Have we retired our last jersey?

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I'm not convinced that there is anyone else who should sit in that rarified air of jersey retirement. The numbers that we have retired have all been National POY, All-Americans, or NBA players. I don't think you dilute the criteria just because reasons. I also know that this just about ends our potential jersey retirements.

But this is definitely opinion territory, so I certainly think everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
 

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IndyTreeFan said:
I'm not convinced that there is anyone else who should sit in that rarified air of jersey retirement. The numbers that we have retired have all been National POY, All-Americans, or NBA players. I don't think you dilute the criteria just because reasons. I also know that this just about ends our potential jersey retirements.

But this is definitely opinion territory, so I certainly think everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
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ISU's NBA Alumni
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ISU's All-Americans
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ISU's National PoY
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I do think it would make sense to have a ring of honor where important players could be honored without a full jersey retirement.


If I were to come up with a formula for getting a jersey retired/ring of honor induction, these would be the criteria. Each would have a slightly different weight, and they wouldn't have to hit all of them, but some combination of this....

Top Tier:
NCAA Tournament appearance, All American, Conference POY, Regular Season MVC Champ, all time ISU leader in a major statistical category.

Rest Of The Components:
First Team All-MVC, top 15-20 all time ISU in a major statistical category, NBA appearance, multiple years of 2nd or 3rd team All-MVC, fan favorite, memorable moments, MVC All Tournament Team, lead the conference in a major statistical category in a season, deep NIT run, on a successful ISU program, post-playing career with ISU, number of years played at ISU, importance to the ISU team they were on.


I know people can get hung up on how long a player plays at ISU, but again it's a sliding scale. Say someone only comes here for a year, but wins MVC POY, wins Arch Madness, gets us to the Sweet 16, leads the Valley in points per game, big fan favorite, and hit 2-3 game winning shots in that run? They pass the test in my book.


Long winded way of saying if we win Arch Madness in 2024, I think it'd be really hard to not take a look at 21 in the rafters. Also why I think some of the players on the 2000 and 2001 teams should get more of a look.
 
I will say this after giving it some thought… I still wouldn’t retire any jerseys of past players.

But the idea that we still can’t or won’t ever retire one I’m not sure I agree with.

If a guy comes in even for one year and puts up top 5 or even top 10 all time numbers for a season and leads us to the elite 8… Probably not the sweet 16 but the elite 8 I’d be open to considering a jersey retirement. You figure regular season conf champ, tournament champ and elite 8 on top of top 10 seasonal numbers. I don’t think longevity would matter at that point.

And honestly… It’s probably very unlikely to happen given our resources (lack of), current state of scheduling and the seeding metrics being completely wack. But one could argue it’s more likely than ever given you can hit reset on your entire roster year-after-year and get right quicker than ever before if you find the right guy(s) in the portal.

So long winded answer to say - I’m not retiring anymore but I’m open to it in the future for the right player even if it’s a one and done situation.
 
Like the ring of honor concept. Could give the player a 1K cool looking ISU ring, have a ring of honor game, and have a ring of honor banner with players names on it. Would need a high bar for it, but not quite as high as jersey retirement.

I bet if pioneer football happens, & lots more resources flow to basketball, there could be a couple more jersey retirements in my lifetime. But wouldn't expect anymore without added resources.
 
I'm good with keeping a very high standard for Jersey retirement. The only person not up there that I'd consider is Nate Green; MVC player of the year, MVC Defensive player of the year, top 10 in a bunch of major stats and a NCAA appearance is pretty good credentials, outside of that I don't think there is anyone.

Instead of a ring of honor, what I'd like ISU to do is give a permanent plaque (like they do for the ISU hall of fame) to every 1,000 point scorer and put them on the concourse wall around Hulman. 1,000 points is a good balance of success, longevity, and accomplishments worthy enough to be remembered forever. Give em' their picture, what years they played, points scored, other stats, and a brief synopsis of their time at Indiana State with any memorable games mentioned (the Cooper Neese game, The Tuttle Game, Brenton Scott leading ISU to wins over Butler, IU, etc). Doing something like that might also help keep a guy around another year or 2 if they have a chance to have a permanent plaque of themselves. Seems like a good way to remember all the real good players that have worn the blue with a cut and dry mark they have to hit to get it
 

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