Rivers to Wear Number 0

[CDu]

I love Shelden, but I'm pretty sure he would fall under the "debatable" category.

Yup. The "he wasn't ever the best player on his team" argument against jersey retirement is a pretty poor one. If that were a standard, the all-time NCAA assist leader wouldn't have his jersey retired (Laettner and Hill were better over Hurley's career). And one of Shelden Williams and Redick wouldn't be up there (likely Williams).

[Bob Green]

There is precedence for this situation with number 44. Cherokee Parks was wearing #44 when the number was retired in honor of Jeff Mullins.

[msdukie]

There is precedence for this situation with number 44. Cherokee Parks was wearing #44 when the number was retired in honor of Jeff Mullins.

Numbers were also being retroactively retired at that point because Eddie Cameron would not allow a number to be retired after Groat. Heyman's number was also retired retroactively and T. Hill had to change his number the following year. This is a different situation.

[gep]

I love Shelden, but I'm pretty sure he would fall under the "debatable" category.

Well... Shel was National Defensive Player of the Year in 2005 AND 2006, which, I think, may be enough to earn a retired jersey... regardless of "best player" on the team. And, to add to that, when he graduated, he held Duke's career blocks record, and single-season blocks record. I'm not sure he is really in the "debatable" category, given his accomplishments. But as Jay Bilas likes to say, reasonable minds can differ (or something like that). Maybe the one knock on Shel is that his teams never won a NC?

It's amazing that Shel and JJ graduated in 2006... seems like just last year. Time flies as you get older, I guess...

[VaDukie]

FWIW, I still take this as a sign that Singler's jersey is not getting retired. I think it should be but I doubt this would happen if K was planning on having it retired.

On another note - I'm hearing VERY good things about Murphy in practice (cue Allen Iverson joke). Should be a fun year.

[CDu]

Numbers were also being retroactively retired at that point because Eddie Cameron would not allow a number to be retired after Groat. Heyman's number was also retired retroactively and T. Hill had to change his number the following year. This is a different situation.

Different situation, but the point still stands. If the school decides to retire Singler's number next year (or later), Murphy would just have to change numbers. I doubt it would be a big deal.

That said, it doesn't make the strongest argument in favor of Singler's jersey being retired (at least not yet). If they felt strongly that they were going to retire his number this year, they probably would have encouraged Murphy to consider another number.

I feel like the #4 scorer in Duke history, with a Final Four MOP, national title, and multiple ACC honors, should find his way in eventually. We'll see though. Perhaps the bar is getting higher as the available numbers start getting fewer.

[ThePublisher]

Anyone know Murphy's high school or AAU number? If it's not 12, I'm shocked Duke has allowed this. It's almost disrespectful to one of the best to ever play Indoors.

[pfrduke]

Anyone know Murphy's high school or AAU number? If it's not 12, I'm shocked Duke has allowed this. It's almost disrespectful to one of the best to ever play Indoors.

The year after Scheyer left, Curry took his 30.
The year after Duhon left, Nelson took his 21.
Two years after Langdon left, Duhon took his 21.
The year after Nolan left, Cook has taken his 2.

If a number's not retired, it's fair game. There's nothing disrespectful about it.