The Shadow
UCLA, winner of 11 NCAA national championships in Men’s Division I Basketball, defeated the University of Kentucky, winner of eight national championships, 63-53 on Sat., Dec. 17, to even their series.
Ranking No. 1 (UCLA) and No. 2 (UK) for winning NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championships, each university has a storied history with eight wins apiece going into 2023.
Adoph Rupp, the legendary coach of the Wildcats, coached four UK teams that won national championships (1948, 1949, 1951 and 1958). Today, Rupp Arena, where UK plays its home games, bears Coach Rupp’s name.
Just as Rupp remains a legend in Lexington, Ky., Johnny Wooden, “the Wizard of Westwood,” remains a legend in Los Angeles where 11 national championship banners hang in Pauley Pavilion, the indoor arena located in Westwood Village.
Wooden coached twice as many national championship teams as Duke University’s Mike Krzyzewski, who won five titles to top Rupp’s four. No other coach in their division’s history has won more than three.
The UCLA Bruins won 10 national championships during a 12-year period under Wooden, including seven in a row.
His undefeated teams were champions in 1963-64, 1966-67, 1971-72, and 1972-73.
Wooden’s 27-year-coaching career yielded him a 620-147 record, and he remains the only college basketball coach in NCAA history to have coached his college teams to 88 consecutive victories.
The final game that Wooden coached was a 92-85 victory over Joe B. Hall’s Kentucky Wildcats in San Diego in 1975 to earn UCLA’s 10th national championship trophy.
It took UCLA two decades after Coach Wooden’s 10th championship victory for another coach to land UCLA its 11th national championship in Division I Men’s Basketball.
Coach Jim Harrick led the Bruins to a 32-1 season in 1995, as UCLA defeated the University of Arkansas 89-79 in the championship game.
Rupp’s success in winning three national titles at UK came in 1948, 1949 and 1951, establishing him as the nation’s top college basketball coach, but it took him till 1958 to bring home the 4th national championship trophy to Lexington.
During 41 seasons at UK, Rupp posted 876 victories compared to 190 defeats.
(Editor’s note: I was present in Lexington, Ky. to watch Coach Adolph Rupp receive the game ball for coaching his 500th win at UK which came against the University of West Virginia, and I was courtside in San Diego to watch Johnny Wooden coach his final game and receive the national championship trophy).
