According to Roger Ebert, after the film failed to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary, he and Gene Siskel learned about the nominating process. He said that members of the Academy's documentary committee held flashlights when they watched documentaries, and anyone who had "given up" could wave it against the screen. The movie was turned off if a majority waved their flashlights. This film was turned off after 15 minutes.

When the film failed to be nominated for Best Documentary, even though it was nominated for Best Film Editing, Entertainment Weekly ran a story about how the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences selected documentary nominations. Most of the voting members were not documentary filmmakers, and many worked against nominating the film. As a result, the rules were changed to allow documentary filmmakers to vote in that category.

During filming, as depicted in the film, the electricity was turned off in the Agee home. The filmmakers paid for it to be turned back on.

The film was originally intended to be a 30-minute PBS special about multiple players on a single basketball court. After 5 years, the filmmakers had shot 250 hours of footage, which was trimmed down to 3 hours.

To stay eligible for college basketball (according to NCAA rules), neither player's family received any money for the film's sale while in school. Agee and Gates were later made full partners and received shares equal to the producers'.

St. Joseph High School filed a lawsuit to prevent the film from being released to theaters. They claimed they were told the film would only air on PBS, and accused the filmmakers of misrepresenting and defaming the school. The two sides reached a settlement, and the filmmakers created an academic fund at the school.

Many of the locations used in the movie are either gone or substantially different. The neighborhood around the Cabrini-Green housing project, which had been a haven for drug pushers, gangs, and violence, underwent "gentrification" soon after the filming wrapped. The baseball field has been replaced by luxury condos and a shopping complex. The last Cabrini-Green apartment building was demolished in May 2011.

Among the players at the Nike Summer Camp that William Gates attended, you can see Jalen Rose, Chris Webber and Juwan Howard of the famed 'Fab Five' class.

Picked by Entertainment Weekly magazine as one of the "50 Greatest Independent Films" in a special supplement devoted to independent films that was only distributed to subscribers in November 1997.

Arthur Agee was chosen as the No.1 pick in the newly-formed USBL (United States Basketball League) by the Florida Sharks in 1995. He was released by the team and quickly picked up by the Long Island Surf. He eventually ended up in Canada, playing on the Winnipeg Cyclones.

The Agee family moved out of the neighborhood after the film was released. Arthur Agee said a lot of his friends had died, and he had vowed to leave, especially after he was robbed at gunpoint before he left for Arkansas.

William Gates returned to Marquette. When the film was released in fall 1994, during his Senior Year, he received a standing ovation when Marquette played in Madison Square Garden during the National Invitational Tournament (N.I..T) after his face appeared on the scoreboard.

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

William Gates was chosen by NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan to play as part of a group of former and current pro-NBA Players when he was making his comeback with the Washington Wizards in 2001. Gates who had been a whopping 260 pounds had gotten into serious shape and had lost over 50 pounds (190 pounds at that point) because he felt that it was the right time for one more comeback to play in the NBA with the encouragement of his wife, Catherine. Unfortunately, a broken foot and the tragic murder of his brother Curtis, who was helping him with his comeback attempt happend before he was ready to report to play with Jordan.

The late Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert both championed this film on their television show and were both clearly and visibly upset when the film was not chosen or even considered as a 1994 Best Picture Contender or even in the Best Documentary Category. What made them upset was the way the voting process went about which was caused the Entertainment Weekly article which ran in July 1995, which featured the proof that they both personally felt that the film was completely snubbed for what they felt was a group of people who were only interested in "talking heads" or "old documentary stock footage" which ran no longer than 90 minutes or longer which were pretty much the same as other documentaries that had come out before and when Hoop Dream was released. The other complaint which played out as further proof was that the Documentary branch of the Oscars, were mostly people who were volunteers who had no Chairperson who only had time to watch as many of these types of films within a certain time frame during the day which also led to the films' quick dismissal as those voters gave it a low score on purpose when many critics and other voters gave it the highest score possible and would've been an Oscar contender in which many have stated would've won for Best Documentary had this not happened. This lead to serious reform within the Documentary Branch within months after the controversy.

The film is included on Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" list.

Arthur Agee personally knew that he was being selected or chosen by professional and semi-pro basketball teams because of the film as well as his newfound fame.

William Gates became a Church pastor in the area where the Cabrini-Green projects were once located. He was in terrible state personally when he began being involved with the Church and has had lots of people whom he had known personally from Cabrini become part of his congregation. Arthur Agee's father, Bo also became a Church minister after he had been given a second chance from the life of drugs and abuse he had done in his life until his untimely passing in 2004.

William Gates was offered opportuntites to work in sports networks such as Fox Sports, ABC and others which he now regrets not taking because he felt he could've still been able to play in the NBA.

William Gates and his wife, Catherine moved to San Antonio, Texas along with their sons because they had both gotten tired of Chicago since they had both lived their all their lives and wanted their sons to play basketball only if they wanted to and not forced upon them like it was on William.

Arthur Agee in 2007 did his own personal "Hoop Dreams" follow up called "Hoop Reality" which was based on current NBA player Patrick Beverly who plays for the Los Angeles Clippers which the Directors of this film were proud of him to make.

The film was ultimately nominated for Best Picture Editing which spurred a serious controversy when it came to the film for either Best Picture or Best Documentary because of the way the process was handled by the voters who purposely gave the film a lower score for the film to disappear off the ballot because the chairman who was part of the Documentary Branch had her own film in the running and voted for that film as a favor. The film would spur a reform in the way the Documentary branch would handle future films under this category.

After Bo Agee's passing, Sheila Agee, Arthur's mother had to move to Alabama because of the serious effect that his father's passing had both on him along with the rest of the Agee family as stated by the film's directors.

Arthur and his father, Bo before his untimely passing in 2004, had started a motivational speaking tour based on the film as an inspiration to youths all around the country.

Arthur Agee was chosen by the ABA as a no.1 draft pick by the Harlem Globetrotters after the film was long released.

This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #289.

Steve James, one of the co-directors of the film, directed the film, Prefontaine for Disney which was based on the life of runner Steve Prefontaine, which was released 4 years after the final completion of this film.

Both players suffered much tragedy after filming wrapped. In 1994, Arthur Agee's older half-brother, DeAntonio, was gunned down at Cabrini-Green. In 2001, William Gates' brother, Curtis, was killed in a carjacking. In 2004, Arthur's father, Bo, was shot to death in an alley. On Nov. 4, 2009, at a 15th anniversary screening at the Gene Siskel Film Center, Arthur told the audience that ten of his friends from the film had died.

In a 2010 interview with Bill Simmons, Steve James claimed he had only two small regrets about the documentary. First, he would've shot more footage of Arthur at school to show his academic struggles. Second, he would've included footage of Arthur auditioning as Isiah Thomas for A Mother's Courage: The Mary Thomas Story (1989).