What A Wiz Of A Win It Was

UCLA Assistant Gary Cunningham elected to follow his boss's example and give up his job, leaving the choicest coaching position in college ball open to everybody from Louisville's Denny Crum to San Clemente's Dick Nixon.

Crum, who had wept upon hearing of Wooden's retirement, is not in the best of favor with UCLA Athletic Director J.D. Morgan. That makes the probable choice Gene Bartow of Illinois, who opposed Wooden in the 1973 finals while coaching Memphis State.

With the wisdom of youth, sophomore Johnson spoke for the team when he said about Wooden's successor, "He won't be no half-stepper who doesn't know what he's doing." He better not be. The steps he will try to fill are too big for that.

Before the unfolding of the UCLA coaching melodrama and the games themselves, the Bruins seemed to be the forgotten entry among the final four. What happened was that the game's glittering showcase had come to the sunny Pacific shores, UCLA's home turf, but all people could talk, about was how many thousand drunken Kentuckians had closed Bully's bar each night or whether there ever had been anything as hilarious as a Syracuse practice.

Because two teams representing the Commonwealth were there, San Diego was overrun with Kentuckiana. Nobody rode Secretariat across the country, but fans of both Louisville and Kentucky arrived by plane, bus, car and hillbilly wagon. One charter flight ran out of bourbon over Little Rock, Ark., and had to make a refill stop in Amarillo, Texas, lest the thirsty mob storm the cockpit with empty Old Grand-Dad bottles.

Upon their arrival, supporters of the teams took up residence in neighboring hotels on Harbor Island and, depending on their affiliation, a) argued that Kentucky is afraid to schedule games with Louisville or b) inquired Louisville who?

Even Governor Julian Carroll joined the fray. He telephoned the NCAA to ask if he could present the championship trophy to Kentucky in the event the Wildcats won the tournament; he neglected to mention Louisville.

After debating where to go sightseeing, the Louisville team opted for Tijuana. Kentucky visited the zoo.

"Shouldn't your team be favored because of these distractions?" Wooden was asked. "They've seen all this stuff."

"Not with me they haven't," snapped The Wizard. "I went to Tijuana once, and I'm never going back. And you don't have to go to a zoo to be in a zoo."