JIM PHELAN'S recent 800th win as a basketball coach accomplished two milestones, making him deserving of a third that has proved elusive: induction into the national Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

His men's team at Mount St. Mary's of Emmittsburg won the Northeast Conference title, earning an automatic bid to the 64-team Division I NCAA tournament next week. Basketball fans refer to the event as "The Dance," partly because "Cinderella" colleges like Mr. Phelan's sometimes win out over bigger, richer, favored universities.

Monday's win over Central Connecticut State also placed Mr. Phelan in the elite class of four coaches to have won at least 800 games.

The others, Dean Smith, Adolph Rupp and Clarence Gaines, are already enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Even casual fans have heard of Kentucky's Rupp and North Carolina's Smith. "Big House" Gaines is lesser known because many of his wins came at small Winston-Salem State. Like Mount St. Mary's, it played in Division II before jumping to the top level of competition. Inductees are chosen by a 24-member committee each year.

Mr. Phelan has coached nearly twice as long as the 25-year requirement for induction to the Hall as an active coach. For two generations, he has been a bow-tied preacher of basketball fundamentals at a place so hidden even presidents visit his neighborhood to escape -- at nearby Camp David.

Location should not diminish Mr. Phelan's contribution to or success in basketball, a sport that was invented in a small city a century ago as a winter diversion for students.