#3 The UCLA Bruins’ 7 Consecutive NCAA Basketball Titles

The Sporting News recently came out with their Top 10 “Great Records” written by Steve Greenberg. In an 11 part series, I will breakdown each record, why the record is impressive (or not), and if the record could ever be broken.

#3 The UCLA Bruins’ 7 Consecutive NCAA Basketball Titles

What can one say about John Wooden that has not already been said? He is the patron saint of college basketball and helped usher in the modern era of college basketball. He won 10 NCAA Championships in a 12 year period, including the above mentioned 7 in a row (1967-1973). During this streak his team won a record 88 consecutive times and he was also named coach of the year 6 times.

Wooden’s hard court success predates his time as a coach. While playing at Purdue he was the first player to be named All-American three times (1930-32). He also helped Purdue win a national championship as a player in 1932. Wooden coached high school basketball in Kentucky, 2 years, and Indiana for 9 years before becoming a college coach at, what is now called, Indiana State University. In 1947 Wooden turned down an opportunity to play in a post season tournament in Kansas City due to their ban on African-American players. In 1948 Wooden had his team primed for another post season run and due to his efforts the previous year; he accepted the invitation to play as they now allowed African-American players to participate. Wooden would lose in the finals to Louisville, his only championship game loss in college basketball.

In 1948, chance and luck would have it that Wooden would accept an offer from UCLA as head coach. Wooden was being pursued by University of Minnesota and poor weather disrupted an anticipated phone call (“Can you hear me now?”). Had poor weather not played its part, who knows how the record books and story unfolds?

Wooden’s success will never be matched in men’s college basketball. The game has changed and so have the players. During UCLA’s run, freshmen were not allowed to play, the 3-point line was not in play, and the NBA was not the draw for underclassmen as it is today. As in all sports, luck, consistency, and talent will help shape these moments.

Billy Donovan, head coach of University of Florida, and Mike Krzyzewski, head coach of University of Duke, are the only coaches to win two national championships in a row since the Wizard of Westwood retired 38 years ago (1975). Keeping a talented team intact will prove to be near impossible with the lure of NBA riches always waiting to be materialized. Few coaches are able to recruit the top talent year after year needed to keep their teams in the national title hunt.

Just to clarify, what UCLA accomplished is amazing. However, the college game was not nearly as talented as it is today; parity conversations aside. Wooden was the beneficiary of two of basketball’s most talented centers to ever play the game in a time when there were few talented big men in the game. UCLA was able to impose their will on the opposing teams with their talent and style of play. Their advantage then could be defeated today by the 3-point line. Granted UCLA would have the benefit of attempting 3-point shots but I would argue that if you have centers as talented as Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton, you would continue to pound the ball inside to them. Going a step further, Wooden built his teams around his big men by playing a zone press defense. Having true centers to defend the basket allowed his guards and forwards to play “40 minutes of Hell”.

To further my view on UCLA’s run, I like to compare it to the current run University of Connecticut’s women’s basketball team is enjoying. The women’s game is not as developed nationally as it could be or might be in the future; having only had a NCAA National Championship game since 1982. When UC’s head coach, Geno Auriemma, recruits, he is able to take the cream of the crop and reload his talent year after year without missing a beat; talent over “team basketball”. Few NCAA women’s teams can compete with them year in and out due to their talent. This is the same advantage UCLA had during their run as the game was not fully developed yet.