Two-time NBA scoring champion Tracy McGrady, Kansas coach Bill Self and women’s star Rebecca Lobo headline the Class of 2017 for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
The class also includes the late Chicago Bulls general manager Jerry Krause, former ABA and NBA star George McGinnis, Notre Dame women’s coach Muffet McGraw, high school coach Robert Hughes, Harlem Globetrotters owner Mannie Jackson, Black Fives era pioneer Zack Clayton, Greek standout Nick Galis and former NCAA administrator Tom Jernstedt, known as “Father of the Final Four.”
“I couldn’t believe it,” McGrady said on Twitter after being told of his selection. “I had him repeat it again.”
McGrady, a 6-foot-8 forward, won NBA scoring titles in 2002-03 at 32.1 points per game and again the following year at 28.0, both while playing for the Orlando Magic.
A seven-time NBA All-Star after being picked in the first round (ninth overall) by the Toronto Raptors in 1997, McGrady averaged 19.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.4 rebounds for seven teams in his 15-year NBA career.
He also played for the Houston Rockets, New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Hawks and San Antonio Spurs.
Self has coached Kansas to a dozen Big 12 Conference titles and a national championship in 2008. He also coached at Oral Roberts, Tulsa and Illinois, with a career record of 623-193, including 202-10 at Allen Fieldhouse on the Kansas campus. His teams have won 17 conference titles in 17 seasons.
Oregon eliminated Self’s Jayhawks in the Elite Eight, 74-60, this season.
Lobo led the Connecticut Huskies to their first NCAA women’s championship in 1995 with a perfect 35-0 season. She won a gold medal with the United States team at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and played six seasons in the WNBA for the New York Liberty, Houston Comets and Connecticut Sun.
Krause, who died on March 21, was the architect of the Bulls teams led by Michael Jordan that won six NBA championships from 1991 to 1998.
