1966-67

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At a Glance
NCAA Champion--UCLA (30-0; coached by John Wooden/19th of 27 seasons with Bruins; won AAWU title by six games with a 14-0 record).
NIT Champion--Southern Illinois (24-2; coached by Jack Hartman/fifth of eight seasons with Salukis).
NCAA Probation--South Carolina.
NCAA Consensus First-Team All-Americans--Lew Alcindor, C, Soph., UCLA (29 ppg, 15.5 rpg, 66.7 FG%); Clem Haskins, G-F, Sr., Western Kentucky (22.6 ppg, 11.2 rpg, 80.8 FT%); Elvin Hayes, F-C, Jr., Houston (28.4 ppg, 15.7 rpg); Bob Lloyd, G, Sr., Rutgers (27.9 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 92.1 FT%); Wes Unseld, C, Jr., Louisville (18.7 ppg, 19 rpg, 53.7 FG%); Bob Verga, G, Sr., Duke (26.1 ppg, 3.8 rpg); Jimmy Walker, G, Sr., Providence (30.4 ppg, 6 rpg, 5.1 apg, 80.1 FT%).
National Player of the Year--Alcindor (AP/UPI/USBWA).
National Coach of the Year--John Wooden, UCLA (30-0/AP, UPI, USBWA).

UCLA's Lew Alcindor scored 56 points in his varsity debut against Southern California (highest total in NCAA history for a first game). Alcindor's opening-game outburst was topped just once all season--by his school-record 61 against Washington State. He finished his sophomore season ranked among the top seven in the country in field-goal shooting (first at 66.7%), scoring (second at 29 points per game) and rebounding (seventh at 15.5 per game). His scoring average is still the highest in Pacific-10 Conference history.

Alcindor was one of seven players to finish within three points of each other for the national scoring lead. Never have so many major collegians finished so close to the top. Providence guard Jimmy Walker won the scoring race with a 30.4-point average.

Rutgers' Bob Lloyd converted 60 consecutive free throws. One of Lloyd's teammates was Jim Valvano, who had scored 38 points vs. Rice the previous season and later made a big name for himself as a coach at Iona and North Carolina State (NCAA title in 1983). Lloyd went on to serve as coach at his alma mater, where one of his assistants was a low-key individual by the name of Dick Vitale.

Rutgers ended a 23-game losing streak to NYU with a 68-57 triumph. . . . Tom Penders, who led Connecticut in free-throw shooting (87.5 percent), eventually coached Rhode Island, Texas and George Washington to the NCAA playoffs. . . . Ralph Willard, finishing his Holy Cross career with a 3.5-point scoring average, later coached his alma mater after guiding Western Kentucky and Pittsburgh. . . . Providence, coached by Joe Mullaney, finished in the Top 20 of a final wire-service poll for the fifth consecutive campaign. . . . Boston College, coached by Bob Cousy, finished in the Top 10 of a final wire-service poll for the only time in the 20th Century. . . . Princeton, coached by Butch van Breda Kolff, finished in the Top 10 of a final wire-service poll for the only time until 1998. . . . Cornell's Gregg Morris, the leading scorer in the Ivy League, became the first black tabbed first-team All-Ivy. . . . Boston University's Reggie Rucker, who averaged 6.8 ppg and 3.8 rpg, became an NFL wide receiver who caught 447 passes for 7,065 yards and 44 TDs in 12 years from 1970 through 1981.

Oklahoma City's Gary Gray (55 points at West Texas State), Santa Clara's Bud Ogden (55 at Pepperdine), Alabama's Mike Nordholz (50 vs. Southern Mississippi in Birmingham Classic) and Montana State's Tom Storm (44 vs. Portland State) established school single-game scoring records. Nordholz's outburst came despite him playing with four fouls the last 13 minutes of the game. . . . PC's Walker, UCLA's Alcindor, Connecticut's Wes Bialosuknia (28 ppg), Rutgers' Lloyd (27.9) and St. Joseph's Cliff Anderson (26.5) set school records for highest scoring average in a single season. Bialosuknia's mark was also a Yankee Conference all-time record. . . . South Carolina's streak of years with at least 10 defeats ended at 16 when the Frank McGuire-coached Gamecocks compiled a 16-7 record to start a string of 15 consecutive winning seasons. Their two regular-season ACC games with Duke were cancelled by the Blue Devils because USC was on NCAA probation. Duke finished out of the top 10 of the final AP poll for the first time in seven years.

Murray State's Dick Cunningham (36 vs. MacMurray), South Carolina's Gary Gregor (35 vs. Elon at Charlotte), Marquette's Pat Smith (28 vs. Loyola of Chicago), Washington State's Jim McKean (27 vs. West Virginia) and Portland's Don Lawson (26 vs. Nevada Southern) established school single-game rebounding marks. Cunningham set a single-season Ohio Valley Conference standard by averaging 21.8 rebounds per game.

TCU center James Cash became the first African American to play varsity basketball in the SWC. Five years later, the five-man All-SWC first-team selections all were African-Americans. Cash went on to become chairman of the Harvard Business School MBA program. . . . Tennessee, coached by Ray Mears, captured its first SEC regular-season championship in 25 years en route to the Volunteers' first national postseason tournament appearance since 1945. They finished in the Top 10 of a final wire-service poll for the only time in school history. . . . Georgia's Jim Youngblood became the first non-Auburn player to lead the SEC in field-goal accuracy in eight years (59.1 percent). . . . Kentucky, despite returning its top three scorers from an NCAA finalist, suffered its only non-winning record in coach Adolph Rupp's 41 seasons at the helm when the Wildcats went 13-13. They were 8-10 in league competition for their only losing SEC mark in history until UK duplicated that record under Eddie Sutton in 1988-89. Kentucky's defeats included a 92-77 setback to visiting Cornell, the only Ivy League team to beat the Wildcats since 1942. Adding insult to injury for UK was that 37 of Cornell's points were scored by junior guard Gregg Morris, the first African-American to be honored with an All-Ivy first-team selection. The Cornell contest was one of a school-record seven homecourt defeats for Kentucky. Georgia's 49-40 success over UK was the Bulldogs' lone victory in a 29-game stretch of their series from 1950 through 1971. Bigotry was costly to the 'Cats as in-state African-Americans Butch Beard (Louisville), Clem Haskins (Western Kentucky) and Wes Unseld (Louisville) were All-Americans who combined for 61.8 points and 38.2 rebounds per game.

Although Bob Lewis' scoring average decreased almost nine points per game to 18.5 after moving from forward to his natural guard position, North Carolina finished in the Top 20 of a final wire-service poll for the first time with Dean Smith as head coach. Smith was in his sixth season as bench boss of the Tar Heels. Carolina defeated Kentucky, 64-55. It was the second of four consecutive victories for him against Rupp from 1964-65 through 1968-69. . . . North Carolina State wound up in the ACC cellar after finishing runner-up the previous season. . . . Brothers Randy (34) and Richie (28) Mahaffey combined for 62 points to propel Clemson to a 102-88 overtime victory at Virginia. The Tigers, coached by Bobby Roberts, compiled back-to-back winning ACC records for the only time in the 20th Century. . . . Jim Sutherland, Clemson's leading scorer with 18.8 ppg, was a high school teammate of Hall of Famer-to-be Pete Maravich. . . . Senior guard Gary Williams, who led Maryland in field-goal shooting (53%), later coached his alma mater in the NCAA playoffs after achieving the same feat at Boston College and Ohio State.

Davidson was runner-up to West Virginia in the Southern Conference, but the Wildcats finished out of the national Top 20 for the only time in a seven-year span from 1964 through 1970. They lost to Richmond, 72-69, for the only time in a 27-game stretch of their series from 1962 to 1973. . . . Vince Colbert, East Carolina's leading rebounder with 7.1 per game, went on to pitch for the Cleveland Indians for three years from 1070 through 1972. . . . Western Kentucky swingman Clem Haskins, a three-time All-Ohio Valley first-team selection, later coached his alma mater for six seasons from 1980-81 through 1985-86 before coaching Minnesota for 13 seasons from 1986-87 through 1998-99. Haskins, Houston's Elvin Hayes and Louisville's Wes Unseld became the first African-Americans from Southern schools to be named NCAA consensus first-team All-Americans. . . . Haskins' teammate Dwight Smith, an outstanding rebounder for a guard (career average of 10.9 rpg), was a third-round draft choice of the Los Angeles Lakers (23rd pick overall) but drowned with his sister when their automobile flipped over and submerged in a water-filled ditch returning to WKU for finals after celebrating Mother's Day at home.

Indiana, coached by Lou Watson, sandwiched a Big Ten Conference title between last-place finishes in 1965-66 and 1967-68. . . . Michigan, coached by Dave Strack, finished in the Big Ten basement after capturing the league title the previous year. . . . Senior guard Jim Dawson was named Big Ten MVP although Illinois finished with a losing league record (tied for seventh place with a 6-8 mark). . . . The only regular-season defeat for Toledo (23-2) was at Marshall, 96-81. The best season by percentage in the Rockets' history ended with an 82-76 opening-round loss in the NCAA Tournament against Virginia Tech, an opponent they had defeated by 19 points (90-71) in their regular-season finale. UT sophomore John Brisker, runner-up to Steve Mix in scoring and rebounding, is believed to have been shot to death in Uganda in 1979 trying to establish an import-export business. . . . Ohio (8-15), coached by Jim Snyder, compiled a 5-9 mark in games decided by fewer than six points after winning 32 of 43 contests in that category the first seven years of the decade.

Tulsa, coached by Joe Swank, finished in the Top 20 of a final wire-service poll for the only time in a 26-year span from 1955-56 through 1980-81. . . . Oklahoma posted its lone victory over Nebraska (99-87) in a 14-game stretch of their series from 1965 through 1970. . . . All-Big Eight Conference second-team selection Ron Coleman, a guard who led Missouri in scoring for the second straight season with more than 20 points per game, went on to coach St. Louis in 1977-78.

Weber State had two All-Big Sky second-team selections, but the Wildcats didn't boast a first-team choice for the only time in the first 19 years of the conference through 1981-82. . . . Oregon State, after winning the first 10 Far West Classics in Portland with a total of 27 victories, lost all three of its assignments in the eight-team event. . . . Forward Jim McKean became Washington State's first All-Pacific-8 first-team choice in 10 years. . . . Wyoming senior forward Tom Asbury, an All-WAC second-team selection, eventually coached Pepperdine and Kansas State in the NCAA playoffs.

Peck Hickman ended his 23-year coaching career at Louisville with a 443-183 record. He never sustained a losing season. . . . E.C. "Doc" Hayes retired as SMU's coach. Closing out his career in style, he won 20 of 22 games decided by fewer than four points over his last three seasons. The Mustangs captured eight SWC regular-season titles in his last 13 years at their helm. No other SWC coach won more than six league championships.

1967 NCAA Tournament
Summary: UCLA, starting four sophomores and one junior, won the national championship by a record average of 23.75 points. The Bruins' toughest test was in the West Regional final, where Pacific trailed by fewer than 10 points in the closing minutes until UCLA pulled away to win by 16 (80-64) behind Lew Alcindor's tourney-high 38 points. The Bruins breezed in the final against Dayton, 79-64, despite hitting just 11 of 25 free-throw attempts. They won 26 of their 30 games by at least 15 points with the only contest in doubt being a 40-35 overtime triumph at Southern California in mid-season.
Outcome for Defending Champion: Texas Western compiled a 22-7 record with two of the defeats by double-digit margins against New Mexico State. Bobby Joe Hill, the leading scorer for the Miners' title team, averaged an anemic 4.9 ppg in eight contests. Hill was the only All-American in a 13-year span from 1961 through 1973 not to be selected in the NBA draft.
Biggest Upsets: Dayton wasn't ranked in the UPI top twenty when the Flyers opened the playoffs with a 69-67 overtime triumph against seventh-ranked Western Kentucky as Hilltoppers first-team All-American Clem Haskins, playing with his broken wrist in a cast, was limited to eight points. Dayton also defeated two other top ten teams - Tennessee (ranked ninth by UPI) and North Carolina (third) - before getting clobbered by top-ranked UCLA in the national final. . . . Charles Beasley was restricted to nine points, but fellow SWC first-team selection Denny Holman picked up the slack with 30 points, including a decisive basket with three seconds remaining, to spark SMU (20-6) to an 83-81 victory over second-ranked Louisville (23-5). Wes Unseld and Butch Beard combined for 32 points and 21 rebounds, but it wasn't enough for the Cardinals, who hit just 5 of their 14 free throws.
One and Only: UCLA is the only NCAA champion since World War II not to have a senior on its roster. . . . Houston is the only school to reach the Final Four (third place) and College World Series championship game (runner-up to Arizona State) in the same year.
Celebrity Status: Ron Widby, a punter who appeared in the Pro Bowl following the 1971 NFL season and played in the 1970 and 1971 NFL title games with the Dallas Cowboys, was the game-high scorer in Tennessee's NCAA Tournament debut. His 20-point performance wasn't enough to prevent a 53-52 setback against national finalist-to-be Dayton in the Mideast semifinals, but it did enable him to become an all-regional selection. He had led the NCAA in punting average (43.8). . . . Texas Western's Fred Carr, who went on to become an All-Pro linebacker in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers, suited up for the defending NCAA champion's last five games. He collected 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds when the Miners were eliminated by Pacific, 72-63, in the West Regional semifinals. . . . Princeton guard Larry Lucchino, a key executive with the Baltimore Orioles, San Diego Padres and Boston Red Sox for more than 20 years, scored 14 points in three East Regional games. Teammate Steve Pajcic, Democratic nominee for governor of Florida in 1986, contributed a field goal in the Tigers' 78-58 victory against St. John's in regional third-place game. . . . Joe Ferguson, who scored two points against eventual champion UCLA in the West Regional final, appeared in two World Series (1974 and 1978) as a catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers. . . . Vernon Vanoy, who led Kansas in rebounding in both of the Jayhawks' playoff games against Elvin Hayes (Houston) and Wes Unseld (Louisville), went on to become a third-round pick as defensive tackle by New York Giants in 1969 NFL draft. . . . Barry Gallup, Boston College's record-setting wide receiver, played briefly against North Carolina in East Regional final defeat before becoming 11th-round pick by the Boston Patriots in 1969 NFL draft.
Numbers Game: National field-goal accuracy leader UCLA finished among the top 30 teams in that category for the first time in 12 years. . . . Toledo was eliminated in its opener by Virginia Tech when the Rockets' one-two punch of Steve Mix and John Brisker, a pair of forwards who went on to distinguished pro careers, combined to shoot 36.4% from the floor (12 of 33). . . . Tennessee, leading the nation in team defense for the second time in three seasons under coach Ray Mears, made its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament. . . . Elvin Hayes' game-high 25 points and tourney-high 24 rebounds weren't enough to prevent Houston's 73-58 setback against UCLA in the national semifinals. The Cougars were almost eliminated in the first round of the Midwest Regional, edging New Mexico State, 59-58, when an Aggies player was called for charging in the waning moments. . . . UH's relentless onslaught of slam dunks in pregame warm-ups, delaying the start of the national semi game, occurred before the watchful eyes of rules committee members and helped paved the way for outlawing the "jam." . . . North Carolina coach Dean Smith made his first of 11 Final Four appearances. The Tar Heels, not Kentucky in 1966, accounted for the last all-white squad to reach the Final Four. . . . Virginia Tech advanced to a regional final for the only time in 20th Century. Glen Combs set the Hokies' NCAA playoff single-game scoring record with 29 points against Indiana in regional semifinals.
Putting Things in Perspective: Princeton, posting a 25-3 record in coach Butch van Breda Kolff's final season, lost in overtime to North Carolina in the East Regional semifinals, 78-70, when the Tigers hit only 47.6% of their free throws. They had defeated the Tar Heels earlier in the season by 10 points (91-81). . . . Southern California forward Bill Hewitt's 39 points was the highest single-game scoring output by an individual against UCLA during the season.
Scoring Leader: Elvin Hayes, Houston (128 points, 25.6 ppg).
Highest Scoring Average: Lew Alcindor, UCLA (106 points, 26.5 ppg).
Rebounding Leader: Don May, Dayton (82 rebounds, 16.4 rpg).

All-Tournament Team
*Lew Alcindor, C, Soph., UCLA (39 points, 38 rebounds in final two games)
Lucius Allen, G, Soph., UCLA (36 points, 18 rebounds)
Elvin Hayes, F, Jr., Houston (48 points, 40 rebounds)
Don May, F, Jr., Dayton (55 points, 32 rebounds)
Mike Warren, G, Jr., UCLA (31 points, 16 rebounds)
*Named Most Outstanding Player.

Championship Team Results
Regional Semifinal: UCLA 109 (Alcindor team-high 29 points), Wyoming 60 (Asbury 20)
Regional Final: UCLA 80 (Alcindor 38), Pacific 64 (Fox 17)
National Semifinal: UCLA 73 (Shackelford 22), Houston 58 (Hayes 25)
Championship Game: UCLA 79 (Alcindor 20), Dayton 64 (May 21)