1997 McDonald's All-American Boys Game

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 McDonald's All-American Boys Game
1st Half2nd Half Total
East 4945 94
West 4239 81
DateMarch 29, 1997
ArenaClune Arena
CityColorado Springs, CO
MVP/MOPKenny Gregory
Officials1
2
3
Attendance5,858
NetworkCBS
McDonald’s All-American
< 19961998 >

1997 game

The game was telecast live by CBS for the last time. Beginning in 1998, ESPN became the broadcaster for the McDonald's All-American games. 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. 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

[3][5][6]

No. Name Height Weight Position Hometown High school College of Choice
00Brendan Haywood7-0268CGreensboro, NC, U.S.James B. DudleyNorth Carolina
3Dion Glover6-5228GEllenwood, GA, U.S.Cedar GroveUndecided[7]
5Marcus Fizer6-8260FArcadia, LA, U.S.ArcadiaIowa State
13Ron Artest6-6244FNew York City, NY, U.S.La Salle AcademyUndecided[8]
14Tony Harris6-0165GMemphis, TN, U.S.EastTennessee
15Anthony Perry6-3186GJersey City, NJ, U.S.St. AnthonyGeorgetown
25Mark Karcher6-5215FBaltimore, MD, U.S.St. Frances AcademyUndecided[9]
33Melvin Ely6-10260CHarvey, IL, U.S.Thornton TownshipFresno State
35Lamar Odom6-10220FNew Britain, CT, U.S.St. Thomas Aquinas[10]Undecided[11]
41Elton Brand6-9260FPeekskill, NY, U.S.PeekskillDuke
42Khalid El-Amin5-10200GMinneapolis, MN, U.S.NorthUndecided[12]
55Shane Battier6-8220FBeverly Hills, MI, U.S.Detroit Country DayDuke

West roster

[3][5][6]

No. Name Height Weight Position Hometown High school College of Choice
1Tracy McGrady6-8205FDurham, NC, U.S.Mount Zion Christian AcademyUndecided (Did not attend)
5Baron Davis6-2200GSanta Monica, CA, U.S.CrossroadsUndecided[13]
20Larry Hughes6-5185GSt. Louis, MO, U.S.Christian BrothersSt. Louis
21Kenny Gregory6-5208GColumbus, OH, U.S.IndependenceKansas
24Ryan Humphrey6-7235FTulsa, OK, U.S.Booker T. WashingtonUndecided[14]
25Luke Recker6-5210GWaterloo, IN, U.S.DeKalbIndiana
31Britton Johnsen6-10210FMurray, UT, U.S.MurrayUtah
32Jarron Collins6-9255FNorth Hollywood, CA, U.S.Harvard-WestlakeStanford
33Jason Collins6-10255CNorth Hollywood, CA, U.S.Harvard-WestlakeStanford
34Eric Chenowith7-1270CVilla Park, CA, U.S.Villa ParkKansas
44Chris Burgess6-11245FWoodbridge, CA, U.S.WoodbridgeDuke
52Marcus Griffin6-9235FPeoria, IL, U.S.ManualIllinois

Coaches

The East team was coached by:

The West team was coached by:

All-American Week

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

References
  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
  3. "The Next 48 are up" (PDF). Retrieved 2018-01-29. 1997 game and rosters at page 81.
  4. "HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL MCDONALD'S ALL-AMERICAN GAME". Herald & Review. March 30, 1997. p. 20.
  5. "McDonald's All-American all-time rosters" (PDF). Retrieved 2018-01-25. 1997 roster at pages 7-8.
  6. "1997 McDonald's All American High School Basketball Team Announced". PRNewswire. February 23, 1997.
  7. Committed later to Georgia Tech.
  8. Committed later to St. John's.
  9. Committed later to Temple.
  10. At the time of selection he was attending Redemption Christian Academy in Troy, New York.
  11. Committed later to Rhode Island.
  12. Committed later to Connecticut.
  13. Committed later to UCLA.
  14. Committed later to Notre Dame.
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