1969 Final Four – Drake Nearly Does the Unthinkable vs UCLA !

1970 St Bonaventure Ncaa run    • What REALLY Happened During St Bonaventure...  

in 1969 Drake played the role of David against the Goliath — two-time defending NCAA Tournament champion UCLA, led by an actual giant, 7-foot-1 Lew Alcindor.

By March 10, Drake had climbed to No. 11 in the AP rankings and had rolled off nine victories since that dark night in Denton.

Now the Bulldogs came head-to-head with Louisville for the third time — this time on a neutral court. Loser goes home, winner goes to the NCAA Tournament.

Both teams were brilliant, but Drake’s fast break cracked Louisville’s defense often enough. The Bulldogs won 77-73, earning the tournament berth.

Drake had won 10 in a row and earned a first-round bye in the tournament. In 1969, the field of 25 teams included seven teams with byes.

Drake opened tournament play with an 81-63 win against Texas A&M and then outlasted Colorado State 84-77 to win its first spot in the Final Four.

Looming on the horizon was UCLA coach John Wooden’s basketball powerhouse led by Alcindor, the biggest and best player in the nation.

Wooden’s Bruins are, in some minds, the greatest of all time — the gold standard for NCAA men’s basketball. His teams won 10 national titles from 1964 to 1975, including seven straight from 1967 to 1973.

The Bruins had won the previous two national championships and looked to become the first to win three in a row in 1969.

To do so, they would have to deal with a speedy, high-scoring and strong defending Drake team.

But the Bruins brought Alcindor, who two years later would change his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and eventually would retire as a six-time NBA champion and the league's all-time leading scorer.

The nimble Alcindor was lean and strong with a massive wingspan that made him nearly impossible to guard.

Perhaps the specter of facing the heavily favored Bruins and Alcindor threw Drake off in the early minutes.

The Bulldogs fell behind 11-2 and played catch-up the entire game. Drake battled to a 37-37 tie midway through the first half and trailed by 41-39 at halftime.

Drake fans of the era argued the referees were also intimidated by the Bruins. The refs called Drake for 30 fouls against UCLA’s 21.

But the Bulldogs struggled on offense, too, shooting just 38.6 percent for the game. Their scrappy defense kept them close until the final buzzer.

Drake’s centers got into foul trouble. Wanamaker dueled with Alcindor and blocked one of the towering Bruin’s shots — a feat thought impossible.

“That’s one of those things you remember for the rest of your life,” Wanamaker said.

Was he fouled?

Drake kept at UCLA. Pulliam grabbed a rebound and put it back for a layup with 10 seconds left in the game to pull the Bulldogs within one point, 83-82.

Pulliam fell. To this day, he believes he was pulled down by UCLA players.

“I do believe I was fouled,” Pulliam said.

Wanamaker, however, is not convinced.

“I think it was a tight play with a lot of bodies bunched up, but I don’t think there was a foul,” he said.

UCLA polished off its victory with a pair of free throws, handing Drake an 85-82 defeat.

UCLA rolled to the NCAA championship with a 20-point win over Purdue in the title game, its third in a row and part of the unprecedented seven consecutive championships.

Cinderella’s slipper wasn’t a perfect fit for the ’69 Bulldogs, but that season was a reminder of how a well-coached team from a small school can be one of the best in the country.

“For a few months, the eyes of the basketball world were on Drake — on Des Moines — and that is still exciting to me,” Pulliam said.