Hall of Fame coach Wooden hospitalized with diverticulitis

LOS ANGELES -- Even from a hospital room half a country away, John Wooden was with the UCLA Bruins.

Told a half-hour before Monday night's championship game that the 95-year-old was in a Los Angeles-area hospital, the Bruins wanted to win a 12th title in the Hall of Fame coach's honor. Instead, the best they could do was give him a couple of hours of diversion.

"I hope he's doing OK," Cedric Bozeman said after Florida romped to a 73-57 victory and its first national title. "I'm sorry we couldn't come back with a victory. But I think he's still proud of us."

Wooden was admitted to a hospital near his home in the San Fernando Valley on Sunday for diverticulitis, an inflammation of the area around the colon, said his daughter, Nan Muehlhausen.

"He is fine," Muehlhausen said Monday night. "He looks good, his color is good, but he is not very happy with me, because he wanted to leave today."

Wooden is expected to be released in the next day or two, according to a statement from UCLA's sports information office.

He means so much to UCLA -- all of college basketball, really -- that coach Ben Howland couldn't help but get emotional when he told his team a half-hour before the game that Wooden was in the hospital.

"He's the patriarch," Howland said. "He is why this program is where it is. It's one of the elite programs in the country, and has been since he started that job in 1948."

Wooden retired from UCLA in 1975 with a record of 620-147 in 27 years as coach. The Bruins won 10 national titles under the "Wizard of Westwood," including seven in a row. The streak included 38 straight NCAA Tournament victories.

"Will anybody ever get a program at that level? It will be very difficult to win 10 in 12 years," Howland said.

But Wooden's impact reached far beyond his record. Humble and deeply principled, he was more concerned about turning out good men than champion players. He taught them as much about life as he did about layups and defense.

"Greatness to me is the way John Wooden's players talk about him. That's greatness," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "Because you know what, tomorrow this is over. It's over with. It's on to the next thing. But when you affect people's lives, that can carry on for generations and a lifetime."

Indeed, Wooden's players continue to revere him decades after leaving UCLA. There's a steady stream of visitors to his Los Angeles-area home, and Bill Walton calls often simply to say thank you. The center, who had a famous run-in with Wooden over his long hair, has even passed Wooden's words of wisdom on to his own sons.