The NCAA once set out on a mission to curb Kareem Abdul-Jabbar‘s greatness by banning dunking in 1967. However, the rule barely mattered for Abdul-Jabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor. He had too many weapons in his game to be stopped by a single change.
“When they banned the dunk in college, I felt like they were trying to inhibit my game,” Kareem told Mike Sager of Esquire. “But I realized almost immediately that all of the shots I could dunk, I could just as easily lay off the glass—and it was still going to be two points, so I didn’t have anything to worry about.”
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No stopping Kareem
Although the racism angle of the dunking ban never escaped Abdul-Jabbar, that didn’t deter him from winning. He dominated the collegiate ranks from the get-go, winning three NCAA championships at UCLA and went 88-2 over those years. The Bruins went 33-0 in Kareem’s first varsity year, while their first loss came only at the 7’2″ center’s 44th game.
During his tenure, Kareem was named a First-Team All-American, became a Naismith Awardee as a senior, and was a two-time Associated Press Player of the Year. He was also the only player in college basketball history to win three straight NCAA Tournament MVPs.
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Even without slamming the ball to the rim, Abdul-Jabbar averaged 26.4 points and 15.5 rebounds per game, while shooting an efficient 63.9% from the field.
Kareem was rewriting history books left and right. He set the NCAA record for most points in a debut game by dropping 56 in 1966. (Freshmen were still not allowed to compete at the time Abdul-Jabbar set foot on the UCLA campus.) He scored 61 points later that season and won a national championship via a 15-point blowout over Dayton in 1967.
“The only way to beat Alcindor is to hope for the three Fs,” Notre Dame coach Johnny Dee said, per ESPN’s Larry Schwartz. “Foreign court, friendly officials and foul out Alcindor.”
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Even if coach Dee’s conditions were met, beating Kareem in college was the longest of the long shots. Dunk or no dunk, he was getting the lion’s share of everything, especially the Ws.
The rationale behind the “no dunking” rule
No one knows how much better Kareem’s stats might’ve been if he’d been allowed to dunk freely, but what motivated the NCAA to impose such a rule? Although the media and fans point to Abdul-Jabbar’s dominance as the main culprit, the college sports governing body cited several official reasons for doing so.
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First, the rules committee argued that the dunk “was not a skillful shot” and gave an unfair height advantage to big men. Second, injury concerns around the backboard were a major factor as players were reportedly getting hurt during attempts near the rim or while trying to block dunks.
Lastly, the potential damage to the equipment was viewed as an unnecessary expense and a safety risk, especially given the durability of gym gear in that era.
However, even though eliminating the slam dunk in the game removed some excitement, there were other benefits to doing so. Kareem, for instance, developed his patented “sky hook” and a reliable fadeaway jumper. He learned to skillfully use the glass to his advantage in finishing around the rim.
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Even with those reasons in place, none of them truly stopped Abdul-Jabbar. He was just a winner through and through, and in hindsight, the dunking ban may have unleashed a more fearsome monster than Kareem already was.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 15, 2025, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
