[1969] NCAA Championship Game: UCLA Bruins vs Purdue Boilermakers

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Date: March 22, 1969 | Venue: Freedom Hall (Louisville, Kentucky)
Boxscore and Game notes: https://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/ncaa-tournament/history/yearbyyear/1969
Report: https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/1264779/on-this-date-in-sports-march-22-1969-kareem-the-goat

On March 22, 1969, Coach John Wooden and UCLA won their fifth national championship in six years as they beat Purdue 92-72 in the finals of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball tournament. UCLA was led by the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, Lew Alcindor (later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar).

In many ways, the championship game was a coronation for Lew Alcindor, as UCLA raced out to a 42-31 lead at the half and won the game 92-72. In his final college game, Alcindor was at his best scoring 37 points with 20 rebounds to win the Most Outstanding Player for the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season, a record unlikely to ever be approached. UCLA controlled the boards in a big way as Curtis Rowe added 12 rebounds and Lynn Shackelford had nine. Purdue meanwhile was led by Rick Mount who had 28 points.

Lew Alcindor would go on to become the first overall pick in the NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. He would win the Rookie of the Year that first season and won the MVP while leading the Bucks a third-year expansion team to an NBA Championship in 1971. Changing his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, he would win five more MVP awards, five more championships for the Los Angeles Lakers, while becoming the NBA’s All-Time leading scorer in a 20-year career.

UCLA won its first 25 games of the 1969 season, although the 25th was a double-overtime struggle at USC. The next night, the Trojans upset the Bruins 46-44, handing UCLA its first loss ever at Pauley Pavilion. However, that was the only blemish on a 29-1 season. The Bruins swept into the Final Four with victories over New Mexico State and Santa Clara in the NCAA regionals at Pauley Pavilion, then edged Drake to reach the championship game. Alcindor averaged 24.0 points per game and finished his career as UCLA's all-time scoring and rebounding leader. The teams he played on won 88 of 90 games.

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Diarios de la Final Four (PODCAST): https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-diarios-de-la-final-four_sq_f1652148_1.html

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