Slaughterhouse Five

Strange things have a way of happening when rival teams venture onto the Notre Dame campus. Backed by the loudest, most rabid rooters this side of the Roman Colosseum, the Fighting Irish invariably play over their own heads--while their luckless opponents lose theirs--in an ear-shattering din that is roughly akin to playing inside a bass drum. Two years ago, for example, undefeated U.C.L.A. sailed into South Bend, Ind., and was scuttled in one of the most startling upsets of the season.

U.C.L.A.'S Bruins have not lost a game since, and last week, as if to prove once and for all that they are the finest college basketball team ever, they returned to the Notre Dame fieldhouse for an epic showdown. This time the stakes--and the decible level--were higher than ever as Bruin Coach John Wooden's men went all out to win their 61st consecutive game and thereby break a record set by the University of San Francisco 17 years ago.

Whipped into a near frenzy at a giant pre-game pep rally, the Notre Dame fans were crying for blood. Instead, the Bruins, nicknamed the "Slaughterhouse Five," cleanly and expertly dissected the unranked Fighting Irish. Led by Center Bill Walton, a 6-ft. 11-in. behemoth under the boards, U.C.L.A. shook off an early case of the jitters and coasted to an 82-63 victory. Afterward, the game ball was carried off for enshrinement in the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. The pressure off, Wooden and his charges returned to their quest for an even more remarkable record: a seventh straight national championship.

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