Best UCLA basketball players ever: Bruins all-time starting 5

PF – Bill Walton

Known now as a quirky color commentary for ESPN and the Pac-12 Network, Bill Walton possesses a wealth of knowledge and experience when it comes to playing basketball. In high school, Walton had the key to his school’s gym as a senior and legend has it that the San Diego Rockets — an NBA expansion team in 1967 — would call his home and ask him to unlock the Helix High School gymnasium for them to use. Walton also did work of his own in that San Diego gym, Bruins assistant coach, Denny Crum, told Wooden after seeing him play that Walton was the best high school player he had ever seen.

Walton, who had grown from 6-feet tall to 7-feet during high school, would go down as one of the best big men in college basketball history — his main competition for that title is coincidentally another UCLA alumni. Despite multiple injuries to his lower extremities (broken ankle, broken leg, knee surgery and several broken bones in his feet) he remained athletic and quick off his feet for a player of his size.

After arriving in Westwood, Walton would soon make good on that evaluation. He spent his freshman year on the freshmen team per NCAA rules, and then the next two seasons he led UCLA to a 66-0 record and brought two national championships back-to-back. In the 1973 national title against Memphis State, he scored a record 44 points and went 21-for-22 from the field. The injuries that plagued him in high school and the NBA were not an issue for him while he was with the Bruins.

For his career, Walton averaged 20.3 points, 15.7 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game and UCLA lost four of the 90 games they played during his time there. The two-time champion also was selected to the All-Pac-8 team each of his three seasons on the varsity a  team. He was a three-time consensus All-American, two-time Associated Press Player of the Year, three-time Naismith Award and Rupp Trophy recipient. In 1990 the university retired his No. 32 jersey.