UCLA Bruins are the official sports team that represents University of California, Los Angeles on both men and women.
The men’s and women’s team are joined in NCAA Division I as part of the Pacific-10 Conference. UCLA Bruins basketball team was organized in 1920 and has won 11 Division I NCAA championships.
They are regarded as one of the elite teams in NCAA college basketball. They always have competitive nature when starting the season.
The men’s basketball team events are done in the 2000 seat Men’s Gym from 1932 until 1965. Then they had other arenas and venues around the city of Los Angeles like the Pan-Pacific Auditorium and Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. Since 1965, the Pauley Pavilion has been the home arena of the Bruins.
John Wooden has won 10 national titles for the UCLA Bruins in 12 seasons, in the span of 1964 to 1975, including a 7 streak from 1967 to 1973. The Bruins also had an undefeated record in 4 seasons in 1964, 1967, 1972 and 1973. In 1995, Coach Jim Harrick returned to coach basketball in UCLA and lead the team to an NCAA title.
UCLA Bruins basketball program produced greats like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Lew Alcindor, Bill Walton, Reggie Miller and Walt Hazzard.
The current coach, Ben Howland has helped the UCLA Bruins return to prominence and from 2006 to 2008, they have appeared in three consecutive Final Fours and the players have acquired numerous awards, most recognizable was Arron Afflalo, a 2007 First-Team All American and Pac-10 Player of the Year and Kevin Love’s 2008 First Team All American and Pac-10 Player of the Year.
There are some people in the basketball Hall of Fame are from UCLA, they are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar inducted 1995, Larry Brown as a coach inducted on 2002, Denny Crum as a coach on 1994, Gail Goodrich on 1996, Bill Walton on 1996, and John Wooden on 1960 and 1972 as a player and coach.
Some other notable players from the NBA from the Bruins are Baron Davis, Mark Eaton, Russel Westbrook, Earl Watson, Matt Barnes, Jason Kapono, Trevor Ariza, Jordan Farmar, Jrue Holiday and Ryan Hollins. In all, the total of Bruins that played in the NBA are 70 as of the 2006 NBA Draft.