Bison137
Professor
Posts: 16147
Reg: 01-23-06
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12-12-19 11:50 AM - Post#294540
In response to DoCtoR62
In a sport that can only offer 36 numbers to begin with, retiring numbers is not a good tradition to start. It can put future coaches in a difficult position if a highly-touted recruit has a strong affinity for a number that is not available because of someone who played 50 years ago.
Agree about the problems that retiring numbers can create. Occasionally people have proposed easing the college rule on numbers that prohibits any number with 6,7,8, or 9. But it has never gained momentum. However the NBA, of course, does allow the higher numbers and doesn't seem to have any problems with it. Same with the international game. Think of Bill Russell (#6), Pete Maravich (#7), Kobe Bryant (#8), John Havlicek (#17), Willis Reed (#19), etc. Also Dennis Rodman (#91) and George Mikan (#99). I doubt any scorer's table has been overly confused by those numbers.
Technically there are 37 possible numbers, since both 0 and 00 are legal, but only one of the two can be used for a given team roster.
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