Sunday, February 16, 2025

Walton's UCLA Crushes Russell's SF; UCLA Could Have 3 of All-Time 8 Best Teams

We had not played the 1972 UCLA champs since Bill Walton led them to the title over Michael Jordan and UNC in the tournament of our first 96 Value Add Basketball Games.

For the first time, Walton's UCLA had fallen to No. 2 of our all-time 258 great teams in the game, and to add insult to injury, the team that passed them was the group that were freshmen at UCLA when they were seniors, the 1975 undefeated UCLA team that is the tallest team in our game with an average height of 6'9 for all five starters.

Meanwhile, Bill Russell led San Francisco to a 20-point destruction of UNLV to surge this 1956 squad, which won their second straight title, all the way from outside the Top 10 to #4. So this was suddenly a No. 4 vs. No. 2 match-up in the Sweet 16 rather than in a Final 4. 

However, this one was no contest as Walton's UCLA improved to 7-0 with a 75-48 shut down of San Francisco, which raises their rating to 18.1 - tied with the 1975 team for 1st all-time in this ranking of our 258 teams, and San Francisco drops from #4 to #7 with the loss.

This appeared to be the toughest game of the three Sweet 16 games played by UCLA teams. If the 1964 UCLA team handles Michigan State 2000, then they will face Walton in one Elite 8 Game. If the 1975 UCLA team beats a surprising but heavy underdog Western Kentucky team, then three of the Elite 8 will be UCLA teams. See the bracket below.

Also this was a simple game to play because since we do not have minutes played going back that far, you always use the simple substitution rules - which means the bottom line of five players plays the first seven possessions (possession 44 to 38) then the entire top line of starters comes in and plays the final 37 possessions of the game.

 
Pos      San Francisco 1956    Pts  3pt 2pt FT Att Reb Stl Blk Fl  Ht           Actual Season
1-PGHal Perry3011213025'109.1 Pts, 2.0 Reb
2-SGCarl Boldt4020053026'48.6 Pts, 5.0 Reb
3-SFK.C. Jones1205228001nba,6'19.8 Pts, 5.2 Reb
4-PFMike Farmer201064001nba,6'78.4 Pts, 7.8 Reb
5-CBill Russell803259044nba,6'920.6 Pts, 21.0 Reb
1-PGHarold Payne2010010025'111.0 Pts, 0.1 Reb
2-SGJohn Koljian6022210016'31.0 Pts, 1.0 Reb
3-SFMike Preaseau2010010016'54.1 Pts, 3.1 Reb
4-PFBill Mallen5021220016'44.2 Pts, 3.5 Reb
5-CGene Brown4020020016'37.1 Pts, 4.4 Reb
 Turnovers 2048020819346416  
             
PosUCLA 1972Pts3pt2ptFTAttRebStlBlkFlHtActual Season
1-PGGreg Lee912225202nba,6'48.7 Pts, 2.0 Reb
2-SGHenry Bibby1908333231nba,6'115.7 Pts, 3.5 Reb
3-SFLarry Farmer4020060126'510.7 Pts, 5.5 Reb
4-PFJamaal Wilkes603006205nba,6'613.5 Pts, 8.2 Reb
5-CBill Walton1606499223nba,6'1121.1 Pts, 15.5 Reb
1-PGAndy Hill3011220016'02.7 Pts, 0.8 Reb
2-SGJon Chapman2010010036'51.6 Pts, 1.6 Reb
3-SFTommy Curtis4020020115'114.1 Pts, 2.1 Reb
4-PFLarry Hollyfield4020040026'47.3 Pts, 3.3 Reb
5-CSwen Nater804001001nba,6'116.7 Pts, 4.8 Reb
 Turnovers 13751311016398721 

Here is the updated bracket followed by the scoresheet from the game.







The coins indicate the bottom row of reserves where in the game for the first 7 possessions, then the top row came in for the final 37 possessions.



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