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Once Again, Eddie Sutton Misses Hall of Fame Cut

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Another NBA All-Star weekend has arrived and another class of finalists for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame has been announced. And once more, Eddie Sutton was left off of that list.

Here’s a list of the 13 finalists.

Players
  • Ray Allen
  • Maurice Cheeks
  • Grant Hill
  • Jason Kidd
  • Steve Nash
  • Chris Webber
Coaches
  • Charles “Lefty” Driesell
  • Rudy Tomjanovich
From Women’s Screening Committee
  • Katie Smith
  • Tina Thompson
  • Kim Mulkey (coach)
  • Wayland Baptist University (team)

Driesell ranks just behind Sutton with 786 wins over his 40 seasons coaching in college. He coached his 1972 Maryland team to an NIT championship and won two ACC titles. Being the only men’s college coach on the list, he offers an interesting juxtaposition with Sutton, who had 806 wins, made it to three Final Fours and 26 NCAA Tournament appearances.

Sutton also rebuilt two different programs from the ground up in Arkansas and Oklahoma State and won multiple national Coach of the Year awards, something Driesell never did.

Sutton has been named a finalist for the hall five times but has failed to make it to that step these last two years. Two years ago, Doug Gottlieb wrote an open letter to the committee and it’s unfortunately worth a yearly read.

Sutton not being named a finalist for consecutive years begs the question if the coach who was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011 has been black-listed. But what’s more unsettling is that the all-time career of the man who will be 82 next month is being forgotten.

Last year at this time, Kansas head coach Bill Self, an Oklahoma State alum and former assistant under Sutton was included as a finalist. As was Sidney Moncrief, who played for Sutton at Arkansas.

Self would go on to be enshrined in the hall, but made sure to mention his former mentor.

“Then of course, Eddie Sutton, who can’t be here for health reasons,” said Self. “It was so special watching him galvanize a community at Oklahoma State. I, like so many, feel coach Sutton should be in this Hall, and hopefully someday will be.”

Sutton is one of only eight men’s college coaches to reach 800 wins during his career. He remains the only one that is not enshrined in Springfield, Massachusetts.

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