YouTube Gold: Young Moses Malone

When Lefty Driesell took the Maryland job, he famously - or infamously, depending on your take - promised to make Maryland the “UCLA of the East.”

This was near the end of John Wooden’s incredible run in Westwood and Driesell, it must be said, wasn’t that far off.

He quickly won over Tom McMillan, Len Elmore and John Lucas and several other talented players and only a once-in-a-lifetime NC State team kept Maryland from a date with UCLA (in the early 1970s the NCAA only took one team per conference).

But that wasn’t what nearly made Maryland the real UCLA of the East. That would come - and go - in 1974.

Why?

Because the late Moses Malone committed to Maryland before entering the ABA out of high school. No one did that then and Malone was legitimately great as this video hints at.

If he had gone to Maryland, and stayed for four years as most people did then, the Terps would have probably won more than one national championship and ACC history would probably be quite different.

Bonus: former Blue Devil Randy Denton is mentioned. He’s #45 and you see a good shot of him checking in.

Double bonus: a very young Bob Costas is on the call for the St. Louis Spirits.