Retired Bball numbers
Anyone have any idea why some of the retired numbers for basketball are able to be worn still? Udoh was 22 (Buntin)for two years and now Shepherd has it and Cronin got 35 (Hubbard). I just thought it was odd because Novak said he wanted 33 (Russell) when he came, but they must have told him no, but it was ok to use Buntin and Hubbard's numbers?
February 24th, 2009 at 5:55 PM ^
i think they might have just retired the jersey, not the actual number, i might be wrong though
February 24th, 2009 at 7:03 PM ^
ALL THE PLAYERS ARE OMG SHIRTLESS
February 24th, 2009 at 8:06 PM ^
Michigan has only one number retired: Cazzie Russell's #33. The rest are all honored, and I guess the technical term is the "jersey" is retired, but not the number (like some have already mentioned).
So, yeah, only 33 is retired from use.
February 24th, 2009 at 6:04 PM ^
I think retiring a jersey includes the number on the jersey...
February 24th, 2009 at 7:33 PM ^
A lot of times the number remains available but it depends on the school. VA Tech retired Vick's jersey but Kevin Jones wore the number a few years later. Most retired numbers are from players who died or who were complete legends.
February 24th, 2009 at 7:28 PM ^
"Retiring a jersey" these days is specifically named so as to be separated from "retiring a number." Schools do this now so as to honor some of their very very good players and still keep the number in circulation. There's this crazy rule in college basketball that no player can have a number higher than 5 on his jersey, so numbers are limited.
By the way if someone can explain to me the reason for this rule I'd be most appreciative. I know the rule exists; I have absolutely zero understanding of why.
February 24th, 2009 at 7:35 PM ^
The only reason I've ever heard is so that it's more easy and clear for a referee to signal to the scorers bench who committed the foul. Using two hands and yelling is apparently really difficult for some refs (cough...B10 refs...cough). That's what I heard from an old ref, so he may have been messing with me.
February 24th, 2009 at 7:40 PM ^
That's definitely an "ohhhhhhhhhhhh" moment for me. I'll definitely buy that explanation even if your ref buddy was messing with you. It makes sense. Not necessarily in the sense that it's a good idea, since the NBA in their infinite wisdom has apparently figured out how to get around this, but it's at least logical.
February 24th, 2009 at 8:14 PM ^
The term 'infinite wisdom' and the NBA should not be in the same sentence. The NBA is not basketball it is like watching a pick up game at the local YMCA with better athletes.
February 24th, 2009 at 8:32 PM ^
That is the reason behind it. It hasn't changes because (a) it's really not a problem and (b) they don't want players like Dennis Rodman picking 91 just 'cause. Which I sort of agree with.
February 25th, 2009 at 2:02 PM ^
This is correct. It's about hand-signaling on referees' part. When you consider how loud some college basketball arenas can be, it may be a more practical consideration than you might think. Incidently, the numbers 0 and 1 were also forbidden for a long time, before being allowed about a decade ago (I believe Jamal Crawford was the first UM player to wear #1). I'm not sure why.
February 24th, 2009 at 8:11 PM ^
I don't think Michigan officially retires numbers unless the player graduates.
February 24th, 2009 at 8:26 PM ^
This is true.
Cazzie's jersey is the only one that is removed from circulation. All others are merely "honored." Kind of strange, but that's the way it is.
February 24th, 2009 at 11:03 PM ^
That makes sense as an explanation. I was at Crisler for all five of the jersey retirements, and they all seemed the same to me. Interesting, regardless.
And the 0-5 numbers thing is absolutely so the refs can do it with two hands. Weak reason, but I've heard that from several sources.
February 25th, 2009 at 2:47 PM ^
The number 2 was also forbidden until about 10 years ago. I think 1 and 2 were not permitted as stand-alone numbers because the referee will use these to signal the number of free throws awarded.
So the only legal numbers were 3, 4, 5, 10-15, 20-25, 30-35, 40-45 and 50-55. That's 33 legal numbers.
February 25th, 2009 at 5:01 PM ^
I'm not sure about the history of forbidden numbers, but everyone seems to have the referee signal thing a little mixed up. An official never uses two hands to communicate player numbers.
I'm a hoops ref and have been for over three years now. The proper way to signal to the table the number is to use one hand and use it for as many digits as there are.
That is, if the foul is on #14, I signal with my right hand "one" then "four". Then the foul is given (hold, push, hand check, hit, block, player control). Then what happens next (Out of bounds, sideline, baseline, 1 shot, 2 shots, 3 shots).
So, it isn't so a ref can use two hands to give a two digit number, like it seems some of you are suggesting. Just imagine the problems with that... if I give a "one" on the left hand and a "four" on the right hand, am I signaling #14 or #41?
And clearly from here, you can't have a digit > 5 because that digit couldn't be used to signal with one hand. Signaling with two hands a # > 5 could lead to the confusion described above.
This may or may not sound trivial, but believe me, practically everyone at the table seems to be a moron who doesn't understand basketball or somehow misses the foul and who you're giving it to. So having a uniform foul reporting mechanic is actually quite important.
February 25th, 2009 at 5:15 PM ^
That makes sense, but riddle me this? What if a ref was born with 6 fingers? Could a team have players with numbers up to 6 when he was reffing the game? I don't see why not.