1964-65

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At a Glance
NCAA Champion--UCLA (28-2; coached by John Wooden/17th of 27 seasons with Bruins; won AAWU title by five games with a 14-0 record).
NIT Champion--St. John's (21-8; coached by Joe Lapchick/20th of 20 seasons with Redmen).
New Rules--Coaches must remain seated on the bench except while the clock is stopped or to direct or encourage players on the court. This rule was to try to help prevent coaches from inciting undesirable crowd behavior toward the referees. . . . NIT field expanded from 12 to 14 teams.
NCAA Probation--Miami (Fla.).
NCAA Consensus First-Team All-Americans--Rick Barry, F, Sr., Miami, Fla. (37.4 ppg, 18.3 rpg, 52.2 FG%, 85.9 FT%); Bill Bradley, F, Sr., Princeton (30.5 ppg, 11.8 rpg, 53.3 FG%, 88.6 FT%); Gail Goodrich, G, Sr., UCLA (24.8 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 52.5 FG%); Fred Hetzel, F-C, Sr., Davidson (26.5 ppg, 14.8 rpg, 58 FG%, 80.3 FT%); Cazzie Russell, G, Jr., Michigan (25.7 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 81.7 FT%).
National Player of the Year--Bradley (AP/UPI/USBWA).
National Coaches of the Year--Michigan's Dave Strack (24-4/UPI) and Princeton's Butch van Breda Kolff (23-6/USBWA).

Wayne Estes, runner-up to Rick Barry of Miami (Fla.) for the national scoring championship, was electrocuted in a freak accident the evening of February 8. The tragedy occurred less than three hours after Estes scored 48 points against Denver to become Utah State's first player to reach the 2,000-point plateau in his career.

En route back and forth to his off-campus apartment and then a restaurant, Estes was with teammate Delano Lyons and another friend when they passed three times the scene of an auto accident that killed a Utah State student. The group stopped and inspected the scene briefly. They were returning to their car when Lyons, who is 6-2, noticed a live high-voltage wire dangling in front of him after being dislodged when the victim's car hit a utility pole. Lyons ducked and hollered "Watch it!" to the 6-6 Estes, who was walking behind him. But Estes didn't react quickly enough and the wire carrying 2,700 volts of electricity brushed against his forehead, killing him instantly.

Barry, the only Miami player ever to become an NCAA consensus first- or second-team All-American, was able to stay ahead of Estes in the scoring race by amassing six 50-point games, including a national-high and school record 59 against Rollins. It was one of four outbursts for him during the season in excess of 50 points against small colleges. Barry, the only player ever to lead the NCAA, ABA and NBA in scoring, finished the season with an amazing average of 55.7 points and rebounds per contest. He hauled down a school-record 29 rebounds against Oklahoma City and retrieved 27 missed shots to equal Rollins' entire team total.

Western Kentucky's Clem Haskins (55 vs. Middle Tennessee State), Davidson's Fred Hetzel (53 vs. Furman), Utah State's Estes (52 vs. Boston College in overtime at Rainbow Classic in Honolulu), Iona's Warren Isaac (50 vs. Bates), Georgetown's Jim Barry (46 at Fairleigh Dickinson), Middle Tennessee State's Mike Milholland (44 vs. Austin Peay) and St. Mary's Jim Moore (43 vs. Sacramento State) established school single-game scoring records.

Haskins' outburst was an Ohio Valley Conference standard. Davidson's Hetzel also grabbed a school-record 27 rebounds in the contest against Furman. MTSU's Miholland grabbed a school-record 32 rebounds in the APSU game. . . . Miami's Barry (37.4 ppg), Utah State's Estes (33.7), Wyoming's Flynn Robinson (27) and Dayton's Henry Finkel (25.3) set school records for highest scoring average in a single season.

Dave Stallworth became the only Wichita State player in history to supply back-to-back 40-point games with 45 and 40 against Loyola of Chicago in overtime and Louisville, respectively, in the last two games of his college career. The midseason graduate was named an NCAA consensus second-team All-American despite playing in just 16 of Wichita's 30 games. . . . Wichita's only No. 1 ranking in school history ended in mid-December when the Shockers were nipped at Michigan, 87-85, on Cazzie Russell's 35-foot basket for the Wolverines at the buzzer.

Princeton's Bill Bradley, who would become a U.S. Senator (D-N.J.) and 2000 presidential candidate, led the country in free-throw shooting. He is the only Princeton player to score 40 or more points in a game, a feat he achieved 11 times. Bradley led three consecutive Ivy League champions in scoring and rebounding. In one of the most memorable college games in Madison Square Garden history, the Tigers lost to Michigan, 80-78, in the semifinals of the Holiday Festival. Bradley fouled out with with 4 1/2 minutes remaining with 41 points and Princeton leading, 76-63. Russell led Michigan's comeback and hit the game-winning basket from 15 feet away with three seconds left to finish with 27 points. Four of Princeton's five regular-season defeats were by one or two points.

Russell's teammate, Bill Buntin, became the first Michigan player to be chosen in the opening round of an NBA draft. . . . Nebraska suffered its 15th consecutive losing season (10-15), but the Huskers upset No. 1 Michigan, 74-73, on Fred Hare's buzzer-beater. They posted the worst season-ending record of any opponent to upset a top-ranked team. . . . Al McGuire got off to an inauspicious start as Marquette's coach with an 8-18 record. He was signed by the school to a two-year deal reportedly worth between $12,000 and $15,000 annually despite compiling an anemic 12-37 mark the previous two seasons for Belmont (N.C.) Abbey. . . . Iowa defeated defending NCAA champion UCLA, but the Hawkeyes unraveled under first-year coach Ralph Miller after forward Gary Olson (foot) and guard Dennis Pauling (appendectomy) sustained season-ending injuries midway through the Big Ten campaign. . . . Sophomore Bob Griese was a backup basketball guard for Purdue. Two school years later, he finished runner-up to fellow quarterback Steve Spurrier of Florida in football's Heisman Trophy voting. . . . Al Harden, who averaged a career-high 6.6 ppg for Indiana, went on to coach the University of Denver for five seasons in the mid-1970s. . . . Miami (Ohio) guard Charlie Coles was an All-MAC second-team selection for the second straight season. In 1999, he guided his alma mater to the Midwest Regional semifinals after previously coaching Central Michigan. . . . Former Army sergeant Jim Boyce, a key member of Detroit's NIT team, later coached Eastern Michigan for seven seasons from 1979-80 through 1985-86.

Missouri lost 23 consecutive games to Kansas State in their series until defeating the Wildcats, 80-68. The Tigers also defeated NIT-bound St. Louis for the second time in a 13-game span from 1945-46 through 1967-68. Gary Garner, Mizzou's leading scorer with 15 points per game, went on to coach Drake and Southeast Missouri State. . . . Colorado (13-12), coached by Sox Walseth, had 13 of its 19 games in the middle portion of the Buffaloes' season decided by fewer than six points. . . . Tennessee (55.64), Oklahoma State (55.66) and New Mexico (55.70) finished one-two-three in team defense in the closest race ever in point prevention. The tight defense helped Oklahoma State captured its only undisputed Big Eight regular-season championship.

North Carolina State's Everett Case retired because of illness early in the 19th season of his coaching career with a 377-134 record. Among the innovations attributed to him were summer camps, the time clock, introducing players before a game and cutting down the nets after a big tournament victory. He died in 1966 and his estate was divided among 220 former players. . . . Case's successor was Press Maravich, the father of future LSU All-American Pete Maravich. The Wolfpack finished in a tie for second place in the ACC after finishing in a tie for last the previous year. N.C. State reserve forward Larry Worsley entered the ACC Tournament with a modest 5.2 scoring average. In three tourney games, all of which he entered as a substitute, he scored 12, 15 and 30 points to pace the Wolfpack to the title and earn the Outstanding Player Award. He hit 14 of 19 field-goal attempts in a 91-85 championship game victory over Duke. . . . N.C. State center Larry Lakins, regarded as the ACC's "Marathon Man," finished his career as an all-league first-team selection. Lakins' ACC stint spanned nearly a decade after joining the Wolfpack as a freshman in 1957. He entered the Army and served 18 months in Korea before returning to State and subsequently being summoned back during an international crisis.

Maryland posted its lone victory over Duke (85-82) in a 17-game stretch of their series from 1962 through 1969. . . . Virginia ended an 11-game losing streak in its series with Clemson. . . . Richmond lost 22 consecutive games to Wake Forest until defeating the Demon Deacons, 74-71. . . . North Carolina coach Dean Smith lost to Indiana for the third time in his first four meetings with the Hoosiers. . . . Florida defeated Kentucky, 84-68, for the Gators' first victory over the Wildcats since 1934. Florida lost 18 games to Kentucky in that span. UK also was defeated by St. Louis for the fifth time in the last six seasons, 80-75, although the Billikens' average record in that span was just 16-11. SLU, coached by John Benington, also defeated Notre Dame for the 13th time in their last 15 meetings, 75-67, after pounding Final Four-bound Princeton, 90-71.

Army finished third in the NIT in back-to-back seasons under coach Tates Locke, who won 15 of 18 games decided by fewer than six points in his two years at the helm. . . . Two of St. Joseph's three defeats were against Providence, which won its first 19 games. . . . Connecticut's only two regular-season defeats occurred when Toby Kimball, the nation's leading rebounder with 21 rpg, was out of the lineup. . . . Bob Weiss, one of Penn State's top two scorers for the third straight year, eventually coached the NBA's San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers. . . . Cornell senior guard Dave Bliss was an All-Ivy League second-team selection. He later became New Mexico's all-time winningest coach from 1988-89 through 1998-99 before departing Baylor in disgrace. Cornell boasted two All-Ivy League first-team choices (Steve Cram and Bob DeLuca) for the only time in a 38-year span from 1946-47 through 1983-84. . . . West Virginia (14-15) posted its first losing mark since 1943-44 but still finished in the first division of the Southern Conference. Virginia Tech was runner-up to Davidson in the Southern Conference in the Hokies' final season as a member of the league.

Davidson, winless in the Southern Conference in 1960, went undefeated in league competition to improve its conference mark for the fifth consecutive campaign under coach Lefty Driesell. The Wildcats finished in the Top 10 of national polls for the second straight season but didn't participate in the NCAA playoffs either year because they lost in league tourney semifinals to opponents that had non-winning records. Davidson's Dick Snyder finished among the nation's top 40 in field-goal percentage and free-throw percentage for the second consecutive campaign.

Pacific's Keith Swagerty set a West Coast Athletic Conference standard by grabbing a school-record 39 rebounds in a game against UC Santa Barbara. . . . San Francisco center Ollie Johnson finished his career with 58.8 percent accuracy from the floor after placing fifth in the nation in field-goal shooting for the third straight season. He is the only player in WCAC history to lead three consecutive league champions in scoring and rebounding. . . . Washington State (9-17), coached by Marv Harshman, compiled a 5-9 mark in games decided by fewer than six points. The Cougars went 26-14 in that category under Harshman over the next five years.

East Tennessee State's Tommy Woods (38 vs. Middle Tennessee State) and Notre Dame's Walt Sahm (30 vs. Ball State/later tied) set school single-game rebounding records. . . . Illinois' Skip Thoren grabbed more than 20 rebounds three times in a five-game stretch (at Kentucky, at Villanova and vs. Indiana). Thoren and teammate Tal Brody joined Michigan's Russell and Buntin on the All-Big Ten first team with Minnesota's Lou Hudson. Brody never played in the NBA, but later became an Israeli citizen and the country's first modern day sports hero.

Wyoming (16-10) chalked up its first winning record in 10 seasons. . . . Arizona State's 15-game winning streak in its series with archrival Arizona came to a halt. . . . Oregon's 81-74 decision over USC was the Ducks' lone victory against the Trojans in an 18-game stretch of their series from 1956 to 1969. . . . Washington forward Lynn Nance, an All-AAWU second-team selection, went on to coach St. Mary's in the 1989 NCAA playoffs. . . . Oregon State All-American guard Jim Javis eventually coached Idaho for four seasons in the mid-1970s.

Texas Western bowed to New Mexico, 55-47, for the Miners' only homecourt defeat in a 68-game span at home from 1961 through 1966. Their second-leading rebounder for the second straight year was Andy Stoglin, who went on to coach Jackson State in the 1997 NCAA Tournament. . . . Utah coach Jack Gardner had a team finish in last place for the first time in his 29 seasons of coaching. The Utes were in the basement of the six-team WAC with a 3-7 record despite finishing with a 17-9 overall mark. . . . St. John's Joe Lapchick concluded his 20-year college coaching career with a 335-129 record after winning the NIT. He compiled a 51-31 mark (.622) in games decided by fewer than five points. "This is a humiliating business," Lapchick said. "There are no geniuses in coaching. The players make the coach. The coach who thinks his coaching is more important than his talent is an idiot." . . . Indiana's Branch McCracken, who previously coached Ball State, retired after a 32-year coaching career with a 450-231 record.

1965 NCAA Tournament
Summary: Defending champion UCLA, returning only two starters, was overwhelmed in its season opener at Illinois, 110-83. But the Bruins finished the campaign with a 91-80 victory over another Big Ten team, Michigan, in the NCAA final although two starters scored just three points apiece (Keith Erickson and Doug McIntosh). The Bruins' only other defeat was to another Big Ten squad - 87-82 against Iowa in Chicago when junior college recruit Chris Pervall exploded for 28 points. Oddly, Michigan didn't lose to either Illinois or Iowa in Big Ten competition. UCLA averaged an even 100 points in its four tourney games to become the only champion to average triple digits in scoring.
Star Gazing: Princeton's Bill Bradley holds the career playoff record for highest free-throw percentage (minimum of 50 attempts). He was 89 of 96 from the foul line (90.6%) from 1963 through 1965. In five of his nine playoff games, Bradley made at least 10 free throws while missing no more than one attempt from the charity stripe. He made 16-of-16 free throws against St. Joseph's in the first round of the 1963 East Regional and 13-of-13 foul shots against Providence in the 1965 East Regional final to become the only player to twice convert more than 12 free throws without a miss in a playoff game. Bradley, who originally signed a letter-of-intent with Duke, also holds the mark for most points in a single Final Four game (school-record 58 against Wichita State in national third-place game). He scored 39 points in the second half of the consolation contest, including 16 in the final five minutes. The Rhodes Scholar was the only player to have a double-digit season scoring average (30.5 points per game) for Princeton's Final Four team.
One and Only: UCLA was the only NCAA champion in the 20th Century to lose its season debut. . . . UCLA's Gail Goodrich became the only guard to score more than 35 points in an NCAA final, erupting for 42 points on 12 of 22 field-goal shooting and 18 of 20 free-throw shooting against Michigan. His free throws made and attempted remain championship game records. Goodrich averaged 24.6 points per game, a UCLA school record for guards. . . . UCLA is the only NCAA champion to have two different individuals score more than 35 points against them during the playoffs - San Francisco's Ollie Johnson (37 in regional final) and Wichita State's Jamie Thompson (36 in national semifinals). Johnson's output remains USF's NCAA tourney single-game scoring record. Thompson finished the season with a modest 12.5-point scoring average.
Celebrity Status: UCLA backup guard Rich Levin, participating in Final Four for the second straight year, went on to become MLB's senior VP of public relations for a quarter century under four commissioners until retiring in 2010.
Numbers Game: Princeton was the Ivy League's only Final Four representative in a 34-year span from 1945 through 1978. . . . Princeton's Butch van Breda Kolff went on to become the only coach to direct teams to the NCAA Final Four and the NBA Finals (Lakers in 1968 and 1969) and compile a winning NCAA playoff career record (7-5). . . . Wichita's Gary Thompson became perhaps the first-year coach overcoming the biggest obstacle to reach the national semifinals. The Shockers' roster was depleted in the second half of Thompson's inaugural season after the departures of both of their high NBA draft picks--All-American forward Dave (The Rave) Stallworth and first-round draft choice center Nate Bowman. Stallworth completed his eligibility after the first 16 games and Bowman was declared ineligible for the second semester. Nonetheless, the Missouri Valley Conference champion's roster of primarily local players emerged victorious out of a relatively feeble Midwest Regional field. . . . Michigan's Cazzie Russell became the only player to score more than 25 points in Final Four defeats in back-to-back years. . . . Toby Kimball's 29 rebounds for Connecticut weren't enough to prevent a 67-61 setback against St. Joseph's in their East Regional opener. . . . Vanderbilt, coached by Roy Skinner, made its initial playoff appearance and recorded its lone NCAA Tournament triumph until 1988. It propelled the Commodores to a regional final for the only time in the 20th Century. . . . Providence's Joe Mullaney posted the only two NCAA tourney triumphs of his 21-year major-college coaching career. . . . Roy Skinner, Vanderbilt's all-time winningest coach, registered his only NCAA playoff victory in 16 years with the Commodores.
What Might Have Been: Rick Barry-led Miami (Fla.) defeated NCAA playoff first-round winners Houston and Oklahoma City by a total of 35 points, but the Hurricanes were ineligible because of NCAA probation. It was Miami's lone appearance in the Top 10 of a final wire-service poll until 1999.
Scoring Leader: Bill Bradley, Princeton (177 points, 35.4 ppg).
Highest Scoring Average: Ollie Johnson, San Francisco (72 points, 36 ppg).
Rebounding Leader: Bill Bradley, Princeton (57 rebounds, 11.4 rpg).
Highest Rebounding Average: Ollie Johnson, San Francisco (37 rebounds, 18.5 rpg). Johnson had the highest single-game scoring output by an individual against UCLA during the season with 37 points.

All-Tournament Team
*Bill Bradley, F, Sr., Princeton (87 points, 24 rebounds in final two games)
Gail Goodrich, G, Sr., UCLA (70 points, 13 rebounds)
Edgar Lacey, F, Soph., UCLA (35 points, 20 rebounds)
Cazzie Russell, G, Jr., Michigan (56 points, 15 rebounds)
Kenny Washington, F, Jr., UCLA (27 points, 12 rebounds)
*Named Most Outstanding Player.

Championship Team Results
Regional Semifinal: UCLA 100 (Goodrich team-high 40 points), Brigham Young 76 (Fairchild 23)
Regional Final: UCLA 101 (Goodrich 30), San Francisco 93 (Johnson 37)
National Semifinal: UCLA 108 (Goodrich 28), Wichita State 89 (Thompson 36)
Championship Game: UCLA 91 (Goodrich 42), Michigan 80 (Russell 28)