Pacers Connections with UCLA, Wooden Run Deep

The Pacers will honor the great John Wooden at Monday's Hickory Night game. Wooden was an Indiana native and enjoyed a tremendous playing career at Martinsville, Purdue, and with one of Indianapolis' first professional teams, but is best known for his legendary coaching career at UCLA, where he won 10 national championships in a 12-year span.

While Wooden did not coach any eventual Pacers players while at UCLA, a number of current and former Pacers players came through the UCLA program and were influenced by Wooden.

In fact, the current Pacers roster features three former Bruins, more UCLA players than any other NBA roster. Veteran point guard Darren Collison starred at UCLA from 2005-09,…