Think about this: UCLA won every title from 1966-67 to 1972-73.
Now think about this: between 1966 and January 20, 1974, UCLA lost just five games total.
So while the mighty Bruins took an 88-game win streak into South Bend on that long-ago January 20th, it wasn't all that far off from being a 223 game win streak.
Even so, 88 straight? In the immortal words of an eternally astonished Dickie V, “are you serious?”
One of those five losses, as we detailed here the other day, was to Houston in the Superdome in what was billed as “The Game of The Century.” In that game though, UCLA’s greatest star, Lew Alcindor, since known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, had a scratched cornea and had missed some time (if only someone had had some goggles). It was a two-point win for Houston, so draw your own conclusions.
Well in Notre Dame’s historic win, Bill Walton, who was just about as great as Jabbar when healthy, played with an injured back.
We didn’t know then that Walton’s bones were essentially made out of plaster of Paris. The redheaded hero of hoops almost literally had feet of clay. He had a few more healthy years in him before injuries robbed him of his greatness and, later, nearly led him to suicide as his back pain grew devastating in retirement (he eventually found someone who could help him with it but the man endured years of crippling pain).
So in the Notre Dame game, Walton played 40 minutes and wore a brace. He played very well but he was wearing a back brace.
Again, draw your own conclusions.
That doesn’t take away from Notre Dame’s tremendous 11 point comeback in the last 3:32. Keep in mind there was no three point shot and no shot clock and psychologically, UCLA was incredibly imposing.
But the Irish were good too. Almost no one remembers now that Notre Dame was #2 behind UCLA and that Adrian Dantley, who would soon emerge as a major star, was a freshman on that team.
It was a stunning win by any measure and changed the face of college basketball. Later that spring, NC State would change it again, knocking off UCLA in double overtime in the NCAA Final Four, 80-77, behind David Thompson and Tommy Burleson. The Wolfpack would go on to beat Marquette Monday night in the championship game, 76-64.
Left home in the 16 team field: the erstwhile UCLA of the East, Maryland, which was a Top Five team all season and which was only a half- step behind NC State’s greatness.
That team was the first intimation that Maryland could be great - and also that it would consistently disappoint Terrapin fans almost every season for decades to come until the Terps finally won an NCAA championship in 2002.
Also waiting impatiently to rise: Bobby Knight’s Indiana program, which would finish 23-5 that season and then go 63-1 over the following two including the last undefeated season in college basketball in 1975-76.