Women to retire 5th number

Donate To GopherHole
nooram

nooram

Leave my member out of it!
Joined
Nov 12, 2008
Messages
2,097
Reaction score
832
Points
113

I'm actually kind of surprised that McCarville doesn't have her number retired yet...maybe that's coming sometime down the line...

As for Burton, until Dusty Rychart came along, he was probably my favorite Gopher of the past 25 years or so.

I'm not sure he's "retired number" material though. I think his career scoring was around 1,800 points...Does anybody know the exact number (I'm too lazy to look it up myself ;)) and he was a great player in his day, but we didn't win a whole bunch of titles and he wasn't a consensus all-american or anything.

I LOVED Burton as a player, but I don't see us retiring his number.
 

I've had this same conversation a couple of times recently at games, as I've been a long proponent of retiring Burton's jersey. Obviously he is our second all time leading scorer which is a great feat in of itself, but he was instrumental turning the program from an incredible low to the two most successful post-season's (that the NCAA recognizes) his junior and senior years.

I'm all for it and would love to see the picture they put up in The Rafters of him wearing his face mask after he broke his nose.

Go Gophers!!
 

Willie

I would give strong consideration to Willie Burton. MRJ may have guessed at 1800 points, but that's exactly what Willie scored for his career -- second on the all time list. And he didn't lead us to any titles or anything, but he did lead us out of the valley of shame at the end of the Dutcher era and the still respectable beginning of the the Haskins ear. He was the key player in Clem's ascension -- clearly the go-to guy. When Willie started in 1986-87 we went 9-19, in 1987-88 we improved to 10-18, finally climbed above .500 in 88-89 to as respectable 23-9 and capped it off at 23-9 in 1989-90. He was the catalyst that brought the team back from the depths and is the second all-time scorer, was second team all big ten in '89 and first team in '90. He had 705 career rebounds, 206 assists and over 100 steals. He was a number 1 NBA draft choice and played 9 seasons in the NBA, scoring a career record 53 points for the 76ers. Plus he was an exciting, energetic players and had the cool middle name of Ricardo.

I would also stronly consider Randy Brewer. He's third on the scoring list with 1777, played for four years on teams that won 81 games and lost only 39. He was a two time all big ten selection. But he played at a time when Gopher basketball was strong. He was an important part of really good teams. but he didn't carry the load like Willie did.

Also Vashon Leonard deserves consideration, but I don't have time to look it all up on him.
 

retited numbers in the Haskin era

Would we be able to retire any numbers of players who player in years that were "erased"? I am thinking not so we would have a good chunk of players who have no real stats
 


Willie's years were not implicated in the scandal, but 3 of Vo's 4 years were which would eliminate him from consideration.

What separates Willie is the postseason success we experienced with him as the main go-to guy.

Go Gophers!!
 

Wille vs GT

Wille B is still my favorite. He deserves it, no doubt.

I will never, ever forget the ncaa game against GT - still pisses me off to this day. Wille was a mna that day.
 

Absolutely I think Willie should be in the rafters. So should Rolek, Skoog, McIntyre and Mencel, to name several. The women are honoring their entire past, while it appears in the arena that the men's era started with the greatest Gopher ever-#14. The guys who came before him need some love too.
 

Actually, they are retiring #13 for the 2nd time.

It will now be retired for Whalen & Hunter.
 



hudson14 said:
Absolutely I think Willie should be in the rafters. So should Rolek, Skoog, McIntyre and Mencel, to name several. The women are honoring their entire past, while it appears in the arena that the men's era started with the greatest Gopher ever-#14. The guys who came before him need some love too.
Click to expand...

Be careful with wishing for too many retired numbers, because only a select few will even be remembered by the generations that come later. Raise your hand if you've never heard of Deb Hunter. Be honest.
 

But maybe some of these guys should be remembered by the generations to come.
God love McHale (as a Gopher), but Hibbing's only all-american at the "U" was Garmaker. Two-time all-americans don't have banners, nor does Mencel, who was the BT player of the year and the school's all-time leading scorer for 20-some years. Actually I have heard of Deb Hunter and, no offense to her, but if she's going to be in the rafters I think the men need to catch up a little.
 

hudson14 said:
But maybe some of these guys should be remembered by the generations to come. God love McHale (as a Gopher), but Hibbing's only all-american at the "U" was Garmaker. Two-time all-americans don't have banners, nor does Mencel, who was the BT player of the year and the school's all-time leading scorer for 20-some years. Actually I have heard of Deb Hunter and, no offense to her, but if she's going to be in the rafters I think the men need to catch up a little.
Click to expand...

I like how the men's hockey team does it, they have 1 retired number but have murals for the All-Americans.
 

I agree with posts that hint we should get overly crazy about retiring numbers, but ask any 30-40 year old Gopher fan about Gopher BB memories and the name Willie Burton will come up pretty quickly. IF there is another number retired, it should be him. Go Gophers!
 



Maybe someone else knows how the Gopher Hall of Fame works, but here's how UNC does it.

http://www.carolinaball.com/tradition.php

RETIRED NUMBERS

In order to have his number retired by the University, a player must be voted National Player of the Year during his tenure at UNC. There are currently seven jerseys hanging on the east ceiling of the Smith Center which honor this achievement...
NNO Jack Cobb ('26)
# 20 George Glamack ('41)
# 10 Lennie Rosenbluth ('57)
# 12 Phil Ford ('78)
# 52 James Worthy ('83)
# 23 Michael Jordan ('85)
# 33 Antawn Jamison ('99)

RETIRED JERSEYS

In 1994 the university adopted a plan to honor all former players who were either voted MVP of a national championship team, recieved a gold medal in Olympic basketball competition, or recieved All-American honors while at UNC. These jerseys hang in the middle rows of the east ceiling...
# 8 Jim Jordan ('46)
# 13 John Dillon ('48)
# 35 Pete Brennan ('58)
# 12 Lee Shaffer ('60)
# 22 York Larese ('61)
# 35 Doug Moe ('61)
# 11 Larry Brown ('63)
# 22 Bobby Lewis ('67)
# 31 Bill Chamberlain ('72)
# 44 Dennis Wuycik ('72)
# 35 Robert McAdoo ('73)
# 34 Bobby Jones ('74)
# 21 Mitch Kupchak ('76)
# 24 Walter Davis ('77)
# 45 Tommy LaGarde ('77)
# 30 Al Wood ('81)
# 42 Brad Daugherty ('86)
# 34 J.R. Reid ('90)
# 34 George Lynch ('93)
# 00 Eric Montross ('94)
# 30 Rasheed Wallace
# 42 Jerry Stackhouse ('99)

HONORED JERSEYS

Origionally there were seven players honored for outstanding achievement while at UNC. This list includs one National Player of the Year and six two-time fist-team All-Americans. These men's jerseys now hang on the back row of the east ceiling...
NNO Billy Cunningham ('65)
# 32 Larry Miller ('68)
# 44 Charlie Scott ('70)
# 33 Mike O' Koren ('80)
# 31 Sam Perkins ('84)
# 30 Kenny Smith ('87)
 

I'd like to have a higher bar, maybe an all-american minimum. In that case, I think Willie would fall a bit short. I don't think there's been anyone better since the McHale/Thompson/Tucker era.

Someone mentioned Voshon Lenard, remember he was a prominent figure in the NCAA report about our academic excellence during Clem's era.
 

LOL! Forgive me for being a cynic, but this is a pretty lame way to try and make yourself appear relevant.
 

I'd love to see Burton's jersey retired, but I also think we should be honoring some of the early Gophers while they are still alive.
 

1) Need your degree.

A few players, like McCarville don't have a degree. Vo Lenard I don't think does either. Trent just got his... so who knows?
 

First off, the plastic photo banners of the retired players NEED TO GO. A simple number with the players name is all that is needed. It looks tacky and is out of place in a great arena like Williams.
Second, I love the All American murals at Mariucci....I also believe we will be seeing something similar for football at TCF Bank on a wall by the student section.
Third, the NIT banner is too large with too many seasons displayed on it. Of course I am kidding, but its going to be nice putting up NCAA tourney appearances up in the rafters vs. adding to the NIT list.
 

Burton

What does it say about a program that retires a jersey for a guy who was named all-conference just once in his entire career. At least Quincy Lewis was a third team all-american. No one in the last 25 years deserves this honor.

Don't do it, just to do it.
 

You know what's wrong with those plastic photo banners? The players all have on short shorts. How long has it been since short shorts have been out of style? We need a long shorts guy up there.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom