Rafters

[CAGASS24]

At the game last night watching the same thing happen again - looking at the jerseys hanging from the rafters and thinking 'what's in store in that regard in the next few years?'.  Last one retired was Wade, the rest mostly from the Al era.  The Buzz years appear to have been the second most successful era in our history (i.e. great tournament success, a 26 and 27 win season (28 is the record), a conference championship in the best league, lots of NBA folks) etc.  So, to me, it seems another 2-3 jerseys should be up there.  There's 3 of the 4 top scorers in history from that era (5 of top 11), a top 5 rebounder, top in program history in games played, top two out of 3 in FTs made, top career steals man, 5 out of the top 10 single season scoring records, arguably the best freshman in program history, a conference player of the year, etc etc.

The candidates -

Jerel McNeal

Wesley Matthews

Jae Crowder

DJO

Lazar Hayward

Jimmy Butler

Dom James

Again - my take is out of those, two need to be retired and you could argue for three.  In addition, you could also say Diener could be retired too, Novak to a lesser degree.  I think McNeal is kind of a lock.  He's got the strongest career numbers but doesn't really have any strong single season 'memories'; injured against Big Green that year, struggled with Novak against Bama, almost carried us to glory against Stanford but came up short, and went down with the ship against Mizzou.  After that, I think either Jae or DJO.  That year they both had where Jae won the BEast player of the year was special.  Cant ignore those accomplishments.  DJO the stronger 'career' but I think I'd go with Crowder.  Hayward's career accomplishments can't be ignored.  Without him, I don't know where the team goes after the greatest 4 year class perhaps in any programs history concluded when the 3 amigos departed.  To me, he was the consummate Marquette player.  Better than he gets credit for, and the toughest player on the court bar none.  Maybe they just retire 32 and do a joint Zar/Crowder banner.  After that, I'd say Jimmy and Wes have about equal arguments with James rounding it out.

Also, I'm serious, MU should look into that.  I wonder if there has ever been another 3 players from a single recruiting class that stayed four years that put up the type of numbers as Matthews/McNeal/James.  If it can be legitimized, I'd honor that.

My personal take - what do you think?

[tower912]

Retire jerseys, not numbers.    Jerel and Wade are the two likeliest candidates. 

[Litehouse]

Maybe Jerel, but that's about it.  If Duane breaks Jerel's scoring record in 3 years, then I'd be less likely to retire it.

[MerrittsMustache]

Also, I'm serious, MU should look into that.  I wonder if there has ever been another 3 players from a single recruiting class that stayed four years that put up the type of numbers as Matthews/McNeal/James.  If it can be legitimized, I'd honor that.

Not to be a downer but the Matthews/McNeal/James teams sort of remind me of the late-60s/early-70s Cubs teams - great players, great memories but they won nothing of significance.

[CAGASS24]

Agree to an extent - tourney success is not everything - but my argument was couched on the cumulation of their individual production - not their 4 teams 'successes'

[Groin_pull]

Three? No way. Not sure I'd retire one. Hang jerseys and leave it at that. Hang Matthews, McNeal, and Butler.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

McNeal maybe. Diener?

By the way, if Crean was still coach Butlers number would've been retired the gMe following his appearance on the cover of SI. That is no joke.

[Goose]

No new names or numbers should be added to the rafters. All nice players but not rafter worthy.

[Aircraftcarrier]

If any of those guys get there jersey retired before Jim Chones,the athletic department should be ashamed of themselves.

[CAGASS24]

No new names or numbers should be added to the rafters. All nice players but not rafter worthy.

eh - not buying that - may be some 'nostalgia' effect when thinking any of these guys shouldn't be up there compared to the likes of those already there - but the bottom line is if the majority of those guys are up there based, in part, on the successes under Al, then there has to be one, two, or three that are for the aforementioned 5-6 year period ending in 2014.  Also, there are two all americans involved here, a CONF player of the year, and as mentioned, guys that have positions higher than folks already honored for significant school records

[CAGASS24]

No new names or numbers should be added to the rafters. All nice players but not rafter worthy.

and while this isnt my most important criteria - don't think the ath dept isnt going to try  stay hand and hand with Butler in the years after he inks his max/close to max NBA contract.  they'll want to honor him and keep him very close to university

[77ncaachamps]

BEFORE ANYONE...

KOJIS Lame ass me forgot to check: http://wiki.muscoop.com/doku.php/men_s_basketball/retired_jerseys

then...
Chones
Jerel
Hank Raymonds
Rick Majerus
Tony Smith
McIlvaine
Novak
Matthews
Butler
Diener
Jerome Whitehead

Still on the fence:
Crowder
DJO
Worthen
Toone
I'm sorry. DJ doesn't make my cut.

[brewcity77]

Jerel McNeal

He should be up there. All-time scoring and steals leader, top-10 in assists, top-25 in rebounds. I know he didn't win as much as we'd like, but he's an all-timer based on the numbers.

Wesley Matthews

Nice NBA career, but really just the one season at Marquette. He was always good, but rarely great. No from me.

Jae Crowder

Very good for a limited time, but one season doesn't put him up there for me. Maybe had he been first-team AA, or NPOY, but just not enough of a career to be in the rafters.

DJO

Nice player, but no.

Lazar Hayward

Second in scoring, fifth in rebounds, the numbers support him, but not sure he won enough. Numbers not as compelling as Jerel's. He'd have to get in line.

Jimmy Butler

If it were based on his NBA career, sure, but not based on his MU numbers.

Dom James

Nice player, but no.

Of the others, I think Diener is the best shout. When he left he was 3rd in scoring, 2nd in assists, and 8th in steals. But as we missed the tournament his junior and senior years, becomes a tougher sell.

[Goose]

IMO it is based off what they did at MU and not beyond. The Buck's are a joke for retiring guys that had great careers and spent twilight in Milwaukee. All guys mentioned, some better case than others, were really good players. If we dug deep enough we could add 20 more really good players to that last.

[brewcity77]

IMO it is based off what they did at MU and not beyond. The Buck's are a joke for retiring guys that had great careers and spent twilight in Milwaukee. All guys mentioned, some better case than others, were really good players. If we dug deep enough we could add 20 more really good players to that last.

Out of curiosity, why not Jerel? Is it that he didn't win enough in March? I realize he had 4 years and many of the older names only had 3, but all-time leader in points and steals seems like he should be a lock. I'd especially like to see it happen before he loses that all-time scoring mark in 3 years.

(Okay...that's the optimist in me )

[WarriorInNYC]

I kinda liked the idea of Lazar + Crowder for No. 32.

[Goose]

brew

Jerel purely on numbers would be likely choice. IMO he was not a top 6-8 guard in school history or top 15-20 overall player. I would argue couple guys with retired numbers do not belong up there and if they do not Jerel for sure not.

[CAGASS24]

IMO it is based off what they did at MU and not beyond. The Buck's are a joke for retiring guys that had great careers and spent twilight in Milwaukee. All guys mentioned, some better case than others, were really good players. If we dug deep enough we could add 20 more really good players to that last.

Obviously that's the 'core' principle - but the university is doubtful to watch a guy have a popular 100 mill NBA career (knock on wood) and not want his name hanging up there for marketing/philanthropic reasons.  Matthews might end up in the same boat - especially since being a WI kid

McNeal's body of stats is too elevated not to be put up there

[CAGASS24]

funny - looking around on the net for recruiting class production led me to this - from our former very own Jamie McNealy - study between recruiting rankings and diff measurements of team success

http://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&context=cps_professional

[brewcity77]

brew

Jerel purely on numbers would be likely choice. IMO he was not a top 6-8 guard in school history or top 15-20 overall player. I would argue couple guys with retired numbers do not belong up there and if they do not Jerel for sure not.

That's fair. The one thing I'd say is it's hard to compare across generations. Jerel's numbers have to be somewhat inflated based on not only playing 4 years but the number of games teams play today. There were 135 games played in Jerel's 4 seasons here, an average of almost 34 per season. Before McNeal arrived, Marquette had NEVER played more than 33 games in a season, and that only happened 4 times in our history.

But I would say, if you made all-decade teams, Jerel would certainly be on the all-decade team for the 2000s. You'd probably have to put Wade in as player of the decade because he was one of the few transcendent players we've had here in the past 30 years, but Jerel would be a close second. For me, he deserves to be up there (and is the only one that is a no doubt guy for me on that list) but I can understand why people would disagree.

[jsglow]

BEFORE ANYONE...

KOJIS

then...
Chones
Jerel

Don Kojis' jersey #44 is ABSOLUTELY retired.  Agree that the next worthy entrant is Chones.  Jerel would be somewhere in a potentially worthy group after that.

Pleased to say that apart from Kojis, I've seen everyone of those guys play in person.

[Brewtown Andy]

There's a logistical issue to retiring numbers, since the NCAA only allows you to wear 0-5 on either digit in the number.

Marquette already has nine numbers that are unavailable.

[MerrittsMustache]

There's a logistical issue to retiring numbers, since the NCAA only allows you to wear 0-5 on either digit in the number.

Marquette already has nine numbers that are unavailable.

True, but that still leaves 27 available jersey numbers for 13-15 players (including walk-ons).

(To be clear, I'm not in favor of more numbers being retired. Just saying.)

[muwar2003]

If you are considering the player mentioned, then Bob Lackey and Bob Wolf should be considered.  

[Goose]

brew

If they retired Jerel's number I would not boo. Too many guys get numbers retired today, just like too many kids have high GPA in high schools today. Different world and I am slowly adjusting.