Ferry Explains #35 Decision

[OZ]

Perhaps this has been linked; if so, please fell free to delete.

http://www.dukechronicle.com/article...ens-basketball

[kAzE]

Cool story, and it makes a lot of sense, considering we're running out of jersey numbers. It was going to happen eventually. 35 will still hang in the rafters with Ferry's name on it. I have no problem with this.

[dukelifer]

Cool story, and it makes a lot of sense, considering we're running out of jersey numbers. It was going to happen eventually. 35 will still hang in the rafters with Ferry's name on it. I have no problem with this.

Almost zero chance it will be retired twice.

[unclsam1]

Just being loaned for 9 months.

[Olympic Fan]

I think the Chronicle story contains one small factual error.

It says that this will be the first time that a retired jersey is worn by an active player.

Not true.

Jeff Mullins' number -- No. 44 -- was retired on the night of Dec. 6, 1994.

That season, senior Cherokee Parks was wearing No. 44. He continued to wear if for the rest of the season (for evidence, check out this story about the famous UNC at Duke game in 1995 -- it has youtube clips that clearly show Parks wearing No. 44 -- two months after Mullins' jersey was retired: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...me-ever-played ).

Also, freshman Thomas Hill was wearing Art Heyman's No. 25 when it was retired on Mar. 4, 1990. Hill wore No. 12 his last three years at Duke. I can't remember whether he changed from 25 to 12 for the postseason games in 1990.

[weezie]

Cool story, and it makes a lot of sense, considering we're running out of jersey numbers. It was going to happen eventually. 35 will still hang in the rafters with Ferry's name on it. I have no problem with this.

Me neither. Obviously, Danny loves Duke. His ego is firmly established, was and is always in check. One humble guy, albeit bruised from mistakes, like any other human on the planet.

[CameronBornAndBred]

His number, and it appears his choice. My choice would have been that he hold strong and leave his number permanently in the rafters where it belongs. Want the digits on your chest revered in Cameron? Earn them, and make them yours. Danny did.

Grumble grumble.

PS..

Duke has retired 13 numbers in total, leaving just 23 non-retired numbers available for active players since no college player can have a digit greater than five on his jersey.

"Just 23"? Seriously? Earn it, and there will be "only" 22.

[BD80]

His number, and it appears his choice. My choice would have been that he hold strong and leave his number permanently in the rafters where it belongs. Want the digits on your chest revered in Cameron? Earn them, and make them yours. Danny did.

Grumble grumble.

PS..


"Just 23"? Seriously? Earn it, and there will be "only" 22.

FUNNY22.jpg

[sagegrouse]

I think the Chronicle story contains one small factual error.

It says that this will be the first time that a retired jersey is worn by an active player.

Not true.

Jeff Mullins' number -- No. 44 -- was retired on the night of Dec. 6, 1994.

That season, senior Cherokee Parks was wearing No. 44. He continued to wear if for the rest of the season (for evidence, check out this story about the famous UNC at Duke game in 1995 -- it has youtube clips that clearly show Parks wearing No. 44 -- two months after Mullins' jersey was retired: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...me-ever-played ).

Also, freshman Thomas Hill was wearing Art Heyman's No. 25 when it was retired on Mar. 4, 1990. Hill wore No. 12 his last three years at Duke. I can't remember whether he changed from 25 to 12 for the postseason games in 1990.

In Mullins speech, Jeff said something like, "Cherokee's got a lot more basketball to play in number 44."

[DU82]

I think the Chronicle story contains one small factual error.

It says that this will be the first time that a retired jersey is worn by an active player.

Not true.

Jeff Mullins' number -- No. 44 -- was retired on the night of Dec. 6, 1994.

That season, senior Cherokee Parks was wearing No. 44. He continued to wear if for the rest of the season (for evidence, check out this story about the famous UNC at Duke game in 1995 -- it has youtube clips that clearly show Parks wearing No. 44 -- two months after Mullins' jersey was retired: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...me-ever-played ).

Also, freshman Thomas Hill was wearing Art Heyman's No. 25 when it was retired on Mar. 4, 1990. Hill wore No. 12 his last three years at Duke. I can't remember whether he changed from 25 to 12 for the postseason games in 1990.

Thomas continued to wear 25 throughout the NCAA Tournament (found on You Tube the Duke-UConn game to confirm.)

[Im4howdy]

If the largest numeral that can appear on a jersey is 5, then the largest jersey number is 55.
So 55 minus 13 leaves 42 jersey numbers to still pick from, right?

PS..

"Just 23"? Seriously? Earn it, and there will be "only" 22.[/QUOTE]

[juise]

If the largest numeral that can appear on a jersey is 5, then the largest jersey number is 55.
So 55 minus 13 leaves 42 jersey numbers to still pick from, right?

PS..

"Just 23"? Seriously? Earn it, and there will be "only" 22.

If the largest digit that can appear is 5, you can't use 16 or 29 or 48... etc.

[Jim3k]

If the largest numeral that can appear on a jersey is 5, then the largest jersey number is 55.
So 55 minus 13 leaves 42 jersey numbers to still pick from, right?

PS..

"Just 23"? Seriously? Earn it, and there will be "only" 22.

[/QUOTE]



No. A full array of possible numbers is 31: 5x6=30 + 1 (the 00). Subtracting the 13 retired numbers leaves only 18. (Numbers beginning with zero… 01, 02, etc..., are not permitted.) Until recently, Duke did not use the number 0. Moreover, I am unaware that 00 has ever been used by a Duke player.

Since a squad usually has only 13 players, a demand for retired numbers is pretty high since players can’t share a number. And making it even tougher is if a squad exceeds 13 members (walk-ons), the demand becomes even greater. Conceivably all 18 available numbers could be used, and the 19^th (hypothetical player) would force the use of a retired number.

So, yeah, there are 18 unretired numbers. And retirement of any can be earned. [I'm betting that it will be a four-year player, so the odds are high.]

[BD80]

No. A full array of possible numbers is 31: 5x6=30 + 1 (the 00). Subtracting the 13 retired numbers leaves only 18. (Numbers beginning with zero… 01, 02, etc..., are not permitted.) Until recently, Duke did not use the number 0. Moreover, I am unaware that 00 has ever been used by a Duke player.

Since a squad usually has only 13 players, a demand for retired numbers is pretty high since players can’t share a number. And making it even tougher is if a squad exceeds 13 members (walk-ons), the demand becomes even greater. Conceivably all 18 available numbers could be used, and the 19^th (hypothetical player) would force the use of a retired number.

So, yeah, there are 18 unretired numbers. And retirement of any can be earned. [I'm betting that it will be a four-year player, so the odds are high.]

I think the 23 is correct. 6x6=36
00, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35,
40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45
50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55

36-13=23

[Olympic Fan]

Just to be clear, I think a team can have a 0 or 00 -- not both at one time.

[coldriver10]

I wasn't aware of the "no digit greater than 5" rule. What is the reasoning?

[grounds0405]

Number of fingers on (most) refs' hands. So they can tell the scorer's table who gets the foul.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Number of fingers on (most) refs' hands. So they can tell the scorer's table who gets the foul.

Yeah. It's really complicated when there are 10 players on the court...

With technology and dozens of stat gurus near the court at all times, this whole "5 digit" system is pretty stupid.

Also, I think it's absolutely pointless to retire jerseys if players are going to be using them again for other players. I really don't understand that. If other players can now wear them, what's the point of retiring any jersey? Coach K just opened this up at Duke, just as he did with the 0 and 1 and now every OAD seems to have those numbers.

[Troublemaker]

Yeah. It's really complicated when there are 10 players on the court...

With technology and dozens of stat gurus near the court at all times, this whole "5 digit" system is pretty stupid.

Also, I think it's absolutely pointless to retire jerseys if players are going to be using them again for other players. I really don't understand that. If other players can now wear them, what's the point of retiring any jersey? Coach K just opened this up at Duke, just as he did with the 0 and 1 and now every OAD seems to have those numbers.

Well, the real honor is to have your name on a jersey hanging in Cameron's rafters, right? And to be known as a player whose number was retired in media guides, programs, wikipedia, etc. It's not like the jersey is coming down from the rafters to be given to Bagley, and I don't think references to Ferry's #35 being retired at Duke will be deleted from wiki. Does this move somewhat diminish the jersey retirement? Perhaps, but I also think 95% of the honor remains, AND since Danny was contacted and approved of the move, I don't see an issue here.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Well, the real honor is to have your name on a jersey hanging in Cameron's rafters, right? And to be known as a player whose number was retired in media guides, programs, wikipedia, etc. It's not like the jersey is coming down from the rafters to be given to Bagley, and I don't think references to Ferry's #35 being retired at Duke will be deleted from wiki. Does this move somewhat diminish the jersey retirement? Perhaps, but I also think 95% of the honor remains, AND since Danny was contacted and approved of the move, I don't see an issue here.

I don't think there is an issue with Marvin using the jersey number, I just think it's stupid to retire a number if you're going to bend. If the honor is in having your jersey up in the rafters, why not just put a jersey with a name and no number? Doesn't that make more sense?