In head coach

John R. Wooden John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed the Wizard of Westwood, he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) national championships in a 12-year period as hea ...

's final game, the 1974–75 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team won the team's tenth

National Championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

in twelve years over the

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30,473 ...

(92–85), in the

San Diego Sports Arena Pechanga Arena (historically known as the San Diego Sports Arena) is an indoor arena built in 1966 and located in the Midway area of San Diego, California. The arena seats 12,000 for indoor football, 12,920 for ice hockey, indoor soccer and ...

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. The Bruins defeated Michigan in the first round. In the West Regional, UCLA beat Montana and Arizona State to advance to the Final Four. Washington scored 26 points to give UCLA an overtime victory over Louisville, 75–74, in the semi-finals game. After the game, Coach Wooden announced that the championship game would be his last game.

Season Summary

This UCLA team was far from the most talented coached by the legendary

John Wooden John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed the Wizard of Westwood, he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) national championships in a 12-year period as head ...

. It was a team without superstars, in fact, but it turned out to be one of Wooden's favorites, for it sent him into retirement with a 92–85 victory over Kentucky in the 1975 National Title game behind center

Richard Washington Richard Lee Washington (born July 15, 1955) is an American former professional basketball player. Early life A 6'11" center born in Portland, Oregon, Washington played high school ball at Portland's Benson Tech. An all-around athlete and agile ...

’s 28 points. The championship was Wooden’s 10th, a record which still stands for men's coaches.

Geno Auriemma Luigi "Geno" Auriemma (born March 23, 1954) is an Italian-born American college basketball coach and, since 1985, the head coach of the University of Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team. , he has led UConn to 17 undefeated conference sea ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

broke the overall basketball record by winning his 11th title in 2016.

Roster

Schedule

, - !colspan=9 style=, Regular Season , - !colspan=12 style="background:#;", NCAA Tournament

Notes

* The team won their first 12 games before Stanford pulled an upset on the Bruins. * The NCAA first round was held at

Pullman, Washington Pullman () is the largest city in Whitman County, located in southeastern Washington within the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. The population was 29,799 at the 2010 census, and estimated to be 34,506 in 2019. Originally founded as Thr ...

; West Regional at

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. * "He (Coach Wooden) never made more than $35,000 a year, including 1975, the year he won his 10th national championship, and never asked for a raise," wrote

Rick Reilly Richard Paul Reilly (born February 3, 1958) is an American sportswriter. Long known for being the "back page" columnist for ''Sports Illustrated'', Reilly moved to ESPN on June 1, 2008, where he was a featured columnist for ESPN.com and wrote t ...

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

.Reilly on Wooden
/ref> * Richard Washington was named

NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player At the conclusion of the NCAA men's and women's Division I basketball championships (the "Final Four" tournaments), a media panel selects a Most Outstanding Player (MOP). It is usually awarded to a member of the championship team. There have been ...

References

External links

1974–75 UCLA Bruins
at Sports-Reference.com {{DEFAULTSORT:1974-75 Ucla Bruins Men's Basketball Team

Ucla Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). ...

UCLA Bruins men's basketball seasons NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament championship seasons NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four seasons

Ucla The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...