Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Blasts UCLA Basketball: “It Was Real Ugly, Man”

UCLA is one of the most-decorated programs in college basketball history, but Bruins legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar isn’t pleased with the on-court direction of his alma mater.

“You know, I’m not working to rest on the sidelines and pitch gravel at Coach Alford”.

And although Abdul-Jabbar reportedly said it appeared as if the Bruins didn’t “even know how to run the fast break”, when he watched them during March Madness, he stopped short of saddling head coach Steve Alford with much of the blame.

He continued, “Americans are judged on their character when they run for office”.

Interestingly enough, UCLA won the Pac-12 Tournament and advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2013-14 during Alford’s first season as coach. To that end, Abdul-Jabbar-who’s also a bestselling author of memoirs and historical nonfiction-has written his first novel, centered on the life of Sherlock’s brother, Mycroft. Those are signs that Alford and his staff are doing an excellent job in skill development and in putting their players in a position to succeed.

This program is on the right track after going off the rails in Ben Howland’s final five seasons. What happens to UCLA if Grace lands another job or if the Magic stop producing so many elite prospects each season? That being said, the college basketball landscape is a lot different than it was when Abdul-Jabbar and Walton were playing.

So the question that I ask when I read a criticism like this is simply: why? It’s only making that task more hard.