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 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. 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. 1997 game and rosters at page 81. 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 1997 roster at pages 7-8. No.NameHeightWeightPositionHometownHigh schoolCollege 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 UndecidedCommitted 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 UndecidedCommitted 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 UndecidedCommitted later to Temple. 33 Melvin Ely 6-10 260 C Harvey, IL, U.S. Thornton Township Fresno State 35 Lamar Odom 6-10220 F New Britain, CT, U.S. St. Thomas AquinasAt the time of selection he was attending Redemption Christian Academy in Troy, New York. UndecidedCommitted 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 UndecidedCommitted later to Connecticut. 55 Shane Battier 6-8 220 F Beverly Hills, MI, U.S. Detroit Country Day Duke

West roster

No.NameHeightWeightPositionHometownHigh schoolCollege 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 UndecidedCommitted 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 UndecidedCommitted 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 6-9255 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 The East team was coached by: Head Coach Thomas Hargrove of Anacostia High School (Washington, D.C.) Asst Coach Kevin Hargrove of Anacostia High School (Washington, D.C.)

The West team was coached by: Head Coach Mark Beranek of Sierra High School (Colorado Springs, Colorado) Asst Coach Todd Morse of Lewis-Palmer High School (Monument, Colorado) Asst Coach David Shaub of Centennial High School (Pueblo, Colorado)

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

External links McDonald's All-American on the web McDonald's All-American all-time rosters McDonald's All-American rosters at Basketball-Reference.com Game stats at Realgm.com