At 6'4" and 200 lb (91 kg), McCracken played center, forward and guard, pacing the Hoosiers in scoring for three years.

He led the Big Ten Conference with a 12.3 average his senior year and graduated as the league's career scoring record holder.

Upon his induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1960, he was the first man ever voted there for his performance as an Indiana player.

After his college career, McCracken played professional basketball for a few local and barnstorming teams, most notably the Indianapolis Kautskys with John Wooden and Frank Beard.

[2] In McCracken's first year, the team finished 17–3, splitting games with both Purdue and eventual NCAA runner-up Ohio State.

In 1948, McCracken was responsible for recruiting Bill Garrett who became the first African American player in Big Ten varsity basketball history.

Just a few years later the team won back-to-back conference championships in 1956–57 and 1957–58 behind the leadership of two-time All-American Archie Dees.

A few years later the Hoosiers were led by two-time All-American Walt Bellamy, one of the few African-American players in Division 1 college basketball at the time.

In the fall of 1960 the Indiana Hoosiers football program was hit with devastating NCAA sanctions that impacted every varsity sport at the school, including basketball.

[3] Although the violations only occurred within the football program, all Hoosier varsity sports were barred from postseason play during the probationary period.