesne 75, St. John's 72
Mideast: Kentucky 72, Miami (Ohio) 71
Midwest: Colorado 97, Texas A&M 82
West: Weber State 58, New Mexico State 56
Regional Finals
East: North Carolina 87, Davidson 85
Mideast: Purdue 75, Marquette 73 (ot)
Midwest: Drake 84, Colorado State 77
West: UCLA 90, Santa Clara 52
National Semifinals
Purdue 92, North Carolina 65
UCLA 85, Drake 82
National Third Place
Drake 104, North Carolina 84
Championship Game
UCLA 92, Purdue 72

UCLA leaders: Lew Alcindor, Sr., C; Curtis Rowe, So., F; John Vallely, Jr. G; Sidney Wicks, So., F; Lynn Shackelford, Sr., F

All-NCAA Tournament Team

Top 10

All-America Team

Leaders
Team
Offense: Purdue, 93.0
Defense : Army, 53.5

Individual Scoring

Rebounding

  Notes

• Temple def. Boston College 89-76 to win NIT title.

• Southern Cal broke UCLA’s 41-game win streak, 46-44.

HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

1969
Bernard L. Carnevale, Coach
*Robert E. Davies, Player

Three and counting . . .

There seemed to be only one fitting conclusion to the Lew Alcindor era at UCLA. Before the center of attention became the focus of a bidding war between the pro leagues, it was all but written in the stars that he lead the Bruins to a third consecutive national championship.

To his everlasting credit, what others promised, Alcindor delivered.

But his was not a senior season without incident. Alcindor had felt the need to defend himself against published charges of racism and criticism of his school and country. He had joined other prominent black athletes in boycotting the 1968 Olympic Games, a decision that generated quite a bit of hate mail, and an article by a former UCLA student charged Alcindor with espousing racial separatism.

For those reasons or perhaps for the absence of challenging competition, UCLA's play throughout the regular season did not approach the level achieved in the NCAA Tournament the previous spring. Indeed, Alcindor's last scheduled game ended in disappointment.

Employing a delay game, archrival Southern Cal squeezed out a 46-44 upset at Pauley Pavilion -- the Bruins' first loss on the court they had called home for four years. It marked UCLA's first loss after 41 victories and, since it followed by one night a shaky double-overtime victory over the Trojans at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, caused more than a little consternation.

Still, the Bruins unquestionably were the team to beat in the NCAA Tournament. They even had the advantage of hosting the West Regional at Pauley Pavilion. They didn't really need that edge, but it gave Alcindor two more chances to strut his stuff in front of the home folks and gave the students and fans two more chances to say goodbye.

The victims were New Mexico State and Santa Clara. They never had a chance. After handling the Aggies, 53-38, UCLA opened the throttle and demolished a Santa Clara team that had lost only once all season and was ranked among the top four teams in national wire-service polls.

The game was so one-sided the Broncos were behind 7-0 before they managed to push the ball over the midcourt line. They didn't manage a shot for the first 3 1/2 minutes and trailed by 11-0 and then 18-2 before the game was eight minutes old.

These Bruins were perceived to have a weakness in the backcourt -- Mike Warren had graduated and Lucius Allen was an academic casualty -- but Santa Clara never got a chance to probe. John Wooden unleashed his famous zone press, which he had used to harass opponents in 1964 and 1965 but had used sparingly during the Alcindor era.

"The press tore us apart," Santa Clara coach Dick Garibaldi said. "And then their shooting blasted us completely out. We never got to play the we game prepared for."

Alcindor -- flanked up front by a good pair of sophomores, Curtis Rowe and Sidney Wicks -- was replaced with just under eight minutes remaining and UCLA on its way to a 90-52 rout. The ovation was so deafening Wooden motioned for him to stand and acknowledge the cheers. He pulled up teammate Ken Heitz, and the two seniors stood and waved their index fingers to the crowd.

"We finally played our game," Wooden said afterward.

If that thought was disturbing to the other teams in the Final Four -- Drake, Purdue and old standby North Carolina -- they weren't about to admit it. Dolph Pulliam, Drake's outstanding defender, warned that his team deserved respect after its triumph in the Midwest Regional.

"If (the Bruins) don't give it to us," he said, "they'd better look out. I can't think of a better way of getting our 13th straight (victory) than by beating UCLA."

It seemed a farfetched notion. But the Bulldogs, champions of the Missouri Valley Conference, certainly were not intimidated by UCLA's reputation. Using a hyperactive man-to-man defense that sometimes left Alcindor to 6-foot-5 Al Williams, Drake dogged the Bruins throughout the game, and only guard John Vallely's hot shooting in the second half enabled the defending champions to open an 83-74 lead in the final two minutes.

But even then, UCLA's victory was not secure. Drake ran off eight consecutive points to cut the deficit to one with nine seconds left and was one turnover away from a staggering upset when Bruins forward Lynn Shackelford was fouled just before the buzzer. He made two free throws, raising the final margin to a harrowing 85-82.

"I feel," Wooden said, "like I've had a reprieve."

Purdue, featuring deadeye jump shooter Rick Mount, qualified for the other berth in the title game by dismantling a tall, accomplished North Carolina team. Although it ranked as only a mild upset, there was nothing modest about the score, 92-65.

Mount, the second-leading scorer in the nation and a consensus All-American, scored 36 points and the Tar Heels contributed 26 turnovers.

Now that UCLA was 40 minutes from an unprecedented third consecutive national championship, it didn't seem possible the Bruins would be denied. They were not. Nor were they threatened as they had been in the semifinal. Purdue, which had opened its season by losing to UCLA, 94-82, would close it in similar fashion. The Boilermakers' man-to-man defense caused no problems for Alcindor, and the most dominant player of his time burned them for 37 points in 36 minutes. He added 20 rebounds in a ho-hum 92-72 victory.

In the final game of his collegiate career, Alcindor had to share the spotlight with Heitz. Although the bespectacled senior didn't score a point, his defense on Mount was a key to victory. It recalled his effort against Don May of Dayton in the championship game two years earlier on the same court, Louisville's Freedom Hall.

Mount, who was averaging 33.5 points entering the game, led his team in scoring with 28 points but hit only 12-of-36 field-goal attempts, and the majority of his baskets came in the second half after the decision had been settled.

"I feel that every point Mount scored under his average before the game was decided," Wooden said, "should be counted for Kenny."

It was a nice moment for Heitz, whose three-year career had been something less than one long joyride. The depth of talent at UCLA was such that he had to sit for long stretches.

"There were just so many of us, all the time, every year," he said. "The only thing to aim for was not so much winning -- we would win -- but playing. If you had a good game, you got playing time the next game. There were disappointments. I didn't get much time last season, but that's personal."

Even Shackelford, who got more playing time in three years than any of Alcindor's classmates, had mixed emotions about the experience. A lot of it, he said, "has been boring, sitting on the bench or even playing when the other team was obviously weaker. From the start, everybody said we would win three championships. That has taken a lot out of the actual accomplishment. I think it's one reason for our businesslike manner on the court. We were only doing what we'd been expected to do.

"I'm glad we won the first year, though. Now we'll have three, and a long time from now I can look back and hold that over all the teams to come along. 'What have they done?' I'll say. 'Have they done what we did?' "

When the third successive championship was a reality, the first reaction of many was relief.

"The yoke is removed now," said guard Bill Sweek, a reserve for all three seasons. "Let them try to match us."

In the course of his varsity career, Alcindor had many obstacles. A rule had been passed to stop college players -- specifically him -- from dunking, he had been poked in the eye, hometown New York fans had booed him during a two-game engagement at Madison Square Garden and he had struggled with the decision to become a Muslim, which later would precipitate changing his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

As Wilt Chamberlain had noted years earlier, "Nobody loves Goliath." But Alcindor had persevered and done everything required -- even demanded -- of him.

"I'll just say it feels nice," said Alcindor, who was the Final Four's outstanding player an unprecedented third time. "Everything was up in my throat all week. I could see ahead to the end, but there was apprehension and fear. Fear of losing. I don't know why, but it was there.

"Before the other two tournaments, it didn't feel this way. This one did. But, wow, today after I came to the bench, I was yelling. Wow, I was excited. We just had to bring this thing down in front again where it belongs."

He and his teammates had produced under the most severe pressure. Perhaps Wooden, whose security measures to shield his players from the media were considered excessive by many, felt it most of all.

"It was not as easy an era as it might have seemed to outsiders," the coach said, "but it's been a tremendous era, I think.

"I've heard it said that any coach would have won championships with Lewis. That might be true, it really might. But they'll never know. I do."