<p>SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Southeastern basketball great Dennis Rodman, fresh off having his number 10 jersey retired by the Detroit Pistons, has gotten more good news, learning that he has been selected as a member of the 2011 class of inductees into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.</p><p>Rodman was a three-time All-American for SE and his number 10 Savage jersey was retired by the school in 1987.</p><p>"It's just unreal," Rodman was quoted as saying.</p><p>He was voted in by the North American Committee along with long-time Division II coach Herb Magee, former college and NBA coach Tex Winter and former NBA all-star Chris Mullin.</p><p>A total of 10 honorees were selected for induction, joining those already mentioned are Teresa Edwards, Tara Vanderveer, Arvydas Sabonis, Reece Tatum, Artis Gilmore and Tom Sanders.</p><p>"I looked at the way I am, and I thought I wouldn't get in," Rodman continued.</p><p>"They looked past all the negativity and thought 'Wow, he actually did change the game a little bit,'" he added. "I wasn't a good scorer. I wasn't the best athlete. But I was part of the machine."</p><p>In addition to his three All-American honors, he was a dominant force on the floor in the NAIA during his time at Southeastern where led the NAIA in rebounding in both the 1984–85 and 1985–86 seasons.</p><p>Over his three-year career as a Savage, 1983–84 through 1985–86, he averaged 25.7 points and 15.7 rebounds, led the NAIA in rebounding twice and registered a .637 field goal percentage.</p><p>In a somewhat rare move, Rodman improved upon that performance when he reached the NBA ranks.</p><p>He was a key cog in five NBA Championships, winning a pair with the Pistons before moving on to join the Chicago Bulls where he was part of a three-peat of the 1996, ’97 and ’98 championships.</p><p>Rodman played in 911 games over his 14 year career, with the first seven in Detroit, followed by two seasons with the San Antonio Spurs before joining the Bulls for three championship seasons. He spent a season in Los Angeles with the Lakers and last played for the Dallas Maverick before retiring in 2000.</p><p>He is known as one of the best defensive players and most prolific rebounders in league history.</p><p>Rodman posted a career average of 13.1 rebounds per game and for seven-consecutive seasons no one in the NBA could argue his rebounding dominance as he led the league with an average of at least 14.9 rpg over that stretch.</p><p>He is the most dominant rebounder in the league since 1973 for his career, with a total of 11,954 rebounds over that span, picking up 7,625 on the defensive end and an impressive 4,329 on the offensive end.</p><p>He has posted the top two rebounding seasons since 1973, averaging 18.7 rpg in 1991-92, and posting nearly identical numbers in 1992-93 when he averaged 18.3 rpg.</p><p>Over that span since 1973, he has five of the top-eight rebounding seasons, all of which averaged 16.1 rpg or more, with the trio of Elvin Hayes, Moses Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar posting the only seasons that compared.</p><p>Rodman becomes the second Southeastern basketball player to reach the Hall of Fame, with SE Hall of Famer Warren Womble going in as a part of the 1960 undefeated US Olympic team that was inducted in 2010. Womble was an assistant coach for that squad after winning a Gold medal as the head coach for Team USA in the 1952 Olympics.</p>
