INDIANAPOLIS – When Jerry Colangelo speaks, Illini Nation listens. So when Illinois was invited to play Arizona next season in Phoenix, the home of former Illini guard Colangelo’s Phoenix Suns, the team quickly jumped on board.

Illinois will face Arizona in the premiere Basketball Hall of Fame Challenge, the Hall of Fame announced Tuesday. The Challenge will be a one-day doubleheader played at the U.S. Airways Center, the Suns’ home court.

“Obviously Mr. Colangelo is involved in it and made the request, and he’s an important part of our program,” Illinois head coach Bruce Weber said. “It’s a great honor to be part of this initial doubleheader of this type. To be included with those elite programs, you’ve got to feel pretty privileged.”

In exchange for the Illini playing in Phoenix, Arizona will travel to Illinois for the United Center game in 2007.

Scheduled for Dec. 2, this year’s doubleheader will serve as a fundraiser for the Basketball Hall of Fame. This year’s installment will also feature a matchup between Texas and Gonzaga. Plans are for the event to become an annual tradition, played in a different venue each year.

“We’re going to take this much beyond a basketball game,” said Hall of Fame fundraiser C.M. Newton, who announced the event. “We’re going to have a truly outstanding event.”

Former Illni to sponsor award

Mannie Jackson, once an Illini guard and now the owner and chairman of the Harlem Globetrotters, announced Tuesday that he will be sponsoring an award for an individual involved in basketball who shows hard work, striving to improve and a commitment to others – criteria he considers the core values of the game.

Jackson, who played in Champaign in 1958-60, was Illinois’ first African-American All-American and captain. Following graduation he became a Globetrotters player and purchased the organization in 1993. Jackson and the Globetrotters were inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002.

“It’s about this balance in life of basketball, community service and doing something broader for the human spirit and for human beings around the world,” Jackson said. “I’m honored to do this.”

Naismith announces inductees

The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame chose six individuals for its class of 2006, which was announced Tuesday in Indianapolis. Inductees are former NBA players Charles Barkley, Joe Dumars and Dominique Wilkins, UCONN women’s coach Geno Auriemma, former Big East commissioner David Gavitt and Italian coach Sandro Gamba.

“I kind of let out a little scream,” Barkley said of hearing he would be inducted. “Then I sat down and made a list. There’s so many people who put me in this position.”

The honorees will be inducted into the Springfield, Mass., Hall of Fame during the 2006 Enshrinement Gala and Induction Celebration on Sept. 8 and 9.

Brown has class

While Duke guard J.J. Redick won the 2005-06 Senior CLASS Award, announced Saturday, Illinois’ Dee Brown was also honored by the award. Brown, who finished second in the running, joined Redick on the men’s first team when the CLASS award announced its All-Senior All-American team.

Joining Brown and Redick on the team are Villanova guard Randy Foye, Duke forward Shelden Williams and West Virginia center Kevin Pittsnogle.

Big Ten players Maurice Ager of Michigan State and Vincent Grier of Minnesota were named to the second team.