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UCLA Basketball: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the Greatest Of All Time

By Mike Regalado

LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 18: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar waves to the fans from center court during a commemoration ceremony at halftime of the NBA All-Star Game 2018 at Staples Center on February 18, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 18: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar waves to the fans from center court during a commemoration ceremony at halftime of the NBA All-Star Game 2018 at Staples Center on February 18, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES, CA – JANUARY 21: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar waves to fans as he arrive to attend the UCLA Bruins and Arizona Wildcats college basketball game at Pauley Pavilion on January 21, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Abdul-Jabbar was honored at half-time after recently receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, from President Barack Obama. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – JANUARY 21: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar waves to fans as he arrive to attend the UCLA Bruins and Arizona Wildcats college basketball game at Pauley Pavilion on January 21, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Abdul-Jabbar was honored at half-time after recently receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, from President Barack Obama. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) /

High School – Power Memorial Academy

Kareem (back then known as Lew Alcindor) started his dominance in high school, playing for Power Memorial Academy in New York. He led his team to three straight New York City catholic championships, which was backed by a 79-2 record. During his junior year, Alcindor led his team to a national title, which was the beginning of a very dominant career.

College – UCLA

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Alcindor started to make national headlines while at UCLA, playing for legendary coach John Wooden. Yet all of his achievements were accomplished in only three years as freshmen were not allowed to play in during first year of college. But even during that first season with the Bruins, he showed how dominant he could be as he led the frosh team to a 75-60 win over the 2-time National Champion Bruins in an intrasqaud game.

The future looked very good for Alcindor, as he was just getting started.

In the next three years (1966-69), Alcindor led UCLA to three more championships and an overall record of 88-2. In that time he was a 3-time NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player, a 3-time National College Player of the Year and a 3-time 1st team All-American.

Alcindor is second on UCLA’s all-time scoring list with 2,325 points, just behind Don MacLean who leads all Bruins (and the Pac-12 Conference) with 2,608. But MacLean had the luxury of playing all four years in college. If Alcindor played is freshman year, it seems logical to assume that he would be UCLA’s all-time leading scorer, as well as added a fourth national title to his resume.

He was a legend in high school and a legend in college, but he took it a step further in the pros.