They're retiring some players' jerseys, some I get (Vince Young) others... like Kevin Durant, don't make any sense.

I get that Durant was national player of the year, but did he really mean that much to Texas??

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3495788

7/18/2008 5:49:43 PM

you're kind of just coming out and saying you care more about athletics than academics when you retire the jersey of somebody who played one year season and then right straight to the NBA

7/18/2008 5:54:48 PM

Well, some schools may elect to retire numbers of guys who played one season, others like UCLA won't hang a banner in their arena unless it's an NC.

7/18/2008 5:58:34 PM

^^haha, want them to retire the student body president's hat or what?

7/18/2008 6:00:49 PM

maybe they're taking a gamble by going ahead with retiring his jersey with hopes that he'll become the next great baller

7/18/2008 6:02:47 PM

^^no thats not what i mean...i just think you ought to at least come back during the summers and get your degree or something...should you hang in the rafters forever because you played ball for 5 months and skipped classes?

7/18/2008 6:03:19 PM

or at least really MEAN something to the program.

7/18/2008 6:05:16 PM

Don't some schools retire POY jerseys automatically? I thought UNC does.


A school isn't far from being a business, and it is good business to have Durants number up in the rafters when recruits come walking in. If he amounts to anything(and he is already rich so good enough) it will have value. 10 years from now kids and rich alumni won't see it and think "he only stayed one year" they'll look and think, that guy played here.

7/18/2008 6:56:10 PM

Quote :

".i just think you ought to at least come back during the summers and get your degree or something"

DT's jersey was retired when he was still playing, he didn't finish his degree until 2003 or so. I know it's not really the same situation, but I don't think academics should have anything to do with jerseys in the rafters.

Quote :

"Don't some schools retire POY jerseys automatically? I thought UNC does."

Yeah, they do, and they have a lower set of guidelines for honored jerseys. Hence Rashad McCants jersey hanging in the Dean Dome.

7/18/2008 7:09:07 PM

Quote :

"I don't think academics should have anything to do with jerseys in the rafters."

how about longevity? maybe you have to either play there for 3 years or win 2 titles or something

durant got player of the year, but what else did he do for texas? im sure he'll help recruiting a little bit but you could argue Durant only went to Texas because TJ Ford's team went to the final 4 (iirc) and helped put their basketball program on the map to him...maybe they figure he's just using Texas as a 1 year minor league spot to follow the NBA's guidelines so they're using him to get recruits? i dunno

7/18/2008 8:00:11 PM

I thought POYs always got their jerseys retired.

It's all the other ones I'm skeptical about.

7/19/2008 3:58:11 AM

I could understand honoring, but not retiring. So is Kansas St. going to retire Beasley's jersey now since he set some big12 freshman records?

7/19/2008 8:39:54 AM

Almost every school in the nation will retire a person's jersey if they win National Player of the Year. It's the highest individual honor in college basketball. KSU will probably not retire Beasley's jersey. While he won Big XII POY, he didn't win any of the major NPOY awards. He only won the CBS Sports.com and Rivals.com NPOY awards, and I don't think KSU will recognize those. Most schools only retire your jersey if you win the AP, Wooden, Oscar Robertson, Naismith, and Rupp NPOY awards. Our friends 20 miles to the west also recognize NPOY awards from magazines like The Sporting News (even though they don't recognize the Rupp Trophy for some odd reason).

7/19/2008 10:49:13 AM

isn't the rupp trophy based on fan voting? or is that something else

7/19/2008 11:07:01 AM

^^sorry, i forgot to end the Beasley comment w/

7/19/2008 11:07:10 AM

Quote :

"The Adolph F. Rupp Trophy is an award given annually to the top player in men's Division I NCAA basketball. It is considered one of the top awards in college baseketball. The recipient of the award is selected by an independent panel consisting of national sportwriters, coaches, and sports administrators."

7/19/2008 11:23:35 AM

My opinion is that by retiring Durant's jersey, UT is just trying to get more attention on their bball program. Because as of now, nobody really cares that much. It is a football dominated school. Thus, recognizing a collegiate great may give the school, and the players, a start of some tradition to uphold. It is a good choice.

7/19/2008 11:55:17 AM

^^ ok yeah thats right, i remember now thinking it was weird that unc doesn't recognize it

7/19/2008 11:59:18 AM

I think a lot of people in this thread have it backwards. Texas isn't hanging his jersey to bring attention to the program (how would that even work?), they're hanging his jersey because he brought attention to the program by winning the Rupp award. They're honoring him because he was the best player in college basketball for a year and he helped take the program up a notch.

7/19/2008 12:00:41 PM

Durant won nearly every award out there. It really makes one question why Hansbrough got the NPOY awards over Beasley when he ended up having as good and even better numbers than Durant.

# 2007 ESPN All-American
# 2007 ESPN Player of the Year
# 2007 NABC Division I Player of the Year
# 2007 AP Player of the Year (First freshman to achieve the honor)
# 2007 AP All-America 1st Team (unanimous)
# 2007 Oscar Robertson Trophy
# 2007 Adolph Rupp Trophy
# 2007 Naismith Award Winner (First freshman to do so)
# 2007 John R. Wooden Award All-American Team
# 2007 John R. Wooden Award Winner
# Big 12 Rookie of the Week (six times)
# Big 12 Player of the Week (four times)
# 2007 Phillips 66 Big 12 Men's Basketball Awards:

* Player of the Year
* Big 12 Freshman of the Year
* All-Big 12 First Team (unanimous)
* Big 12 All-Defensive Team
* Big 12 All-Rookie Team (unanimous)

# 2007 AP National Player of the Year

7/19/2008 12:37:38 PM

Quote :

"It really makes one question why Hansbrough got the NPOY awards over Beasley when he ended up having as good and even better numbers than Durant."

I guess it's because like most POY awards, it went to the best player on the best team. Besides, Hansbrough was almost a lock to win every major POY award before the season. It's like preseason polls in football, he'd had to have shit a major brick to have lost out at the end of the year.

[Edited on July 19, 2008 at 12:47 PM. Reason : ]

7/19/2008 12:47:04 PM

Retiring Durant's jersey is stupid, they really shouldn't retire one-and-done player's jerseys unless they lead the school to a National Championship and all Durant got them was an early exit from the tourney

7/19/2008 12:50:48 PM

Every school has their own criteria for what they want to do, but why should a one and done be dismissed? You can do great things in a single season, a lot of people have their jersey retired because of what they do in their senior season it isn't always 4 awesome years. They must have felt that his impact in that year was enough. It is a mutually benefitial relationship between the player and the school, hang the fucking thing up there and move on.

7/19/2008 2:51:48 PM

legit question: does Carmelo have his jersey retired? b/c he's the example of doing something great for a one and done.

7/19/2008 2:55:39 PM

His isn't. But I think schools with more basketball history(and retired numbers) would be more reluctant to honor a one and done, then a school like Texas with little basketball tradition. The less you have the more important what Durant did becomes.

7/19/2008 3:18:24 PM

While Carmelo helped lead Syracuse to a national championship he wasn't on the level Durant was individually.

Carmelo
- 2003 NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player
- AP Second-Team All-American
- All-Big East First Team
- Big East Conference Freshman of the Year
- NCAA Freshman of the Year
- 22.1 ppg (16th in the NCAA, 4th in the Big East) and 10.0 rpg (19th in the NCAA, 3rd in the Big East, 1st among NCAA Division I freshmen)


Durant
- 2007 ESPN All-American
- 2007 ESPN Player of the Year
- 2007 NABC Division I Player of the Year
- 2007 AP Player of the Year (First freshman to achieve the honor)
- 2007 AP All-America 1st Team (unanimous)
- 2007 Oscar Robertson Trophy
- 2007 Adolph Rupp Trophy
- 2007 Naismith Award Winner (First freshman to do so)
- 2007 John R. Wooden Award All-American Team
- 2007 John R. Wooden Award Winner
- Big 12 Rookie of the Week (six times)
- Big 12 Player of the Week (four times)
- Big 12 Player of the Year
- Big 12 Freshman of the Year
- All-Big 12 First Team (unanimous)
- Big 12 All-Defensive Team
- Big 12 All-Rookie Team (unanimous)
- 2007 AP National Player of the Year
- 25.8 ppg and 11.1 rpg (28.9 ppg and 12.5 rpg in Big XII play)
- Twenty 30+ point games, with 4 occasions of scoring a career high 37 points


Durant was individually a better performer. You can't put Texas' performance against USC in the 2nd round of the tournament all on Durant. Carmelo had a better supporting cast around him than Durant. I don't think any school should retire a basketball player's number unless they win NPOY. Football is different though. A guy like Outland Trophy award winner Jim Ritcher should have his number retired b/c he won his positions highest honor. Rivers rightfully had his jersey retired b/c of all the records he set.

[Edited on July 19, 2008 at 5:04 PM. Reason : ]

7/19/2008 4:59:16 PM

So what's the most prestigious player of the year award? I didn't know there were so many to go by.

And another stupid question...can they run out of numbers?

7/20/2008 1:36:33 AM

Most schools retire the jersey, not the number. I guess if they were retired all 37 numbers then they'd run out. I don't think that would ever happen anywhere, though.

7/20/2008 1:51:02 AM

i'll bet Melo got shafted on so many awards since he played in a better basketball conference...Durant is really good but Carmelo is clearly a better player

7/20/2008 1:55:37 AM

Durant had the better year in college and played pretty well on the second worst team in the NBA last year (didn't he win ROY?). But it's a little early to make that call.

7/20/2008 2:03:33 AM

7/20/2008 2:16:10 PM

Quote :

"Durant was individually a better performer. You can't put Texas' performance against USC in the 2nd round of the tournament all on Durant."

You can't put all of the blame for their early exit on Durant, but you can certainly put some of it on him, as I recall he had a pretty weak game against them but still got close to his average ppg after the game had already been decided. Also, when you retire a jersey are you doing it for the individual accomplishments of the player (Durant had many) or for what they did for the program (not very much in Durant's case besides exposure/recruiting)? I would say that you should focus more on what a player did for the basketball program and University as a whole rather than how many PPG they scored or how many individual awards they won because that doesn't necessarily translate to more wins (see Tyrese Rice).

7/20/2008 3:07:15 PM