Monday, November 24, 2008
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For Danny Manning, being inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Sunday served as a chance to reflect.
Manning, who entered the Hall of Fame after leading Kansas to the 1988 national championship, said he didn’t consider the induction a thrill or overly emotional. But it forced him to think about his career.
Kansas assistant coach Danny Manning talks with reporters during the College Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony Sunday night.
“Reminiscing about the accomplishment here, the friendships I developed, meeting my wife, playing for a great coach, playing at KU,” Manning said. “All those memories are flooding back and forth.”
Manning was one of seven college basketball figures recognized at the College Basketball Experience. The others were Auburn forward Charles Barkley, Utah guard Arnie Ferrin, Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson, Mount Saint Mary’s coach Jim Phelan and broadcasters Billy Packer and Dick Vitale.
Each inductee received a personalized Court Kings jacket as an award for their accomplishments. And most of them spent time talking about Manning.
Packer, who covered college basketball for 34 years, said Manning’s 31-point, 18-rebound, 5-steal, 2-block performance in the 83-79 national championship victory against Oklahoma was one of the best of all time. He also considered the game one of the most memorable upsets in Final Four history.
“I never thought they would win the national championship,” Packer said.
Not many people did. After all, the Jayhawks were a six-seed playing against a top-seeded Sooner squad they had already lost to twice earlier in the season.
But Manning said his team never looked at it that way. He remembers coach Larry Brown concocting a game plan to beat Oklahoma, which he credits as the main reason for winning.
“We didn’t think we were the underdogs,” Manning said. “Coach Brown did a great job of making sure we didn’t feel that way.”
Manning spent most of his time at the Hall of Fame press conference discussing his memories of the championship game. It was easy for him, especially because the game happened two miles away at Kemper Arena 20 years ago.
And Manning still represented the consummate team player. He deflected praise off of himself by saying he didn’t view the honor as an “individual award.” Without his teammates, Manning says it wouldn’t be possible.
Kansas assistant coach Danny Manning receives a medal from coach Bill Self during Manning's induction ceremony into the Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Sunday night at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.
“After we won the championship, seeing the locker room and my teammates just enjoying each other’s company,” Manning said, “that’s something that sticks out at me until this day.”
Something that sticks out in Barkley’s mind is when he was teammates with Manning from 1994 to 1996 in the NBA on the Phoenix Suns. Barkley said he “couldn’t tell” specific stories about what he remembers from those two years, but loved playing with Manning.
Barkley and Manning led the Suns to the playoffs during both seasons they were together.
“It was cool for me to play with Danny because he was a big time name,” Barkley said. “If you know anything about college basketball, you know who he is.”
Manning discussed at length the championship game and what it meant to him. Manning, however, struggled to put into words what the Hall of Fame induction meant to him.
He thought Barkley summed it up best.
“Like Charles said, this is pretty cool,” Manning said.
— — Edited by Rachel Burchfield
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