The 1998 McDonald's All-American Boys Game was an All-star

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

game played on Wednesday, March 25, 1998 at the

Norfolk Scope Norfolk Scope is a multi-function complex in Norfolk, Virginia, comprising an 11,000-person arena, a 2,500-person theater known as Chrysler Hall, a exhibition hall and a 600-car parking garage. The arena was designed by Italian architect/engin ...

in Norfolk, Virginia. The game's rosters featured the best and most highly recruited high school boys graduating in 1998. The game was the 21st annual version of the McDonald's All-American Game first played in 1978.

1998 game

The game was telecast live by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

for the first time (

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

was the previous telecaster).

Korleone Young Suntino Korleone Young (born December 31, 1978) is an American retired professional basketball player. He was drafted by the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the 40th overall pick in the 1998 NBA draft. Early life ...

participated in the dunk contest but a preexisting injury prevented him to play in the game. The game saw many dunks, something usual for all-star games, and several 3-point shots. The first 2 points were scored by Kris Lang from an

alley oop ''Alley Oop'' is a syndicated comic strip created December 5, 1932, by American cartoonist V. T. Hamlin, who wrote and drew the strip through four decades for Newspaper Enterprise Association. Hamlin introduced a cast of colorful characters an ...

pass by Teddy Dupay. The West led at halftime, but the East completed the comeback thanks to Jason Capel (16 points in the second half) and game MVP Ronald Curry who almost recorded a triple-double with 19 points, 13 rebounds and 9 assists. Other players who starred were

JaRon Rush JaRon Maurice Rush (born April 12, 1979) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. A small forward from Kansas City, Missouri, he played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins. Undrafted in the 2000 NBA draft, Rush played t ...

Quentin Richardson Quentin Lamar Richardson (born April 13, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player who was formerly the director of player development for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "Q-Rich", he p ...

(both had 19 points);

Al Harrington Albert Harrington (born February 17, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player and current assistant coach for the Cape Town Tigers. Selected with the 25th overall pick in the 1998 NBA draft, Harrington played 16 seasons in the ...

and

Rashard Lewis Rashard Quovon Lewis (born August 8, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player. Lewis entered the NBA directly from Alief Elsik High School. He rose to prominence in the NBA as a scorer with the Seattle SuperSonics, and was later ...

(17 points); and Erick Barkley (12 assists).A LOOK BACK AT THE McDONALD'S ALL AMERICAN GAMES SUPERSTARS AND UNFORGETTABLE MEMORIES FROM GAMES PAST
/ref> 1998 game and rosters at page 80. Of the 24 players, 14 went on to play at least 1 game in the NBA. Three of them declared for the

1998 NBA Draft The 1998 NBA draft took place on June 24, 1998, at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This draft helped turn around four struggling franchises: the Dallas Mavericks, the Sacramento Kings, the Boston Celtics, and the To ...

and were drafted out of high school: Al Harrington (25th overall), Rashard Lewis (32nd overall) and Korleone Young (40th overall).

East roster

1998 roster at page 8.

West roster

Coaches

The East team was coached by: * Head Coach Bill Littlepage of Hopewell High School (

Hopewell, Virginia Hopewell is an independent city surrounded by Prince George County and the Appomattox River in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 23,033. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Hopewell with Prin ...

) * Asst Coach William Simon of Hopewell High School (

) The West team was coached by: * Head Coach Rudy Carey of East High School (

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

) * Asst Coach Mark Perlmutter of East High School (

)

All-American Week

Contest winners

* The 1998 Slam Dunk contest was won by Ronald Curry. * The 1998 3-point shoot-out was won by Teddy Dupay.

References

External links

McDonald's All-American on the webMcDonald's All-American all-time rostersGame stats at Realgm.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald's 1997–98 in American basketball

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

1998 in sports in Virginia Basketball in Virginia