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Fighting Illini brace for massive Final Four matchup against UConn
Mark Carman from CHGO Sports breaks down how the Illini stack up in their rematch against the UConn Huskies.
INDIANAPOLIS - Candace Parker looked up to Chamique Holdsclaw and the 1996 U.S. Olympic women's basketball team growing up.
Now she and Elena Delle Donne will get to be enshrined with them in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame later this year.
"I am so happy for Chamique and I am so happy that she is getting her flowers. She deserves them," Parker told The Associated Press. "Obviously, Elena Delle Donne and I grew up battling against one another and the ’96 team, I think we were all inspired by that. So I just think it’s, it’s truly special."
Parker was honored to be part of the 2026 Hall of Fame class that also includes Amar’e Stoudemire, Mike D’Antoni, Joey Crawford, Doc Rivers and Mark Few.
"It means so much, just to be in a club of people that I’ve always admired and looked up to and have paved the way. I think it’s super special," Parker said.
Parker won three titles in the WNBA with three teams: Los Angeles, Chicago and Las Vegas. She’s the only player in league history to win both the MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season.
She also won two titles while playing in college for Tennessee under Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt, two Olympic gold medals and two WNBA MVP awards.
Holdsclaw, who grew up in New York, said she had pictures on her wall of members of the 1996 Olympic team that started the run of eight straight gold medals for women's basketball and helped get the WNBA started.
"There’s four or five players on that team who I have pictures of at my home, Lisa Leslie, Dawn Staley, Teresa Edwards," Holdsclaw said.
Holdsclaw won three straight titles at Tennessee from 1996-98, the first team to accomplish that. The 1998 championship was Tennessee’s first undefeated season at 39–0 and the Vols also set an NCAA record for the most wins in a season at that time. Parker helped Summitt win her last two titles in 2007-08.
"She would be so proud right now," Holdsclaw said of her former coach. "I know she loved us both."
Holdsclaw went on to have an 11-year WNBA career. The WNBA and the defunct ABL were really made possible by the 1996 team. The Americans went undefeated at the Atlanta Games and the interest the team generated with its barnstorming tour across the U.S. leading up to the Olympics captured the attention of fans across the country.
Delle Donne won two league MVP awards in 2015 and 2019, the second of which came when she led the Washington Mystics to their lone WNBA championship. Delle Donne became the first player in league history to shoot more than 50% from the field, 40% from behind the 3-point line and 90% from the free throw line.
Delle Donne won her 2015 WNBA MVP award with the Chicago Sky.
Rivers, a Chicago native and Proviso East alum, has 1,192 victories on his resume, which puts him sixth on the all-time wins list. He led the Boston Celtics to the NBA championship in 2008 and was also in charge of the Los Angeles Clippers during their Lob City era.
Few has won 773 games at Gonzaga in his career at the school. He set the NCAA Division I men's coaching record by winning 81 games in his first three years at the school. Few guided the Bulldogs to the national championship game in 2017 and 2021.
Crawford officiated 2,561 regular-season NBA games and 50 Finals games over his 39-year career. He retired in 2016.
D'Antoni influenced the sport with his uptempo philosophy that redefined offensive strategy. He had nearly 1,200 career wins and was NBA Coach of the Year twice.
The Hall of Fame for the first time honored members of the Hall of Fame class at the women's Final Four on Friday night. Parker, Holdsclaw and members of the 1996 Olympic team were all in attendance as well as Stoudemire and D’Antoni.
The enshrinement ceremony will take place in August at the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.
What they're saying:
Parker, who grew up in Naperville, Illinois, is Anthony Parker's sister.
Anthony is a former NBA player who starred at Bradley University, and Candace spoke fondly of her brother's influence.
"He's still my idol," Candace said. "I was the little sister that tagged along to all of his games, and honestly my whole motivation in dunking was to dunk before my brothers did at their age. That's all I wanted to do. So to have bragging rights at the dinner table.
I'm a proud little sister. My two older brothers, they didn't take it easy on me. They challenged me, but they loved me so hard.
I'm super proud watching what he's done, in terms of being on the court a skinny kid from Bradley to be drafted 21st, had the career he had overseas. I'm super proud of him. Yeah, still just little sis."