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In his final season as a coach,
Al McGuire takes Marquette all the way,
beating Dean Smith and North Carolina
for the national championship.
This is the second championship game loss for Smith who
lost to John Wooden's UCLA team led by Lew Alcindor in 1968.
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Gene Bartow and UCLA are upset in the
second round, but the two games are enough to put Bartow on
the list at .727 in third place. Bartow led UCLA to the
Final Four last year and took Memphis State to the final game
against UCLA and Bill Walton in 1973.
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Joe B. Hall and Kentucky lose to North
Carolina in the East Regional Finals, giving Hall enough games
to debut on the list at .700 in fourth place. In 1975, Hall
led Kentucky to the finals, losing to UCLA in John Wooden's
final game.
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UNLV wins national third place and
Jerry Tarkanian joins the .600 club
at .632 moving him up into a tie for eighth place with
Frank McGuire who wasn't invited
this year and
Johnny Orr who debuts on the list after
Michigan wins two and loses one this year. Orr's Michigan
team finished second to
Bobby Knight's Indiana team in
last year's tournament.
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Dave Gavitt debuts on the list at .500
after Providence's first round loss. Gavitt made the Final
Four with Providence in 1973.
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With the addition of
Gene Bartow (1973) and
Joe B. Hall (1975), the "I lost the national
championship to John Wooden" club on the active list
grows to seven, including
Don Donoher (1967),
Dean Smith (1968),
Joe Williams (1970 with Jacksonville),
Jack Kraft (1971 with Villanova) and
Al McGuire (1974).
In addition,
Bobby Knight (1973),
Denny Crum (1972 and 1975),
Guy Lewis (1968),
Lou Henson (1970 with New Mexico State) and
Ted Owens (1971) all lost to
Wooden in the national semi-finals.
Also,
Ted Owens lost the national third
place game to Wooden in 1974,
Jerry Tarkanian lost to Wooden in
the West Regionals in 1970, 1971 and 1972 while coaching
Long Beach State,
Ned Wulk lost to Wooden in
the West Regionals in 1973 and 1975 and
Johnny Orr lost to Wooden in the first
round in 1975.
It's hard to imagine how anyone could ever
again dominate the tournament as John Wooden did in the last
twelve years of his career.
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