In 1969, the Final Four teams were UNC (East), Purdue (Mideast), Drake (Midwest), and UCLA (West).
John Wooden was on his epic run with UCLA, and he had Lew Alcindor, who would soon change his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Purdue, behind the great Rick Mount, hammered UNC in the opening game, 92-65. Surprisingly, Drake gave UCLA a heck of a game on the other side of the bracket, losing by just three points, 85-82. In fact, the Bulldogs were within a single point late, which was incredible since the Bruins had Alcindor, perhaps the most dominant player in the history of college basketball.
The championship game would not be so close. Wooden’s UCLA would hammer his alma mater (Wooden had been an All-American at Purdue in the 1930s), 92-72, as Alcindor scored 37 points and grabbed 20 rebounds.
UCLA would go on to win another four straight NCAA championships. UNC would be in the Final Four again eight more times under Dean Smith, winning it all in 1982 and 1993.
Drake has not come close to getting back since 1969, but Purdue did in 1980, knocking Duke out in the Elite Eight, and again in 2024.