The Legacy of Bruins Basketball: A Tradition of Excellence
The UCLA Bruins men's basketball program, representing the University of California, Los Angeles, stands as a beacon of success in the world of college basketball. As a proud member of the Big Ten Conference, the program boasts a storied history, marked by an unparalleled record of 11 NCAA titles. From the early days of Fred Cozens to the modern era, the Bruins have consistently striven for excellence, leaving an indelible mark on the sport.
Early Years and the Dawn of a Dynasty
Established in 1919, the UCLA basketball program initially saw Fred Cozens at its helm. In two seasons, Cozens established a foundation with a 21-4 record. Caddy Works followed, coaching from 1921 to 1939 and compiling a 173-159 record. Works, a lawyer who coached in the evenings, laid the groundwork for future success.
The Wooden Era: A Golden Age
The arrival of John Wooden in 1948 marked the beginning of an unprecedented era of dominance. Nicknamed the "Wizard of Westwood," Wooden transformed the Bruins into a national powerhouse. Before his arrival, UCLA had secured only two conference championships in the preceding 18 years. In his first season, Wooden guided a team that had previously finished with a 12-13 record to a 22-7 record, marking the most wins in a season in program history, and the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) Southern Division championship. The following season, Wooden led the Bruins to a 24-7 record and the PCC championship. The Bruins would win the division title in each of the next two seasons and the conference title in the latter season.
Wooden's impact transcended mere statistics. He instilled a philosophy of discipline, teamwork, and relentless pursuit of perfection. His coaching prowess led the Bruins to an unmatched run of 10 national titles in 12 seasons, from 1964 to 1975, including an astounding seven consecutive titles from 1967 to 1973. Under Wooden, UCLA achieved a record four undefeated seasons (1964, 1967, 1972, and 1973).
In 1955-56, Wooden guided the Bruins to their first undefeated PCC conference title and a 17-game winning streak that only came to an end in the 1956 NCAA Tournament at the hands of a University of San Francisco team that featured Bill Russell. However, UCLA was unable to maintain this level of performance over the immediate ensuing seasons, finding itself unable to return to the NCAA Tournament as the Pete Newell-coached California teams took control of the conference at the end of the decade. By 1962 the probation was no longer in place and Wooden had returned the Bruins to the top of their conference (now the Pac-12 Conference). This time, however, they would take the next step, and go on to unleash a run of dominance unparalleled in the history of college sports. Wooden's team repeated as national champions the following season before the squad fell briefly in 1966 when it finished second in the conference to Oregon State. UCLA was ineligible to play in the NCAA tournament that year because in those days only conference champions went to the tournament. However, the Bruins' incarnation returned with a vengeance in 1967 with the arrival of sophomore All-America and MVP Lew Alcindor. In January 1968, UCLA took its 47-game winning streak to the Astrodome in Houston, where Alcindor, below par with an injured eye, squared off against Elvin Hayes in the Game of the Century, which was the nation's first nationally televised regular season college basketball game. Houston upset UCLA 71-69 behind Hayes' 39 points. In a post-game interview, Wooden stated, "We have to start over." They did, and went undefeated the rest of the year, avenging Houston 101-69 in the semi-final rematch of the NCAA tournament en route to the national championship. Hayes, who had been averaging 37.7 points per game, was held to only 10 points.
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The emergence of the Bruins under Wooden vastly increased the program's popularity. Since 1932, the Bruins had played at the Men's Gym. It normally seated 2,400, but had been limited to 1,500 since 1955 by order of the city fire marshal. This forced games to be moved to Pan Pacific Auditorium, the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena and other venues around Los Angeles when larger crowds were expected-an increasing inconvenience since the Bruins' first national title. Wooden coached his final game in Pauley Pavilion on March 1, 1975, when UCLA trounced Stanford 93-59. During his tenure with the Bruins, Wooden became known as the "Wizard of Westwood", although he personally disdained the nickname. He gained lasting fame at UCLA by winning 620 games in 27 seasons and 10 NCAA titles during his last 12 seasons, which included seven in a row from 1967 to 1973. His UCLA teams also had a then-record winning streak of 88 games and four perfect 30-0 seasons. They also won 38 straight games in NCAA Tournaments and 98 straight home game wins at Pauley Pavilion. Wooden was named NCAA College Basketball's "Coach of the Year" in 1964, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1973. In 1967, he was named the Henry Iba Award USBWA College Basketball Coach of the Year. In 1972, he shared Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsman of the Year" award with Billie Jean King.
The Sam Gilbert Controversy
During Wooden's time at UCLA, and after his retirement in 1975, he faced criticism for the program's relationship with local businessman and booster Sam Gilbert, known by many of Wooden's players as "Papa Sam." Gilbert, a multi-millionaire contractor, was known for forging close financial relationships with UCLA players, supplying them with cars, clothes, stereos, travel, and apartments, as well as allegedly arranging abortions for players' girlfriends. A 1981 Los Angeles Times investigation, interviewing 45 people affiliated with the basketball program, revealed the extent of Gilbert's involvement, describing him as "a one-man clearinghouse who has enabled players and their families to receive goods and services usually at big discounts and sometimes free." The Times investigation found that Gilbert's involvement in the program began in 1967, when UCLA stars Alcindor and Lucius Allen were considering transferring to Michigan State. They approached former UCLA star Willie Naulls, who introduced them to Gilbert. Gilbert met with the two players, and both remained at UCLA. Alcindor, later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, said later that he would have stayed regardless but called Gilbert "like my surrogate father." Allen credited Gilbert with dissuading him from transferring: "There were two people I listened to. Coach Wooden as long as we were between the lines. Outside the court - Sam Gilbert." Allen said Gilbert paid for multiple abortions for players' girlfriends, including one of his own. "Everybody knew what was going on," UCLA player David Greenwood said. "Nobody was so naive. UCLA assistant Jerry Norman, who coached under Wooden from 1957 to 1968, recalled that Gilbert began "to come around our program right when I was ready to leave. What normally happens is, alumni come to you and say, 'Coach, is there any way I can help?' Well, maybe. A lot of kids want summer jobs. But Gilbert started going behind the coaches. Alcindor calls me one day in the spring. I ask him, 'Where are you?' and he says, 'I'm in Mr. Gilbert's office.'"
In his autobiography Giant Steps, Abdul-Jabbar called Gilbert "that odd combination, a cagey humanitarian with a lot of muscle. Guys would go to him when they were in trouble, and he would find a way to fix it…Sam steered clear of John Wooden, and Mr. Wooden gave him the same wide berth. "The way Sam explained it to me, it was within the rules," Allen said in a 2007 documentary. In 1978, NCAA field investigator J. Brent Clark testified before a Congressional subcommittee that he had begun investigating Gilbert's activities the year before but was told to back off by a superior at the NCAA, Bill Hunt. Wooden was aware of Gilbert's closeness with his players. In 1972, Wooden said "I personally hardly know Sam Gilbert…I think he's a person who's trying to be helpful in every way that he can. I sometimes feel that in his interest to be helpful it's in direct contrast with what I would like to have him do to be helpful. I think he means very well and, for the most part, he has attached himself to the minority-race players. Despite concerns about Gilbert, Wooden said he chose not to ask players to cut off contact, telling the Times in 1981: "There's as much crookedness as you want to find. There was something Abraham Lincoln said - he'd rather trust and be disappointed than distrust and be miserable all the time. Maybe I trusted too much."
The Times reporters, Mike Littwin and Alan Greenberg, concluded: "Wooden knew about Gilbert. He knew the players were close to Gilbert. He knew they looked to Gilbert for advice. Maybe he knew more. He should have known much more. Wooden did pass along his concerns to UCLA athletic director J. D. Morgan, but Morgan did not pursue the matter aggressively, in part because he believed Gilbert was connected to the Mafia. Former UCLA chancellor Charles E. Young recalled Morgan "saying to me in that deep voice of his, 'Chuck, you don't know about Sam Gilbert. Do you want to end up on a block of concrete at the bottom of the ocean?' J. Gene Bartow, who succeeded Wooden as UCLA coach, felt similarly. In 1991, he wrote a letter to an NCAA official thanking him for suppressing Brent Clark's investigation into Gilbert. "I want to say 'thank you' for possibly saving my life…I believe Sam Gilbert was Mafia-related and was capable of hurting people. In 1981, after Wooden's retirement, an NCAA investigation sanctioned UCLA for its relationship with Gilbert, putting the program on probation for two seasons and ordering the school to disassociate itself from him. In 1987, Gilbert was indicted in Florida for conspiracy, racketeering, and money laundering as part of a drug smuggling scheme, but he died of heart failure before he could be prosecuted. His son, Michael Gilbert, was convicted on four counts in the case.
Life After Wooden: Navigating New Challenges
Following Wooden's retirement in 1975, the Bruins faced the challenge of maintaining their position atop the college basketball landscape. Gene Bartow took over the program from 1975 to 1977, guiding the team to a 52-9 record and a Final Four appearance in 1976. Gary Cunningham then became the head coach at UCLA in 1977. Larry Brown then moved on to coach UCLA from 1979 to 1981, leading his freshman-dominated 1979-80 team to the NCAA title game before falling to Louisville, 59-54. However, that runner-up finish was later vacated by the NCAA after two players were found to be ineligible. Larry Farmer was the head coach of UCLA from 1981 to 1984, guiding them to a 61-23 (.726) record. In 1984, Walt Hazzard was named the UCLA basketball coach 20 years after he was an All-America when UCLA won its first national championship. He coached for four seasons, winning 77 out of 125 games. The 1984-1985 UCLA Bruin basketball team won the NIT championship.
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Harrick's Title Run and the Lavin Era
In 1988, Jim Harrick returned to UCLA (he had spent two years as an assistant coach from 1978 to 1979) to assume head coaching duties after the firing of Walt Hazzard. During the recruiting period before his first season, he recruited Don MacLean, the most significant recruit to commit to UCLA in several years. McLean's arrival helped start a revival of the basketball program. During the 1994-1995 season, he led UCLA to a 32-1 record (a loss to California was subsequently forfeited to the Bruins) and the school's eleventh national championship, its first since the 1974-75 season. The 31 actual wins would stand as a school record until the 2005-06 season. In 1996, Harrick's Bruins were upset in the first round by Princeton. Shortly before the 1997 season, UCLA fired Harrick for lying about who attended a recruiting dinner. Later that season on February 11, 1997, with the Bruins tied for first place in the Pac-10 with an 8-3 record, UCLA removed the "interim" tag from Lavin's title and formally named him as its 11th head coach. The Bruins then won their next 11 games en route to the Pac-10 title, before being eliminated by the Minnesota Gophers in the NCAA Midwest Regional Final.
In seven seasons as head coach Lavin's record was 12-4 in games involving overtime. Additionally Lavin's Bruins had a 10-4 record against the rival USC Trojans. During the period 1997-2002, Lavin's Bruins compiled nine consecutive overtime victories. These included victories over Arizona, Cincinnati (2002 NCAA second round double overtime victory over No. 1 West Region seed), Kentucky, and Stanford (then ranked No 1). At UCLA from 1996 to 2003, Lavin compiled a record of 145-78. As both an assistant and head coach, Lavin participated in 13 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances (1990-2002), while working at Purdue and UCLA. During Lavin's tenure as a head coach, he was one of only two coaches in the country to lead his team to five NCAA "Sweet 16s" in six years (1997, 1998, 2000-2002), the other coach being Duke's Mike Krzyzewski. Lavin signed seven McDonald's High School All-Americans. During Lavin's tenure as head coach, the Bruins qualified for six consecutive NCAA Tournaments (1997-2002). Lavin's record in the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament is 10-1. His winning percentage (90.9%) in the first two rounds is second only to Dean Smith in NCAA Tournament history. In seven seasons as head coach Lavin's record was 12-4 in games involving overtime. The Bruins defeated the No.
The Howland Era and Beyond
Despite some success under the watch of Steve Lavin, the program wanted to regain its position in the college basketball upper echelon. Even the success in the NCAA tournament belied the fact that UCLA had earned no better than a number 4 seed with the exception of the 1997 season. The 2002-03 season turned out to be the back-breaker for Lavin as the Bruins stumbled to a 10-19 record and a 6-12 record in the conference. It was the first losing season for UCLA in over five decades. UCLA looked to find a coach that could move the Bruins back to the elite ranks of the Pac-10 and the country. Ben Howland's success at the University of Pittsburgh and his southern California roots made him an attractive candidate. Howland remedied this disappointment in his recruiting efforts. Howland produced a top tier recruiting class from athletes in southern California that fit his Big East style. Starting the 2005-06 season with the majority of the roster made over in Howland's image and with the Lavin hold-overs (e.g., Ryan Hollins and Cedric Bozeman), the Bruins produced an excellent campaign. They finished the regular season 24-6, winning the Pac-10 Conference title. They then roared through the Pac-10 tournament, winning each game by double digits en route to only the second Pac-10 tournament championship in school history. The momentum continued into the NCAA tournament as the second-seeded Bruins defeated Gonzaga in the Sweet Sixteen. They then upset top-seeded Memphis to reach the school's first Final Four in 11 years. Howland continued his success at UCLA the following year. The Bruins finished undefeated at home for the first time in 22 years, winning the Pac-10 conference title. However they lost in their first Pac-10 tournament game and were seeded second in the NCAA Tournament West Region. After a close second-round win over Indiana, Howland led the Bruins to a win over his former team, Pitt in the Sweet Sixteen. At the start of the 2007-08 season, expectations for UCL…
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