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1997 McDonald's All-American Boys Game

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1997 McDonald's All-American Boys Game
East West
94 81
1st half2nd half Total
East 4945 94
West 4239 81
DateMarch 29, 1997
VenueClune Arena, Colorado Springs, CO
MVPKenny Gregory
Referees1
2
3
Attendance5,858
NetworkCBS
McDonald's All-American
← 1996
1998 →

The 1997 McDonald's All-American Boys Game was an All-star basketball game played on Saturday, March 29, 1997 at the Clune Arena in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The game's rosters featured the best and most highly recruited high school boys graduating in 1997. The game was the 20th annual version of the McDonald's All-American Game, first played in 1978.

1997 game

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The game was telecast live by CBS for the last time.[citation needed] Beginning in 1998, ESPN became the broadcaster for the McDonald's All-American games.[citation needed] Tracy McGrady did not play in the game because his mother and grandmother could not fly to Colorado Springs to attend the game due to the high prices of plane tickets. Since they could not be present, he declined to play.[1] The 1997 game was the lowest-scoring of the history of the McDonald's All-American games.[citation needed] Kenny Gregory won the MVP award with an entertaining style of play that included several dunks; other players who starred were Duke-bound Elton Brand, who scored 16 points; Lamar Odom and Larry Hughes, who were respectively 1 point and 1 rebound shy of recording a double-double (Odom 9 points/11 rebounds; Hughes 17 pts/9 rebs); and Dion Glover, who scored 15 points in 17 minutes. For the first time in the event history, two twins played in the game: this was the case of brothers Jarron and Jason Collins, who were part of the West team. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the McDonald's All-American game, fans selected an all-time team: the final selections were Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Grant Hill, Christian Laettner and Patrick Ewing.[2][3][4] Of the 24 players, 16 went on to play in the NBA: among them McGrady who declared for the 1997 NBA draft and was selected with the 9th overall pick by the Toronto Raptors, following Kevin Garnett (1995), Kobe Bryant and Jermaine O'Neal (both 1996), three other McDonald's All-Americans who were drafted out of high school.

East roster

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[3][5][6]

No. Name Height Weight Position Hometown High school College of Choice
00 Brendan Haywood 7-0 268 C Greensboro, NC, U.S. James B. Dudley North Carolina
3 Dion Glover 6-5 228 G Ellenwood, GA, U.S. Cedar Grove Undecided
Committed later to Georgia Tech.
5 Marcus Fizer 6-8 260 F Arcadia, LA, U.S. Arcadia Iowa State
13 Ron Artest 6-6 244 F New York City, NY, U.S. La Salle Academy Undecided
Committed later to St. John's.
14 Tony Harris 6-0 165 G Memphis, TN, U.S. East Tennessee
15 Anthony Perry 6-3 186 G Jersey City, NJ, U.S. St. Anthony Georgetown
25 Mark Karcher 6-5 215 F Baltimore, MD, U.S. St. Frances Academy Undecided
Committed later to Temple.
33 Melvin Ely 6-10 260 C Harvey, IL, U.S. Thornton Township Fresno State
35 Lamar Odom 6-10 220 F New Britain, CT, U.S. St. Thomas Aquinas[7] Undecided
Committed later to Rhode Island.
41 Elton Brand 6-9 260 F Peekskill, NY, U.S. Peekskill Duke
42 Khalid El-Amin 5-10 200 G Minneapolis, MN, U.S. North Undecided
Committed later to Connecticut.
55 Shane Battier 6-8 220 F Beverly Hills, MI, U.S. Detroit Country Day Duke

West roster

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[3][5][6]

No. Name Height Weight Position Hometown High school College of Choice
1 Tracy McGrady 6-8 205 F Durham, NC, U.S. Mount Zion Christian Academy Undecided (Did not attend)
5 Baron Davis 6-2 200 G Santa Monica, CA, U.S. Crossroads Undecided
Committed later to UCLA.
20 Larry Hughes 6-5 185 G St. Louis, MO, U.S. Christian Brothers St. Louis
21 Kenny Gregory 6-5 208 G Columbus, OH, U.S. Independence Kansas
24 Ryan Humphrey 6-7 235 F Tulsa, OK, U.S. Booker T. Washington Undecided
Committed later to Notre Dame.
25 Luke Recker 6-5 210 G Waterloo, IN, U.S. DeKalb Indiana
31 Britton Johnsen 6-10 210 F Murray, UT, U.S. Murray Utah
32 Jarron Collins 6-9 255 F North Hollywood, CA, U.S. Harvard-Westlake Stanford
33 Jason Collins 6-10 255 C North Hollywood, CA, U.S. Harvard-Westlake Stanford
34 Eric Chenowith 7-1 270 C Villa Park, CA, U.S. Villa Park Kansas
44 Chris Burgess 6-11 245 F Woodbridge, CA, U.S. Woodbridge Duke
52 Marcus Griffin 6-9 235 F Peoria, IL, U.S. Manual Illinois

Coaches

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The East team was coached by:

The West team was coached by:

All-American Week

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Contest winners

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  • The 1997 Slam Dunk contest was won by Baron Davis.
  • The 1997 3-point shoot-out was won by Shane Battier.

References

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  1. ^ Harding, Jim (March 30, 1997). "Mcgrady Skips High School All-star Game". Chicago Tribune.
  2. ^ "A LOOK BACK AT THE McDONALD'S ALL AMERICAN GAMES SUPERSTARS AND UNFORGETTABLE MEMORIES FROM GAMES PAST" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 17, 2018. Retrieved January 29, 2018.
  3. ^ a b c "The Next 48 are up" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 30, 2018. Retrieved January 29, 2018. 1997 game and rosters at page 81.
  4. ^ "HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL MCDONALD'S ALL-AMERICAN GAME". Herald & Review. March 30, 1997. p. 20.
  5. ^ a b "McDonald's All-American all-time rosters" (PDF). Retrieved January 25, 2018. 1997 roster at pages 7-8.
  6. ^ a b "1997 McDonald's All American High School Basketball Team Announced". PRNewswire. February 23, 1997.
  7. ^ At the time of selection he was attending Redemption Christian Academy in Troy, New York.
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