Players

Brian Cardinal

Year Inducted: 2003

Category: Players

Schools / Organizations: 
(Tolono)  Unity High School
Purdue University
NBA:  Several 

Biography: 

Brian Cardinal of (Tolono) Unity High School had the unique opportunity to be inducted into the IBCA Hall of Fame with his father, Rod, who went into the Friends of Basketball category. Brian Cardinal had a stellar career at both Unity HS and Purdue U.  He then played in the NBA for 12 years.

At (Tolono) Unity, Cardinal was a four-year starter and helped the Rockets to an 86-27 record. He averaged 18.5 points and 7 rebounds during his career and set the school record for career points at 1,773. He averaged 22.7 points and 11.2 rebounds as a senior, was the Champaign News-Gazette Player of the Year and a Class A all-state first-team selection by the Associated Press and IBCA. He finished in the top 10 in the Mr. Basketball voting.

At Purdue, Cardinal started 125 of the 132 games he played and averaged 12 ppg and 5.6 rpg. At the time of his induction, his career ranks were second in steals (259), ninth in rebounds (749) and minutes played (3,693) and 20th in scoring (1,584). He was one of five players in school history with 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 250 assists. He was also second in steals in a season at 78 and had the most points by a Purdue player in a Big Ten tournament game with 33.

The Boilermakers made the NCAA tournament in each of his four years and he was a four-time Ray Eddy Mr. Hustle Award winner. He was the team captain as a junior and senior and second-team All-Big Ten and team MVP as a senior. Cardinal averaged 4.6 points and 2.3 rebounds in 456 NBA games and played for the World Champion Dallas Mavericks in 2011.