Tracy McGrady, Chris Webber among Basketball Hall of Fame finalists
NEW ORLEANS – Former NBA players Tracy McGrady, Tim Hardaway and Chris Webber and former college star and WNBA player Rebecca Lobo, Kansas men’s coach Bill Self, Baylor women’s coach Kim Mulkey and Notre Dame women’s coach Muffet McGraw headline the 14 finalists for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame’s 2017 class.
Also among the finalists: former NBA ref Hugh Evans; former Villanova men’s coach Rollie Massimino; former college and NBA player Sidney Moncrief; former NBA player and coach Rudy Tomjanovich, former Wisconsin men’s coach Bo Ryan and 10-time AAU national champions Wayland Baptist University; and former Texas boys’ basketball coach Robert Hughes.
Longtime NBA writer and New York Times columnist Harvey Araton and TNT sideline reporter Craig Sager were recipients of the Curt Gowdy Award for print and electronic media. Longtime New England basketball coach Donald Dee Rowe, who also coached at UConn, and longtime National Basketball Coaches Association executive director Michael Goldberg were named winners of the John Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award.
The inductees will be announced April 3 at the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four in Phoenix, and they will be enshrined at the Hall of Fame ceremony Sept. 7-9 in Springfield, Mass.
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“Each year, it’s a surprise and something we look forward to in terms of putting a group together for consideration,” Basketball Hall of Fame chairman Jerry Colangelo said. “There’s so many candidates who are worthy of consideration, and this year’s list of finalists is no different. It’s a cross-section of people – high school, college, pros, coaching, players and that’s the way it should be. It’s a Hall of Fame for all levels and all people.”
Not even 40 years old, McGrady, who went from high school to the NBA and scored 18,381 points, had a hard time digesting he has a chance to make the Hall of Fame.
“I still feel strange about this,” McGrady said. “I’m a nominee for the Hall of Fame at 37 years old. It just doesn’t seem right. I am here so I embrace it. I’m nervous about what’s next – the anticipation is starting to build.”
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Chris Webber was part of a Michigan team that reached two consecutive NCAA championship games and part of the Fab Five at Michigan that changed the face of college basketball. He also played in the NBA from 1993 to 2008, scoring 17,182 points and collecting 8,124 rebounds.
“It’s just a moment of reflection and being grateful and being thankful,” Webber said. “I’m thinking about everyone who had an impact on my life. It’s a real moment. I’m here in the present, but my mind is going back to the past. It’s a really moment.”
Follow Jeff Zillgitt on Twitter @JeffZillgitt