It’ll be a Big Eight reunion when Roy Williams, Lon Kruger enter college hoops hall in KC
The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Class for 2022 will have a Sunflower Showdown feel to it.
Among the inductees are Lon Kruger and Roy Williams, one of two coaches recognized after originally entering as a Founding Class member in 2006.
The careers of Kruger and Williams included multiple stops, but they competed directly in the old Big Eight at Kansas State and Kansas.
Kruger was a standout guard at Kansas State who went on to coach the Wildcats from 1986-90. His teams went to NCAA Tournament in all four of his K-State years.
He went on to coach at Florida, Illinois, UNLV and Oklahoma after starting his head coaching career at Texas-Pan American. Kruger became the first coach to lead five programs to the men’s NCAA Tournament and took the Gators (1994) and Sooners (2016) to the Final Four.
Kruger’s final two years in Manhattan were Williams’ first two at Kansas. He had taken over the program after Larry Brown led KU to the 1988 men’s NCAA title and in 15 years amassed a 418-101 record and four Final Four appearances.
Williams returned to his alma mater, North Carolina, after the 2003 season and won three NCAA championships. He retired after the 2021 season with 903-264 career record.
Also recognized as a Founding Class member is Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun, another three-time NCAA championship coach. Calhoun won 920 games at Northeastern, UConn and Division III Saint Joseph (Connecticut).
John Beilein enters the hall after a 37-year college career that was highlighted by two NCAA championship game appearances while at Michigan. Beilein also led West Virginia, Richmond and Canisius to the NCAA Tournament, and turned in 20-victory seasons at Le Moyne and Nazareth.
Connecticut’s Richard Hamilton leads a quartet of players entering the Hall. Hamilton was the Big East player of the year in 1999 while leading the Huskies to their first NCAA championship. He was Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.
North Carolina’s Larry Miller is one of three players in ACC history to be named the league’s player of the year and tournament MVP. He helped lead coach Dean Smith’s teams to Final Fours in 1967 and 1968.
Furman’s Frank Selvy was a scoring machine. He averaged 41.7 points as a senior in 1954 and 32.1 points for his career. He owns the NCAA scoring record for points in a game against a non-Division I opponent, 100 against Newberry in 1954.
Jimmy Walker averaged 25.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists at Providence from 1964-67. He was consensus All-America in 1966 and 1967. The former NBA All-Star died in 2007 at 63.
Entering as a contributor is former Eastern Washington coach Jerry Krause. His Eagles teams won 262 games in 17 seasons, while transitioning from NAIA to Division II to Division I. Krause later spent two decades as Gonzaga’s director of basketball operations as the program grew into a national power.
The class will be inducted on Nov. 20 in Kansas City as part of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Weekend, which includes the Hall of Fame Classic tournament. The field hasn’t been announced.
National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2022
Players
Richard Hamilton, Connecticut
Larry Miller, North Carolina
Frank Selvy, Furman
Jimmy Walker, Providence
Coaches
John Beilein, Nazareth, Le Moyne, Canisius, Richmond, West Virginia, Michigan
Lon Kruger, Texas-Pan American, Kansas State, Florida, Illinois, UNLV, Oklahoma
Contributor
Jerry Krause, Eastern Washington, Gonzaga
Founding Class members
Roy Williams, Kansas, North Carolina
Jim Calhoun, Northeastern, Connecticut, Saint Joseph (Connecticut)
This story was originally published June 29, 2022 at 10:00 AM.