Las Vegas ? North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams is one of 15 finalists for induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Williams, who coached at Kansas University for 15 seasons and is in his fourth year at UNC, is a finalist with Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton, broadcaster Dick Vitale, as well as former players Chris Mullin, Adrian Dantley and Richie Guerin; coaches Phil Jackson and Bob Hurley, Sr.; owner Bill Davidson; and the 1966 Texas Western NCAA championship team.

Referee Mendy Rudolph, Yugoslavian coach Mirko Novosel, Spanish coach Pedro Ferrandiz and former U.S. women’s basketball coaches Van Chancellor and Harley Redin also were selected by the four screening committees that nominate finalists.

A 24-person committee will vote on the final selection, with the potential enshrinees needing 18 votes to enter the Hall of Fame. The 2007 class will be announced April 2 at the Final Four in Atlanta, with the induction ceremonies in Springfield, Mass., on Sept. 7.

Williams is the winningest active coach by percentage among coaches with at least 10 years experience. His teams have a 515-128 record, a win percentage of .801.

“I’m very flattered,” Williams told the Journal-World, “but it’s because of one thing: Fifteen years of great youngsters at Kansas and 31â2 years of great youngsters at North Carolina.”

The Asheville, N.C., native is the third coach in history to lead two schools to an NCAA championship game and has led KU and North Carolina to a total of five Final Fours (1991, 1993, 2002, 2003, 2005), three national title games (1991, 2003, 2005), and won an NCAA championship with North Carolina in 2005.

Williams also played on the freshman team at North Carolina and was an assistant in Chapel Hill before accepting the head coaching job at KU in 1988. His teams have made 17 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, winning at least one tournament game in each. Williams is a six-time National Coach of the Year, and in his 18-plus years of coaching he has become the fastest coach ever to reach the 500-win mark.

Mullin, a former St. John’s standout, was a five-time All-Star during 16 NBA seasons with Golden State and Indiana, scoring 17,911 points while emerging as one of the league’s best shooters. Now the Warriors’ head of basketball operations, he also played in two Olympics.

Jackson is the most successful coach of his generation, winning nine NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers. A former forward with the New York Knicks, he is in his second stint with the Lakers after winning six titles with the Michael Jordan-led Bulls.

Earl Monroe, David Thompson, Dominique Wilkins and Moses Malone were among the Hall of Famers in attendance at a Las Vegas casino to announce the finalists.

The announcement was made at a news conference in Las Vegas, the site of the 2007 NBA All-Star Game.