UCLA Bruins Are NCAA Champions

Mar. 20, 1965 - The hustling Bruins of UCLA repeated as NCAA basketball champions tonight with a surprisingly easy 91-80 victory over Michigan.

A singular magician masquerading as a guard proved the hulking Wolverines’ undoing. He was Gail Goodrich (right), who scored 42 points and forced three Michigan starters to foul out with an amazing display of dribbling in the closing minutes.

His inspirational play raised the Bruins to such a pitch that they managed to wrest control of the backboards — hence the game — from the taller men of Michigan.

“It was a supreme team effort,” said coach John Wooden, beaming with pride. “I knew before the game that our speed and quickness would cause Michigan to tire. And when you’re tired, you don’t shoot as well.

“My feeling was — and it’s a natural thing — that players of that size [Michigan had three starters who weighed more than 218] cannot run with boys of the size that we had.”

His Bruins thus became the fifth university to repeat in NCAA tournament play.

Preceding UCLA as consecutive champions were Oklahoma State, 1945-46; Kentucky, 1948-49; San Francisco, 1955-56; and Cincinnati, 1961-62.

Goodrich was lauded by Wooden as “as fine a ball player as I’ve ever coached — he has so much poise, quickness, and speed.” At 6-1 and only 170 pounds, Gail looked like pygmy next to the Wolverines.

Michigan’s coach, Dave Strack, credited UCLA with “a fine job” but declined to find fault with his men. His team just went cold when he expected a hot streak in the second half, he said.

“This is a game of emotions and momentum,” he said. “Things went bad for us, and we couldn’t come back.”

“I actually though USF [the Bruins’ western regional finals opponent] gave us a rougher time on the boards,” said center Doug McIntosh of UCLA. “Michigan seemed to get tired and couldn’t get position on us.”

Said Goodrich: “My main problem was to get by George Pomey, their guard. Once I did that, I just played my regular game and forced them to commit themselves.”

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