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UCLA Athletics has a storied history of winning titles, producing Hall of Famers and fostering young athletes who go on to become bigger than their respective sports. For the last 102 years, champions have called Westwood home.

On the hardwood, UCLA men's basketball has had its fair share of iconic and important figures. Here are the four who top the list, and have their faces up on All Bruins' metaphorical Mount Rushmore for the team.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Arguably the greatest college basketball player of all time – or just greatest basketball player of all time, depending on how angry you're looking to make Michael Jordan and LeBron James fans – Abdul-Jabbar took an already dominant UCLA program to new heights.

Lew Alcindor, as he was known during his time in Westwood, led the Bruin freshmen to an exhibition win over his two-time defending national champion upperclassmen teammates in 1965. That moment is a nice bit of trivia to throw around, but it pales in comparison to the dominance he put on display when the real games started.

Abdul-Jabbar scored 56 points in his collegiate debut and went on to average 29.0 points and 15.5 rebounds as a freshman. For his career, he put up 26.4 and 15.5 a night and won 86 of the 88 games he played in. Add on top of that three NCAA titles, three national player of the year award, three unanimous All-American selections and a handful of school records, and you've got yourself a living legend and then some.

And who could mistake the sky hook as anyone else's but Kareem's?

It also doesn't hurt that Abdul-Jabbar was picked No. 1 overall in the 1969 NBA Draft and went on to become the league's all-time leading scorer, nor do his track records as a coach, social activist, journalist or actor.

Abdul-Jabbar is an icon, and that started the second he stepped foot on campus at UCLA.

Bill Walton

The other contender for most outstanding college basketball player ever is Walton.

His stats weren't as gaudy as Abdul-Jabbar's, and his senior year was highlighted by Notre Dame snapping UCLA's 88-game winning streak and the Bruins losing in the Final Four, but even a less-than-ideal ending to his career in Westwood couldn't overshadow how much he meant to the program.

From stories about Wooden kicking him out of practice to get a haircut to his incredibly 1970s Dead Head personality, Walton's time with UCLA was memorable for more than his performance on the court. His skills were nothing to laugh at, though, as he put up averages of 20.3 points, 15.7 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game – assists were only tracked during his third and final season.

While he technically wasn't a 7-footer, Walton had handles, vision and a feel for the game never before seen in a big man. He rode his unique skillset to three unanimous All-American teams, two national player of the year awards and two NCAA championships.

That second title came in 1973, which made it seven in a row for UCLA, and it wouldn't have happened if not for Walton's 44 points on 21-of-22 shooting, 13 rebounds, two assists and one block – considered by many to be the best championship game performance in NCAA history.

Walton's status as a No. 1 overall pick and two-time NBA champion extended his legacy beyond Westwood – even if his pro career was derailed by injuries – as has his outlandish and insane color commentary through the decades.

Still, Walton will back the Pac until the day he dies and his No. 32 jersey will hang in the rafters at Pauley Pavilion long after.

Ed O'Bannon

The Bruins have only won one NCAA championship since John Wooden retired, and they won it thanks to O'Bannon.

O'Bannon came off the bench and didn't do much on the stat sheet his freshman year. Across his next three seasons, however, O'Bannon averaged 18.4 points and 8.0 rebounds per game on 51.9% shooting from the field and 39.9% shooting from 3.

Everything came together during that 1994-1995 season, with O'Bannon making the All-American team, winning the Wooden Award and Pac-12 Player of the Year and ultimately leading his team to a title.

There were many heroes throughout the Bruins' tournament run that year, and O'Bannon was surely one of them, averaging 17.0 points and 7.4 rebounds per game on the way to the finals. In that championship game, O'Bannon played all 40 minutes, scoring 30 points and pulling down 17 boards.

His post-UCLA career didn't turn into much on the court, but that doesn't change how important he was in extending the Bruins' legacy into the modern era. O'Bannon's role in opening up name, image and likeness rights for student-athletes also can't go unnoticed either.

John Wooden

The Wizard of Westwood.

The Pyramid of Success.

The winningest coach in UCLA history, and the architect of the most dominant dynasty the sports world has ever seen.

There isn't much left to say about Wooden that hasn't already been said, but it's good to run through his accomplishments every now and then regardless. A 620-147 record at UCLA gives Wooden about as many wins as Ben Howland, Jim Harrick, Steve Lavin and Gene Bartow combined. Wooden made 12 Final Fours, won 10 NCAA championships, earned five AP coach of the year awards, won his conference 15 times and even got a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2003.

From 1948-1963, Wooden was a very good college coach who would lead his team to the occasional AAWU title and rare tournament run. Over the next 12 seasons, Wooden's Bruins lost just 22 games, compared to the 335 wins they racked up.

UCLA won 43 games in March Madness in that span, which was more than twice their number of regular season losses. The 88-game winning streak and seven-year championship streak Wooden spearheaded has never ben matched and likely never will be.

Even after he retired following the 1975 title game, Wooden remained a constant in Westwood. After coaching Abdul-Jabbar, Walton, Gail Goodrich, Walt Hazzard, Jamaal Wilkes, Marques Johnson, Sidney Wicks, Henry Bibby and more, Wooden went on to mentor countless players and coaches, such as Harrick and UCLA gymnastics coach Valorie Kondos Field.

It's been over a decade since Wooden died, but his legacy has not and never will be lost on campus.

Honorable Mentions

Gail Goodrich: The leading scorer on the Bruins' first two NCAA championship teams, Goodrich put up 21.5 and 24.8 points per game across his last two college seasons. Before going to the NBA to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to the 1972 NBA championship, Goodrich ushered in a winning era in Westwood and finished his collegiate career as the team's all-time leading scorer.

Reggie Miller: One of the greatest shooters in NBA history got his start in Westwood, and although he didn't win a championship in his four seasons, Miller was a pure scorer with hardly any equal. Miller averaged 24.0 points on .550/.439/.860 shooting splits from 1985-1987, and he converted that efficiency into a storied career with the Indiana Pacers that earned him a spot in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Walt Hazzard: Hazzard went from good to great in 1964, winning UCLA's first national championship and the Final Four Most Outstanding Player, being named a unanimous All-American, taking home a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics and getting scooped up by the Lakers in the NBA Draft. He would also later return to Westwood as the Bruins coach from 1984-1988.

Jamaal Wilkes: Overlapping with Walton meant Wilkes was never the No. 1 star on his UCLA teams, but that doesn't take away from the fact Wilkes is a two-time NCAA champion and All-American whose No. 52 jersey is retired by both the Bruins and Lakers. Wilkes is also a four-time NBA champion and three-time NBA All-Star.

Marques Johnson: Only a special kind of player can warrant their poster being on Michael Jordan's dorm room wall, and Johnson did just that. Before he was a five-time NBA All-Star with the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers, Johnson won the 1975 NCAA championship – Wooden's 10th and final one – and he took home the first-ever Wooden Award in 1977.

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