MUScoop
MUScoop => Hangin' at the Al => Topic started by: mu_hilltopper on February 07, 2007, 08:07:47 AM
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http://www.fdlreporter.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070207/FON02/702070736/1311/FONsports
Diener's No. 34 could hang from Bradley Center rafters
By Ryan Nilsson
Special to The Reporter
MILWAUKEE — There are photos of No. 34 everywhere inside the Al McGuire Center on the campus of Marquette University.
A young No. 34 can be seen dribbling the ball across half court against Cincinnati in the large photo montage in the building's lobby. Just inside the entrance to the building's arena there's a framed photo of No. 34 to commemorate his selection to the Conference USA all-decade team. Former Marquette teammate Dwyane Wade is also in the image.
About the only place you won't find Fond du Lac native Travis Diener's No. 34 is on the banner recognizing basketball players whose jersey number has been retired by the school. But in time, No. 34 will join Wade's No. 3 there.
"Coach (Tom Crean) is pretty adamant that it will happen some day," said Diener, who was back in Milwaukee on Tuesday night as a member of the Orlando Magic. "But that's not something that is on the top of my mind. That's not why I play the game. If that comes later on that would be an honor."
Crean declined to comment for this story. According to Mike Broeker, the associate athletic director for marketing and communications at Marquette, the school has three criteria when considering whether or not to retire an athlete's number — the individual's contribution to society, academic success and athletic accomplishments at Marquette.
Diener graduated from Marquette's College of Communication in 2005 and last August hosted his first basketball camp in Milwaukee at the Al McGuire Center.
"I just try to give back however I can," Diener said.
While a student-athlete at Marquette, Diener averaged 14.1 points and 5.1 assists per game and finished as the school's third all-time scorer with 1,691 points. Various injuries limited his senior season to 23 games. Had Diener been healthy, chances are he would have left as the school's all-time leading scorer.
As a sophomore he helped lead Marquette to the Final Four and in his final season he was named Associated Press all-America honorable mention. According to Broeker, once the basketball program and athletic director decide to retire a number, it then must be approved by the university's senior vice president.
"Travis' career speaks for itself," Broeker said.
Marquette retired Wade's No. 3 on Saturday. Other numbers retired include: No. 14 (Dean Meminger), No. 15 (Butch Lee), No. 20 (Maurice Lucas), No. 24 (George Thompson), No. 31 (Bo Ellis and Glenn "Doc" Rivers), No. 43 (Earl Tatum), No. 44 (Don Kojis). Marquette also retired No. 77 in honor of coach Al McGuire, No. 38 in honor of trainer Bob Weingart and No. 11 in honor of the Apollo 11 crew.
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Ok, this whole jersey/number retirement business is getting a bit out of hand. Wade, I can understand, Diener, I'm not so sure. Diener was a great player, but was he better and more important to our program than Wardle, Key, Smith, Logtermann, Novak, etc? MU has a lot of great players that do not have a jersey up in the rafters. If you put Diener up, you have to put those players up too. MU will have no numbers left at the rate they are going.
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I agree for the most part, but how in the world do you include Logterman in that list of players?
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Deiner is top 5 in I think 5 categories for MU players (points, assists, 3's made, 3 shooting % and something else), helped lead a team to the Final Four, was C-USA leader in scoring and assists not to mention he would have set the scoring record for MU had he not been injured.
How can you even argue this one?
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MU will have no numbers left at the rate they are going.
but they will have numbers left.. in fact, all of them - as they do not retire numbers but just the jerseys.. that way no number is taken out of the pool.
On the other hand, there is a finite amount of space that MU can use in the hanging of these banners... and at the rate they are going, there will not be any left unless they start putting pictures on seats too.
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Deiner is top 5 in I think 5 categories for MU players (points, assists, 3's made, 3 shooting % and something else), helped lead a team to the Final Four, was C-USA leader in scoring and assists not to mention he would have set the scoring record for MU had he not been injured.
How can you even argue this one?
I think a very strong case could be made for Diener. Wouldn't surprise me at all. As I mentioned yesterday, I believe Tony Smith should go up there first, although it would be the same number at Travis!
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Deiner is top 5 in I think 5 categories for MU players (points, assists, 3's made, 3 shooting % and something else), helped lead a team to the Final Four, was C-USA leader in scoring and assists not to mention he would have set the scoring record for MU had he not been injured.
How can you even argue this one?
I think a very strong case could be made for Diener. Wouldn't surprise me at all. As I mentioned yesterday, I believe Tony Smith should go up there first, although it would be the same number at Travis!
I think Smith is on pace to graduate this spring which would give him the academic requirement - or so we thought.
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Since everyone seems to be blowing this out of proportion and over analyzing his merits, does the 34 get retired on it's own or does 1/4th of #10 also hang up there?
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Ok, this whole jersey/number retirement business is getting a bit out of hand. Wade, I can understand, Diener, I'm not so sure. Diener was a great player, but was he better and more important to our program than Wardle, Key, Smith, Logtermann, Novak, etc? MU has a lot of great players that do not have a jersey up in the rafters. If you put Diener up, you have to put those players up too. MU will have no numbers left at the rate they are going.
If Diener hadn't broken his hand, he would be our all-time leading scorer. Even missing those last few games, he finished in the top 5 in scoring, assists, helped lead us to a Final Four.
To me it's a layup, he's going up there and should.
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HEYYYYYYY CHICO...it's not only a layup, but a slam dunk - he's in!
When you talk about MU heroes, those "rafter guys" come to mind.
Diener is an MU hero.
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He definitely has the stats, the final four, the diploma, etc.
But I think 77ncaachamps hit the nail on the head. Diener is an MU hero. Can you say that about Wardle, Key , Mac, etc?
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Diener was a great player, but was he better and more important to our program than Wardle, Key, Smith, Logtermann, Novak, etc?
Yes. I don't understand how there can even be a debate about this. He was the heart and soul of that team the final two years and an integral part of the Final 4 team. He was All-DECADE in C-USA for the love of all that is good an holy. What else would the kid needed to have done?
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MU will have no numbers left at the rate they are going.
Marquette retires jerseys, not numbers.
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Diener was a great player, but was he better and more important to our program than Wardle, Key, Smith, Logtermann, Novak, etc?
Yes. I don't understand how there can even be a debate about this. He was the heart and soul of that team the final two years and an integral part of the Final 4 team. He was All-DECADE in C-USA for the love of all that is good an holy. What else would the kid needed to have done?
IMO he would have needed to be an All-American, something he was not. I am sorry, but that is my threshold to begin even having this discussion. I think TD was better than probably 98% of all MU basketball players in history, but I do not think that warrants jersey retirement.
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Diener was a great player, but was he better and more important to our program than Wardle, Key, Smith, Logtermann, Novak, etc?
Yes. I don't understand how there can even be a debate about this. He was the heart and soul of that team the final two years and an integral part of the Final 4 team. He was All-DECADE in C-USA for the love of all that is good an holy. What else would the kid needed to have done?
IMO he would have needed to be an All-American, something he was not. I am sorry, but that is my threshold to begin even having this discussion. I think TD was better than probably 98% of all MU basketball players in history, but I do not think that warrants jersey retirement.
There's no way he could have been an All-American. The other guys on 2 of his teams almost all FLAT OUT SUCKED and it killed Td's stats cause he had to take every shot. It was him and Novak. NO one else. Merrit, Sanders, Townsend all sucked. Ditto M. Jackson, Christian and Bradley, Mason was a ball hog. Chapman did very little in 03-04. You have to understand the context of a team to saw someone should be an All-American. That just isnt gonna hapeen for the leading scorer on a NIT team. Ask Glen Davis this year....
The only player since 1977 that was more important to Marquette was God Wade. And even he would tell you TD should be in the rafters.