The Athletic’s All- Michigan 89’ and on Team

Hmmm. Tough call. Rudy’s numbers were really good. Not sure I would put Burke ahead of Webber.

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I saw that too and I’m pretty sure it was DDJ which I found really cool.

I’d like to see #3 retired ASAP, but only for Burke. X was great, but I wouldn’t consider him Hall Of Fame status in Michigan hoops lore.

Most wins all time has to count for something. X will be looked back on a lot more fondly than most fans looked at him while he was playing.

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It’s a shame X didn’t get opportunity for a 4th BIG tournament, and more importantly a 4th NCAA tournament. What if M made an improbable run to the final four?? Then it’s an entirely different legacy he leaves behind.

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X is great but not jersey retirement great. He was never close to an AA which is the baseline level I’d say you should be at. Part of the reason he won the most games is because there are more games now than what used to be. And he’s also tied with Teske for most wins.

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Yeah I definitely appreciate and respect X for the legacy he left, and it might be different depending on how the postseason would have played out. He was a key part of some really awesome teams. But Burke should be in the rafters period, as the 6th number to hang there. NPOY + a title appearance is a different kind of special. X may be a top 25 legacy ever, but he’s not #7.

I think so far they’ve only retired numbers from players that graduated. It will be interesting to see if the standards change in the future.

Yup, no Charles Woodson, for example. Cazzie is the only basketball player to have his number actually retired, but it would be nice to see a few more hanging from the rafters.

I’m pretty sure they’ve retired Rudy T’s and Rice’s numbers.

Numbers aren’t retired, just honored, players can still wear those numbers

I’m not saying that X should have his jersey retired by himself in a vacuum. But I don’t think it would be fair to retire solely Burke’s number 3 when X wore it after Burke did and before it was retired.

In any event where the number 3 was retired by Michigan I think you’d have to honor both Burke and X in some capacity. Each of them led the team to the same amount of collective success. Burke was obviously the better individual player but X has his career cut short and may have been able to eclipse the record for assists in program history had that not happened.

And yes X and Teske are tied for career wins but I don’t think anyone would argue Teske had a bigger hand in that than X.

Retiring someone’s jersey together? Has anyone ever done that? Just odd to me. I don’t think they’ll ever do anything for Burke anyway. But if they did, I don’t think it’d be fair to him to do it with X. If X doesn’t deserve it by himself, he doesn’t deserve it with Trey

No I don’t think they will (or should) either. Probably neither of them deserve an individual jersey retirement but they pretty much wore it back to back. And the point of DDJ’s tweet and the initial comment in this thread was a joint jersey retirement.

If you’re not here for four years, you’d need the championship to be worthy of it, IMO. It just feels weird to retire someone’s number if they weren’t here that long.

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At first that makes sense to me, but that means pretty much no one will get their jersey retired in college basketball ever again except under/oversized limitledly athletic players.

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So the block was clean and Louisville vacated that championship so… Trey is deserving?

In seriousness, I dont think you need to be around for 4 years/graduate to have your number retired. Being the national player of the year and winning a national championship should put you in high consideration though. If that Louisville game had gone the other way, would Trey be a shoe-in? What more would you ask from someone? I think impact on a program is a much bigger deal to retire a number. 42 is retired in baseball because of the historical impact of the number, not because of the duration of career or specific statistical performance. You can convince me that Trey didnt make enough of an impact on Michigan, but I dont think that it is right that you have to be a 4-year player to get a jersey retired.

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I did say that to me you’d have to win the tournament to be considered unless staying for four years, so I agree with you that it’s not right to consider the honor only for four-year players. But it would be different still, if, say, Michigan won in '13, and then again in '18. In that case Trey would be worthy, IMO, but not Mo. First championship in 25 years is more impactful than first in 5 years.

And of course should somebody come along that becomes a historical figure for reasons beyond on-court performance, that’s another matter.

Should the #3 be retired/honored at Michigan?

  • No
  • Yes - Trey
  • Yes - X
  • Yes - Trey & X

0 voters

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I think doing something like the Dallas Cowboys do with a Ring of Honor would be a great middle-ground or a better practice in general. Put a player’s name and number up to honor them but keep the number in circulation. Have it on the wall between the lower and upper sections or create a special section for it in the concourse.

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