End of an Era

In 1975 Kentucky faced UCLA for the NCAA basketball championship. UCLA won the game, but life for both institutions would never again be the same.

Kentucky dominated in the 1940’s and 50’s while UCLA absolutely owned basketball from 1964 to 1975. The Wildcats won one NIT championship and two NCAA titles in the 40’s. In the 1950’s they won two more NCAA championships and had an undefeated season in which they did not participate in the tournament because their three top players were ruled ineligible. Starting in 1964 and ending in 1975, the Bruins would win ten championships, and from 67 to 73 they cut down the nets for seven straight years. Since 1975 Kentucky has added four more trophies to their collection while UCLA has only added one. Al McGuire, the famed Marquette coach and sports analyst, said in the late 70’s that UCLA would have to get used to winning only once in twenty years. He should have said 50 years as they have only one title to their name since 1975. Johnny Wooden was the coach at UCLA during their glory years. After 1975 he would retire, and since that time the Bruins would run through coaches like a hot knife through butter.

The starting five for Kentucky in that 1975 championship game were all White. That was the last time such a phenomenon would occur at that level in college basketball. The top four Kentucky players were seniors Kevin Grevey, Jimmy Dan Connor, Mike Flynn, and Bob Guyette. They were recruited by Adolph Rupp, and they played on a freshman team in 1971-72 while Rupp was still at the school. Even though Joe B. Hall was the Wildcat coach in 1975, the Kentucky seniors were the last group to have any connection to the legendary Kentucky coach.

Seniors on both teams in 1975 had played only three years of varsity basketball. This was the last time that would happen. Previous to 1972 freshmen were ineligible for varsity competition.

UCLA led for most of the game and won 92-85. Before the game Wooden announced his retirement which added an extra incentive for his players. At one point in the second half, Kentucky conducted a furious rally. In the middle of the comeback, Wooden had a “meltdown” over the officiating. Afterwards, the calls began to go the Bruins way, and their players were super inspired. The bight spot for Kentucky that night was Grevey who led all scorers with 34 points. The game itself, however, was overshadowed by those things which would never happen again.