On Friday night, a sold-out Crisler Center — colloquially known as The House That Cazzie Built — will cheer on one of the best players to ever take the court in Ann Arbor.
Trey Burke, a former National Player of the Year who was the best player on a Michigan team that was one half of basketball away from winning the National Championship, will be honored.
The keyword in that sentence is “honored,” as the program has made it abundantly clear that while his jersey will hang from the rafters along with
the likes of Russell, Rudy Tomjanovich, Phil Hubbard, Glen Rice and Bill Buntin, his iconic No. 3 will not be retired. The women’s program has already honored Diane Dietz and will honor Katelynn Flaherty and Naz Hillmon, but their numbers won’t be retired, either.
It’s confusing as hell. Multiple reporters posted on social media that his jersey will be retired before correcting it, and in-game announcer Zach Linfield alluded to it in his postgame interview with Elliot Cadeau after the Indiana win. When I explained to my wife and a few friends that his number will be honored and not retired, they looked puzzled, with the common sentiment being, “What’s the point in honoring his number if his number isn’t getting retired?”
The more I’ve thought about that question, the less it makes sense to me.
The only number retired within Michigan Basketball, men’s or women’s, is Russell’s No. 33. He was named the Associated Player of the Year following the 1965-66 season, earned a trio of consensus All-American honors and All-Big Ten honors, and led Michigan to three Big Ten regular season championships, a Final Four in 1964, a National Championship appearance in 1965, and an Elite Eight in 1966. That’s a hell of a resumé for the first Wolverine to ever be drafted into the NBA, with Russell being selected No. 1 overall by the New York Knicks in 1966.
I’m not trying to diminish Russell’s legacy in any way; he catapulted the Wolverines into the national spotlight and paved the way for 31 first-round picks as of this writing. But when it comes to number retirements, like many things at the University of Michigan, the standards are too high.
It doesn’t make sense that Rice — the best player on the 1989 team that won a national championship, the only one in program history — doesn’t have his No. 41 number retired, but that’s a column for another day.
I understand not retiring the numbers of members of the Fab Five, the iconic group that led Michigan to back-to-back National Championship appearances and defined ‘90s culture with high black socks and baggy shorts, due to how everything ended with the Ed Martin scandal. The group is perhaps the most famous in the school’s history, but the university understandably doesn’t want to draw attention to that scandal.
Honoring Burke’s iconic No. 3 isn’t enough — his jersey needs to be retired. Just look at this laundry list of awards Burke won in his two seasons at Michigan:
- Wooden Award in 2013
- Naismith Trophy in 2013
- Oscar Robertson Trophy in 2013
- Bob Cousy Award in 2013
- National Player of the Year (AP, NABC, and USBWA) in 2013
- First-team All-American in 2013
- Big Ten Player of the Year in 2013
- First-Team All-Big Ten
- Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2012
Burke followed up all those awards by being drafted ninth overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2013 draft before being traded immediately to the Utah Jazz. It’s not as impressive a resumé as Russell’s, but it’s pretty damn close.
There’s a case to be made that, when looking exclusively at a player’s collegiate tenure, Burke is the best player to don the Maize and Blue in the 21st century. His legendary 2013-14 season and late-game heroics — like the steal against Michigan State and the shot against Kansas in the Sweet Sixteen — bred a whole new generation of Michigan Basketball fans. He wasn’t the biggest or fastest player, but that’s what made him so beloved by fans, especially young ones hoping to be a scrappy, swagger-jacked point guard like him.
I’ve seen the discourse when it comes to number retirements in sports being too commonplace — a certain recent University of Colorado quarterback shouldn’t have his numbers retired. But I think in this case, the pendulum of preserving program history has swung too far the other way.
Honoring Russell and the court he made famous is noble of the university, but only retiring his number doesn’t properly celebrate the 21st century of Michigan hoops.
The practical arguments for not retiring the number fall on deaf ears. I would understand not retiring Burke’s jersey if players were still limited to a certain group of numbers, but the NCAA changed one of its most bizarre rules a few years ago and now players can wear any number between 00 and 99. I understand the No. 3 is a common number, but if a recruit really doesn’t want to come to Michigan because they can’t wear the number they want to, they’re not worth pursuing.
Burke is not like the Fab Five — his time at Michigan didn’t end in controversy, and banners weren’t forced to be taken down after the accomplishments he led the team to. There’s no reason not to celebrate him with a number retirement, because he is the closest thing the program has had to Russell in 30+ years.
If a player like Burke isn’t going to get his number retired, who will? Would Yaxel Lendeborg get his jersey retired if he led Michigan to a national championship? Would L.J. Cason or Trey McKenney get their numbers retired if Michigan won multiple titles with them? If the next LeBron James wants to play for Dusty May and he has one of the greatest college basketball careers we’ve seen in Ann Arbor, will that not be enough?
Honoring Burke is the right thing to do, and his number will still be in the rafters for fans to celebrate and for recruits to gawk at when visiting Ann Arbor. It’s not nothing, but it doesn’t feel like enough to celebrate the Michigan legend.
Burke is the personification of excellence within Michigan Basketball, and that deserves more than just Friday’s honors. Cazzie certainly built the house, but Burke renovated it into the beauty that it is today.
