The 1968 season in NCAA Men’s Basketball would be an exciting one. While it was exciting, there was definitely one team that would be the favorite over all of the other teams in the nation. The UCLA Bruins had won the NCAA tournament to win the National Championship the previous year. They had also already won other titles during the 1960s and many people assumed that they would just come back and win again. Some people felt like UCLA could not be beaten. While this was said, most people didn’t understand just how unbeatable UCLA would be for years to come. This year UCLA would be led by the coach John Wooden and the famous Lew Alcindor.
While Lew Alcindor is famous, he is not nearly as famous under the name Lew Alcindor as he is under the name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Abdul-Jabbar would go on to become one of the best NBA players of all time. He scored more points than any other player in the history of the game. His dominance started in the NCAA under the direction of Wooden. UCLA cruised through the season and managed to find their way to the top of the nation previous to the tournament. There would be 23 teams that would be invited to the tournament. These 23 teams would participate in single elimination play to determine the National Champions. The teams that played were Boston College, Columbia, Davidson, La Salle, North Carolina, St. Bonaventure, St. John’s, Bowling Green, East Tennessee State, Florida State, Kentucky, Marquette, Ohio State, Houston, Kansas State, Louisville, Loyola, TCU, New Mexico, Santa Clara, Weber State and of course UCLA. There were a few teams that stood out from the rest of the competition.
One of the teams was North Carolina. They were positioned in the East Regions. They managed to put away St. Bonaventure and Davidson en route to qualifying for the Final Four. The teams that stood out in the Mideast division were Ohio State and Kentucky. Each of them beat their opponents and squared off to see who would go on to the Final Four. The game between these teams was one of the best games in the tournament. The final score was 82-81 in favor of Ohio State. The Midwest Region was dominated by Houston. They managed to beat TCU by 35 points in the game to determine who would go to the Final Four. Many people felt like Houston would be the greatest challenge for UCLA in the tournament. UCLA would win the West Region by beating New Mexico State and Santa Clara.
North Carolina and Ohio State faced off in the games between the teams from the Eastern regions. North Carolina was just too good for Ohio State and won the game by 14 points. In the game between the teams in the Western regions UCLA was dominant. They pounded Houston 101-69 and advanced to the Finals to take on North Carolina. UCLA was just too much for North Carolina, winning by 23 points in the National Championship Game. Lew Alcindor would be named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.