fubar said:

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When Walton did commentary, I'd spend about half the time laughing and the other half asking (out loud, to nobody in particular) "what the **** does THAT have to do with anything?"

Unique. Seemed a good dude. Probably hanging out with Jerry Garcia right now.

RIP Bill. You'll be missed.

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TWD 1974 said:

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fubar said:

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When Walton did commentary, I'd spend about half the time laughing and the other half asking (out loud, to nobody in particular) "what the **** does THAT have to do with anything?"

Unique. Seemed a good dude. Probably hanging out with Jerry Garcia right now.

RIP Bill. You'll be missed.

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Before his injuries, Bill was as dominant a big man as I ever saw. I always enjoyed his game commentary, although there were times in those late night west coast games where Bill seemed to show evidence of hallucinogenic flashbacks from the 60's and seemed to be viewing a different game altogether.

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Jacques Strap said:

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He was the backbone of two consecutive 300 seasons and was also part of UCLA's NCAA men's basketball record 88-game winning streak. The UCLA streak contributed to a personal winning streak that lasted almost five years, in which Walton's high school, UCLA freshman (freshmen were ineligible for the varsity at that time), and UCLA varsity teams did not lose a game from the middle of his junior year of high school to the middle of his senior year in college.

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setshot said:

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The story goes that Denny Crum (later coach of Louisville's NCAA champions), a former player for Wooden and his assistant coach, was sent down to scout Walton his senior year in high school...Walton had something like 50 points and 36 rebounds When Crum was asked by Wooden what he thought about Walton, he replied, "Coach he is better than Lew (Alcindor)." Wooden opened the door to his office and said, "Come in here" then closed the door.

One of the famous anecdotes from the Wooden/Walton years occurred when Walton showed up for his senior season with a beard. This was a challenge to Wooden's rule forbidding facial hair. Wooden told Walton he would have to shave it off, and Bill refused. Wooden simply said, "Bill, I have enjoyed coaching you," then turned and walked away. When Walton showed up the next day, he was clean-shaven.

Wooden was once asked who the best player was he had ever coached, and Wooden replied, "Lewis (Alcindor) was the most valuable." He paused and then said, "You will notice that I said Lewis was the most valuable, I did not say he was the best." Wooden was far too cagey to fall into that trap. It would have been difficult to make a clear distinction between the two players, but Lew did have those three NCAA Championships, with the MVPs from each. His frosh team beat the varsity, the defending national champions, but so did Walton's frosh team, and they were also defending national champions who won it again that season. If frosh had been eligible, Alcindor would have had four championships and four MVPs.

As for impact, the "Alcindor rule" was created and imposed after Alcindor's sophomore year. It made dunking illegal and took away any shot where the shooter had his hands within the rim. Walton played a very fine Memphis team in the NCAA Finals his junior year, and hit 21 of 22 shots, and the one he missed was ruled a dunk because his hands were barely within the rim and thus was illegal and taken from him.

Wooden disliked dunking the ball, but when he recruited Marques Johnson, who was 17 in his frosh year, he got one of the great dunkers in the history of the game, perhaps the best I have ever seen in college basketball. He was the winner of the College Player of the year his senior year, and richly deserved the award. He was a great pro at Milwaukee but never had enough good players around him to win a championship, and he didn't play in a major market, so he has never received the ranking among the all-time greats that he probably deserved.

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