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UCLA Basketball: The 25 Greatest Bruins of all time

By Mike Regalado

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) /
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(Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images Idol Roc)
(Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images Idol Roc) /

Go Joe Bruin has put together the quintessential list of the 25 greatest UCLA basketball players of all time.

The UCLA basketball program is the greatest in America due to its rich history of success. Part of that has to do with the fact that the Bruins have a collection of some of the greatest basketball players to ever play the game… on any level.

Related Story. UCLA players picked in the NBA Draft. light

With that in mind, Go, Joe Bruin looks at the individual success and achievements of 25 of these players and ranks them according to their talents, accolades, and what they meant to the program during their time in Westwood.

So who are the 25 best players in Bruins’ history? Let us begin…

25. Keith Erickson, F (1962-65)

Why Erickson is on this list…

The UCLA Basketball program has won a total of 11 championships, 10 under former head coach John Wooden. The first two Wooden won came in 1964 and 1965 which included Keith Erickson who was the starting forward on both squads. It was quite the show to see as Erickson, Gail Goodrich, Walt Hazzard, and Fred Slaughter, to name a few, helped put UCLA on the map. In those two championship seasons, UCLA went an unprecedented 58-2, yet the Bruins would top that a few years later.

Erickson was not just a basketball player, but an all-out athlete as he also played for the UCLA baseball and volleyball teams, eventually making it on the 1964 US Men’s Olympic Volleyball team.

UCLA Career Stats

  • FG%: .410
  • FT%: .669
  • Rebs/gm: 8.0
  • Total Rebs: 697
  • Pts/gm: 9.6
  • Total Pts: 834

Key Accomplishments

  • NCAA Champs: 1964, 1965
  • Pac-12 Champs: 1963, 1964, 1965
  • All-American: 1965
  • One of only 40 Players to Win an NCAA and NBA Championship

After his senior year, when he won a second basketball title, he was drafted in the third round of the NBA Draft by the San Francisco Warriors. Erickson is also an exclusive list of players that have won both an NCAA Championship and an NBA Championship as he was a part of the 1972 Los Angeles Lakers’ championship squad.