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With all due respect to other Halls of Fame, for basketball, this is the big one. This isn't the Arkansas Hall of Fame or the Washington County Hall of Fame or the Cowboy Boots Hall of Fame.
This is the Basketball Hall of Fame.
According to ESPN, both Nolan Richardson and Eddie Sutton are finalists to be honored in Springfield later this year.
The 10 Hall of Fame finalists from the North American and Women's committees have been announced: pic.twitter.com/wgobTPHIyS
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) February 14, 2014
Those entering the Hall will be announced at the Final Four on April 7th.
Both coaches are obviously giants in Arkansas basketball history.
Richardson was 389-169 in 17 seasons in Fayetteville, winning the 1994 national championship in the process along with two other Final Four appearances. His career record in college is 506-206. Of course, that only begins to tell his story. Richardson's history as a trailblazer for African-American coaches is well-documented, including in the 2012 SEC Storied documentary 40 Minutes of Hell.
The bio from Richardson's web site.
Sutton was 260-75 in 11 seasons at Arkansas from 1974-85. His 1978 team featuring the Triplets of Sidney Moncrief, Ron Brewer, and Marvin Delph made the Final Four and laid the foundation for what Arkansas basketball would become over the next decades. Sutton's career record is 888-342 including stops at Kentucky, Oklahoma State, and Creighton. He also made the Final Four twice with the Cowboys, in 1995 and 2004.
