Abdul-Jabbar To Be Inducted Into National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame
By Bruin Basketball Report
UCLA basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will be honored and inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame today. The ceremony will be held at the new College Basketball Experience (CBE) in Kansas City, Mo.
Abdul-Jabbar will be recognized as a member of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame's founding class. The former UCLA star and two-time national player of the year helped the Bruins to a record of 88-2 and three straight NCAA championships.
He finished his illustrious Bruin career with 2,325 points (26.4 ppg) and 1,367 rebounds (15.5 rpg).
Formerly known as Lew Alcindor, Abdul-Jabbar was inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 1984 and had his jersey #33 retired in 1990.
After winning NBA championships with the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers, he retired from the NBA as the league's all-time leader in nine statistical categories, including points scored. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995.
Another UCLA great Bill Walton will introduce Abdul-Jabbar during the enshrinement ceremonies. Ben Howland and the UCLA basketball team are in Kansas City for the CBE Classic basketball tournament and will attend the pre-ceremony reception.
UCLA Coach John Wooden was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame last year as part of a charter class.
(photo credit: Academy of Achievement)
Labels: Bruin Player News (Former)
BBR :: Article Link :: 4:00 PM ::
9 comments
9 Comments:
Has anyone ever been a more dominating force? This is great
Th skyhook was the most dominating shot in the game. Why oh why has no player tried to replicate the shot??????
Even Andrew Bynum, a pupil of 3 years under Kareem hasn't tried one in a game.
You'd think a bigman with some skills could come along and...
unfortunately people don't associate domination in basketball with a sky-hook. Even though any unstoppable shot is, in fact, dominating. I would have to say that Kareem a very intelligent man to realize that. And I would say he has more self-confidence than other players to use a weapon that a lot of players would not just because it's different.
Best part of the clip is Kareem stealing the ball for a breakaway slam! And of course,the sweetness of the sky hooks "ain't" too shabby either.
Brad, very interesting take...I never would have associated the sky hook with one's own self-confidence. Perhaps players who take the shot not only feel its not a dominating "look" but they don't want to look goofy shooting it either. I mean KAJ was a freak of nature athlete, it might be hard to look as natural as he did (although practice could fix that).
But your point about self-confidence rings so true here, KAJ was definitely a guy who walked his own path and not caring what other thought fits in exactly with his personality.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (formerly Lew Alcindor) is the greatest collegiate player of all-time.
Keep in mind that Kareem perfected the sky hook in part because the NCAA banned the dunk in 1967. In his hands, the sky hook was a work of art and a virtually indefensible shot. Once Kareem got the ball in the low block, everybody knew what was coming next. Yet, even in an era of many great NBA big men (Chamberlain, Hayes, Lanier, Walton, Malone, Olajuwon, etc.), no one could consistently defend against the sky hook.
Given how powerful an offensive weapon the sky hook is, I am a bit surprised that no center other than Kareem has used that shot as their primary go-to move. I guess they'd rather work on their dunk shots.
i'm gonna one day master the shot.
ji
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