UK Retired Jersey it's TIME

[sosoblue]

What are we waiting on folks? It is time for UK to acknowledge a couple of the greats like Anthony Davis and Oscar Tshiebwe. I'm sure a couple of other people are deserving as well but to go year, after year, after year to shun these UK greats is pathetic. UK basketball has a tremendous history, so let's honor the players that are truly deserving of their jersey to hang amongst the best of UK greats.

 

[MegaBlue05]

I agree and there are so many more that could be up there.

Keith Bogans belongs up there ASAP.

 

[CastleRubric]

Does UK retire jersey numbers?
Or just "jerseys"?

 

[TCurtis75]

UK needs to update the requirements in order to do AD or Oscar unless I missed that they already changed the requirements. Bogans and Prince should be the next two up there IMO along with Tony Delk.

 

[TeoJ]

Mike Casey should be next.

 

[TeoJ]

UK needs to update the requirements in order to do AD or Oscar unless I missed that they already changed the requirements. Bogans and Prince should be the next two up there IMO along with Tony Delk.

I thought Delk was in.

 

[NothinButNylon]

I thought Delk was in.

He is.

 

[BlueBomb]

If you are the NCAA player of the year, you should automatically get your jersey in the rafters. Like, 15 minutes after the announcement is made. I mean, c'mon.

 

[TCurtis75]

He is.

Ok...I couldn't remember.

 

[OliverSimmonstwinbrother]

SGA, Wall, Davis, and Oliver Simmons need retired asap.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

Just mind boggling the sheer number of great players that have came through this program! GOAT!

 

[DWDwildcat47]

Mike Pratt

 

[true blue1]

Anthony Davis

 

[true blue1]

Mike Pratt

His number is retired

 

[Slowwalker]

I loved Oscar, but what did he do besides rebound like a maniac to get his jersey retired? He won nothing.

 

[Princecal]

I loved Oscar, but what did he do besides rebound like a maniac to get his jersey retired? He won nothing.

Average something like 30 and 20 in his 3 Tourney games and become our ONLY unanimous NPOY ever. Come on now...

 

[BlueBloodKyFan]

Retired Jerseys

 

[The_Catfather]

Bogans not being in the rafters is a joke. No. 4 all-time leading scorer and it's hard to imagine anyone else flirting with 2,000 career points in this era.

 

[L.O.D.]

Delk and Sheppard should be. Sheppard won 2 titles with 1 final 4 mvp. Oscar no way he won nothing but being a elite rebounder and seemingly a good person.

 

[BlueBloodedCat96]

I loved Oscar, but what did he do besides rebound like a maniac to get his jersey retired? He won nothing.

I guess winning poty

 

[clevenger32]

Mike Casey should be next.

Mike Casey should be 1st then Keith Bogans

 

[bthaunert]

For those that don’t know, here are the requirements at UK:

There is a five-year waiting period — after leaving UK — to be eligible for inclusion into the Hall of Fame, and a 10-year waiting period to have a jersey retired. An individual must be a member of the Hall of Fame to be eligible for jersey retirement.

Here are the basketball players who fit that criteria that do not have their jersey hanging at Rupp:

Jodie Meeks
Rajon Rondo
Jim Andrews
Nazr Mohammed
Ron Mercer
Wayne Turner
Demarcus Cousins
Anthony Davis
John Wall
Chuck Hayes
Antoine Walker
Keith Bogans
Rex Chapman
Leroy Edwards
Mike Casey
Tayshaun Prince
Larry Conley
Adrian Smith

Here is the order I would do them in:

1. Tayshaun Prince
2. Keith Bogans
3. Anthony Davis
4. John Wall

I think that current eligibility list stops there.

 

[Wonky]

1. Melvin Turpin
2. Jeff Sheppard (people laugh at this one but he was MOP of the tournament. We don’t even come close to winning it without him. He absolutely dominated the rest of the season after his high ankle sprain)
3. Tayshaun Prince
4. Keith Bogans
5. Anthony Davis
6. Oscar Tshiebwe

I love guys like Rondo, Wall, and SGA, but I just don’t think they did enough WHILE IN A UK UNIFORM to justify Jersey retirement. And yes I know Wall won the Rupp Award but AD/Oscar we’re consensus NPOY’s.

 

[Tf2217]

I loved Oscar, but what did he do besides rebound like a maniac to get his jersey retired? He won nothing.

Oscar was 100% one of Cals biggest failures. You have a 15-10 guaranteed guy with the potential to go 20-15 and it not be a even a little surprising, and the potential to be a 25-20 guy any given night. Cal kept putting Oscar in defensive situations that he sucked at, but that's coaching failure because Cal literally can't teach anything other than try to stay with your guy and switch.
Put Oscar with 90% of the good enemy teams (Duke, UNC, KU, etc) and they would've hung a banner. The Oscar hate is wild he played his ass off for crappy teams, put up all time rebounding numbers could take care of the offensive end as good as anyone on the team, but he gets hate because Cal couldn't and still can't plan to guard the P&R. Oscar carried the whole program almost but he's the one with the hate we would've been absolute ass if not for Oscar.

He probably Bible thumped a little hard for some people especially now days, (not me) but to deny his impact on the program would be assanine. He was the Jodie Meeks, and Patterson type of the last BCG team you take them off and the rest is just going to be doo doo water.

 

[blue cincy]

Davis is the only one and done that deserves it. Won it all, NPOY and was farily dominate. Other 1 and done players I do not believe could ever be up there. Just me.

Sheppard needs to be up there now. Turner probably needs to be thought about as well.

Bogans, Prince, Turpin for players that did not win a title had great careers. They need to be discussed for sure.

 

[CastleRubric]

His number is retired

Pratts Stats

 

[WildcatfaninOhio]

The fact that Prince and Bogans aren’t already in the rafters is ludicrous.

 

[clevenger32]

How could Adrian Smith, Larry Conley, and Jim Andrews not already been in?

Mike Casey should have been along with Mike Pratt when BOTH were living.

 

[TeoJ]

Delk and Sheppard should be. Sheppard won 2 titles with 1 final 4 mvp. Oscar no way he won nothing but being a elite rebounder and seemingly a good person.

Delk is in

 

[Seth_C]

If you are the NCAA player of the year, you should automatically get your jersey in the rafters. Like, 15 minutes after the announcement is made. I mean, c'mon.

If you were the unanimous player of the year or
If you were the Final Four MVP on a national championship team or
If you are the single season leader for a stat (like blocks)

…but if you are all of the above?

 

[podgejeff_]

I always think Chuck Hayes deserves more support in these jersey retirement conversations.

 

[ukfan041]

AD
Bogans
Prince
Hayes
Oscar
Wall

All deserve it. Mercer and Turner too

 

[HagginHall1999]

1. Melvin Turpin
2. Jeff Sheppard (people laugh at this one but he was MOP of the tournament. We don’t even come close to winning it without him. He absolutely dominated the rest of the season after his high ankle sprain)
3. Tayshaun Prince
4. Keith Bogans
5. Anthony Davis
6. Oscar Tshiebwe

I love guys like Rondo, Wall, and SGA, but I just don’t think they did enough WHILE IN A UK UNIFORM to justify Jersey retirement. And yes I know Wall won the Rupp Award but AD/Oscar we’re consensus NPOY’s.

In same breath as Wall, tough to make criteria on national awards alone...WCS would be in consideration then.

 

[truebluewildcat]

Wayne Turner before all them people…

3 FF runs winning two titles…WTF is going on here folks?!

He’s one the of the few that met and exceeded that post season standard we all like talking about.

 

[Seth_C]

Wayne Turner before all them people…

3 FF runs winning two titles…WTF is going on here folks?!

He’s one the of the few that met and exceeded that post season standard we all like talking about.

This is the problem. Wayne Turner is old. He's older than I am, and I'm not that young anymore. Wayne Turner hasn't been at UK for more than a quarter century now. Wayne Turner left Kentucky years before 9/11, just to anchor how long ago it was. If you are a Kentucky fan born in the last 30+ years you don't remember watching him play. What's the plan here, exactly? We shouldn't be waiting 40-50 years to honor these players or the fans who watched them won't be alive and the fans alive won't know who they are.

 

[Worf88]

I loved Oscar, but what did he do besides rebound like a maniac to get his jersey retired? He won nothing.

NPOY should automatically get you in the rafters. Not his fault he played for an idiot coach and had teammates who couldn’t hang with him.

Of the Cal years, Wall/Davis/Oscar should be locks. Honestly Cousins should be as well but I know that’s more debatable.

 

[truebluewildcat]

This is the problem. Wayne Turner is old. He's older than I am, and I'm not that young anymore. Wayne Turner hasn't been at UK for more than a quarter century now. Wayne Turner left Kentucky years before 9/11, just to anchor how long ago it was. If you are a Kentucky fan born in the last 30+ years you don't remember watching him play. What's the plan here, exactly? We shouldn't be waiting 40-50 years to honor these players or the fans who watched them won't be alive and the fans alive won't know who they are.

Wayne has a couple things going against him.

The old heads in charge of the HOF most likely don’t like Pitino. Luckily Pope is bringing that era back to popular UK fandom culture. It fell out of favor for awhile because P was viewed as treacherous as well as some of his issues while at UL. Folks are afraid to acknowledge what he did here because what he did post UK.

Secondly, the Cal popular culture spoiled everyone old school and new yuppies into viewing CBB and UK BB totally different. See all the names getting votes on here that really didn’t hang around long enough or meet traditional standards.

This mentality that if you weren’t a high flying elite recruit and didn’t go on to be a decent draft pick and NBA highlight…you ain’t sh!t

Never mind the standards and what you do between McDonald’s AA game and NBA.

 

[bthaunert]

This is the problem. Wayne Turner is old. He's older than I am, and I'm not that young anymore. Wayne Turner hasn't been at UK for more than a quarter century now. Wayne Turner left Kentucky years before 9/11, just to anchor how long ago it was. If you are a Kentucky fan born in the last 30+ years you don't remember watching him play. What's the plan here, exactly? We shouldn't be waiting 40-50 years to honor these players or the fans who watched them won't be alive and the fans alive won't know who they are.

One of the few things that UNC does right is the way they have a system set up for very specific criteria for a player to get their name in the rafters. I don't necessarily agree with all of their criteria, but then it's not a voting contest. If I were in charge, I would make the following criteria (have to meet 1) that you automatically get your jersey in the rafters at Rupp:

NPOY - any of the recognized NPOY awards
Consensus first team All-American
Consensus SEC POY

If that were the standards, the following guys would have their jersey up:

Ralph Beard
Bob Brannum
Willie Cauley-Stein
Johnny Cox
Anthony Davis
Tony Delk
Leroy Edwards
Jack Givens
Kevin Grevey
Alex Groza
Cliff Hagan
Dan Issel
Kyle Macy
Jamal Mashburn
Ron Mercer
Cotton Nash
Tom Parker
Tayshaun Prince
Pat Riley
Forest Sale
Bill Spivey
Oscar Tshiebwe
Tyler Ulis
Kenny Walker
John Wall

I would also have 1 guy from each decade, as voted on by the players from that decade, have their jersey placed in the rafters that do not meet automatic criteria. These would be guys who either had really good careers or NCAA tournaments. It would look something like:

2010's - Malik Monk (this was the toughest of the group)
2000's - Keith Bogans
1990's - Jeff Sheppard
1980's - Melvin Turpin
1970's - Rick Robey
1960's - Louie Dampier
1950's - Frank Ramsey
1940's - Wah Wah Jones
1930's - John DeMoisey
1920's - Basil Hayden

 

[Jamal Sunburn]

Oscar? Man please.

 

[CastleRubric]

Sounds like we're going to need a bigger set of rafters