April 24
The nominees are out now for the Basketball Hall of Fame. It's the ultimate dream and honor to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The announcement of the newest members will come June 5, and one name is a lock for sure: Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

	Magic Johnson won an NCAA title in '79, five NBA titles with the Lakers and three MVP awards.

There isn't any doubt that the Magic Man will be inducted into the shrine at Springfield, Mass. Earvin brought so much excitement on the collegiate level at Michigan State and in that pro uniform with the Los Angeles Lakers.

He was such a genuine winner. Any time he put on a uniform, you expected that team to win and cut the nets down!

After Magic, it will get interesting.

A number of outstanding coaches have been nominated. Will this be the year that Arizona's Lute Olson finally gets his due?

Think about Olson's numbers and achievements: 650-plus wins, 15 straight seasons with 20 or more wins, five Final Four trips (four at Arizona, one at Iowa). He has built a first-class program, one of the premier programs in the nation.

Philadelphia 76ers coach Larry Brown has been a success at every level. He's a teacher and a lover of the game. Brown is also in a unique group of four men to coach both a Final Four team and an NBA finalist (with Jack Ramsay, Butch Van Breda Kolff and Fred Schaus). Brown won the national title at Kansas in 1988, with the help of Danny Manning.

Georgia State coach Lefty Driesell and Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton have each taken four different schools to the NCAA Tournament. It's tough enough to be successful at one place, and these guys have won and built programs several times over.

Others nominated by the North American Screening Committee for election into the Hall of Fame include players Maurice Cheeks, Adrian Dantley, Bobby Jones, Chet Walker and James Worthy; coach Bill Sharman; contributors Jerry Colangelo, Junius Kellogg and Tex Winter; and one team, the Harlem Globetrotters.

Johnson, Colangelo, Driesell, Sharman and Sutton are first-time finalists; the other candidates have been reviewed previously by the Honors Committee. In addition, the Harlem Globetrotters are the first team considered since 1963, the last year the Hall of Fame enshrined a team (New York Renaissance). North Carolina State coach Kay Yow is among the women's coaches nominated for this year's class.

This is a unique group up for a special honor. All of them are deserving of consideration. I can't wait until June 5 to find out which candidates get to enjoy the dream of a lifetime -- being honored as the best of the best, the creme de la creme of the basketball world.