LINKS

BASKETBALL

1964

TOP (l to r): Ducky Drake, Jerry Norman, Steve Brucker, Fred Slaughter, Doug McIntosh, Vaughn Hoffman, Keith Erickson, Kim Stewart, Kenny Washington, John Wooden. BOTTOM: Dennis Minishian (Manager), Gail Goodrich, Jack Hirsch, Rich Levin, Walt Hazzard, Kent Graham, Mike Huggins, Chuck Darrow.

The 1964 UCLA men’s basketball team, known as the Cagers, was considered over-rated by all except the loyal students of Westwood and fans who supported them through out their season. They defended the Cagers for what they really were, the nation’s best. Before the season started, “Sports Illustrated” didn’t even have UCLA winning the AAWU (Athletic Association of Western Universities) conference, much less the National Title. SI along with two other nationally distributed magazines had Stanford winning the AAWU conference instead. UCLA’s best preseason ranking of 11th was given by The Associated Press Poll.

As the season began, UCLA slowly climbed in the rankings, and they were fifth as they entered the LA Classic. Both they and Michigan came in undefeated, but it was UCLA that prevailed. Even so, it wasn’t enough boost their rank to number one. It was only after Georgia Tech beat #1 Kentucky, and UCLA was the last unbeaten team were they given the privilege of officially being the top ranked team in the nation in the AP pool.

Even so, people still didn’t think that they deserved it. The only people who knew UCLA’s full potential were the people who had seen them in action. Many picked them to win the regionals, which they did, but still no one believed that that they would go all the way.

UCLA started the NCAA tournament undefeated, and that’s how the ended the tournament. One by one, UCLA dominated each opponent in the NCAA tournament. In the Western Regional Semi-Finals, the Cagers beat out Seattle 95-90. After they won against USF 76-72 in the Western Regional Finals, UCLA moved on to Kansas City. In the NCAA Championship Semi-Finals, UCLA beat Kansas State in Kansas City. Even then, the “experts” thought that Duke would take it to the Bruins. Dick Wade once wrote that “the law of averages (that UCLA would use) should have its long overdue inning. And that’s what the know-it-alls have been predicting well happen to UCLA all season.” After the 30th straight win came to the Bruins, the “experts” finally realized why the Bruins were undefeated. UCLA beat Duke 98-83 to win the 1964 NCAA Championship.

The 1964 UCLA basketball championship team set several records in that year. They scored more points than any other UCLA team in history at that time, averaging 88.9 points a game. They also set a single game total record of 121 points. Walt Hazzard, an All-American at UCLA who was named "Player of the Year", also set the record for the most points scored by an individual player. John Wooden, arguably he best coach in the history of basketball, was named “Coach of the Year.” With their unmatched fast break and full-court press, they proved to the world that they were the nations best.

1965

TOP (l to r): John Wooden, Ducky Drake, Rich Levin, Edgar Lacey, Doug McIntosh, Vaughn Hoffman, Bill Winkelholz, Mike Lynn, Keith Erickson, Kenny Washington, Bill Ureda. BOTTOM: Jerry Norman, Gail Goodrich, John Lyons, John Galbraith, Mike Serafin, Brice Chambers, Larry McCollister, Fred Goss.

The Bruin Cagers didn’t start off the season the way that everyone had anticipated. They started out by losing to Illinois in the season opener. The players were under a lot of pressure to repeat their undefeated season from the year before. The loss relieved the pressure, and allowed the Bruin squad to play at their full potential. They only lost one other game to Iowa, and proved to be the nations best once again. They went 28-2 during the season, and dominated the tournament. The Cagers destroyed their playing field, averaging 100 points per game during tournament play, breaking the record set by the 1964 Bruin squad of 89.75. They beat Brigham Young 100-76 in the Western Regionals Semi-Finals in Prove, Utah. In the Western Regional Finals, USF fell to the mighty Bruins 101-93. From there the Bruins went to Portland, Oregon where they annihilated Wichita State 108-89 in the NCAA Championship Semi-Finals.

In the Championship game, the Bruins faced Michigan. For most of the season, UCLA was ranked number two behind Michigan. It took the final game of the NCAA tournament to prove again that the loyal students and fans of UCLA were more accurate than the “experts.” The Michigan team had a great advantage in height and weight over the “small” Bruins. However, this advantage proved futile in the end for the Wolverines. The Bruins controlled the boards and the running game, as they ran Michigan into the ground. The final score was 91-80. The Bruins were victorious once again.

With Walt Hazzard no longer in the line-up, Gail Goodrich stepped up and became the team’s leading scorer and playmaker averaging 52.5 % from the floor. Gail Goodrich, first string All-American, he was an intricate part of the Bruin team. In leading the Bruins to another successful season, he broke three UCLA records:

He was also named to the NCAA All-Tourney team, and with Bill Bradley of Princeton, he was named Co-Player of the Year. After his UCLA career, he joined Walt Hazzard and became a Los Angeles Laker.