Basketball Ring of Honor

[gatorump]

Who would be your picks for a Ring of Honor for basketball and what would be the criteria? I always hoped they would honor the '04's at the second championship celebration, along with Hump and Richards. Who do you think makes the cut and why don't we have one?

[gatorbogey]

this is a great idea - let's do it! a basketball ring of honor for the o'dome.

first one on it: Billy Donovan

[Nicho]

Rim Of Honor?

[gatorump]

Originally Posted by Nicho

Rim Of Honor?

Rings are for champions

And Donovan for sure, I think the court will be named for him one day.

[jjenkins5]

We probably will have one, at least I hope we do. Our bball program now has that kind of legacy being built - and sustained. I'm guessing we don't have one because there has to be A LOT of thought given about establishing the parameters. Once you establish them, then you have test them and see who qualifies (and who doesn't) to determine if someone obvious is left out (like Wilber Marshall in the football ROH).

I don't know what the parameters should be and I imagine developing them could be quite complicated. For example, the '04's present a potential problem in that if you make the parameters too restrictive you risk not all four qualifiying. You could induct them as a group - a unique, but perhaps justifiable exception - but then what do you do about Lee Humphrey or Chris Richard?

I'm sure it can be figrued out and I hope they do. It would be fun to be reminded of our great players every time you visist the O'Dome. Gator basketball is really beginning to have a history worth memorializing.

[your_perfect_enemy]

They do have a variation of it at the practice facility with the jerseys hanging on the wall. It's much less restrictive than the football one.

Since the O dome is a shared facility if we did it for men's basketball we might have to do it for the rest of the sports, gymnastics, womens basketball, indoor track, volleyball. I will say Mary Wise definitely deserves her name honored in that building somewhere.

[GatorRade]

Interesting question. To being to answer it, we can look at the requirements for the football ring of honor:

Heisman Trophy Winners (We could translate as Naismith winners)
Former UF All-Americans Inducted into Pro Football Hall of Fame for Accomplishments as Players (NBA hall of fame)
Former UF All-Americans Who Are NFL Career Category Leaders (NBA)
Collegiate Career Category Leaders
Coaches with at least 1 National Championship
Coaches with at least 3 SEC Championships
Players with 2 or more consensus All-America honors (AP, Walter Camp, Sporting News, AFCA, FWAA, UPI) who have also been named National Offensive/Defensive Players of Year (AP, Walter Camp, Sporting News, ABC, AFCA, FWAA, UPI)

Looking literally at this list, we seem to have only one inductee, our preeminent coach. Noah was an all-american in 2007, but that seems to be as close as we get for players.

Since bball is so different, we could relax the criteria a bit. A couple of ideas:

Final four MOPs (Noah, Brewer)
SEC players of year (Parsons)
NBA all stars (Noah, Horford)

It's tough because basketball is such a team game.

[orangeblueorangeblue]

Just make a committee and let them vote guys in every 5 years. That way you don't have to worry about requirements including someone that probably shouldn't be there or omitting someone who should.

[GothamGator]

This is a really tricky question. If you go with the parameters like football, I'm not sure anyone would qualify. We haven't had a national player of the year, and not too many all-americans either.

Of course, I (and many others) have always found the football parameters to be insufferably silly. So, maybe you go without parameters and simply identify those individuals whose college basketball career was superlative, and who also had high academic and community achievement.

Still, who does that leave you with?

Neal Walk, for sure, who still might be the greatest Gator. He's the only one to have his jersey number retired. Vernon Maxwell certainly meets the bill for on court performance, but his off court performance probably disqualifies him. I don't think Dwayne Schintzius gets there.

In the Donovan era, you begin to notice the other problem, which is what to do about players that leave early, before their legacy can be solidified. The other issue is that Donovan has created great teams, but rarely has a single individual stood out on those teams. Mike Miller certainly led that 2000 team, but he wasn't even an All-American. Chandler Parsons did win SEC Player of the Year, but also, not an All-American.

And as people have mentioned, the '04s as a group were terrific, but if you start trying to choose one over the others, you betray what those guys stood for.

So, I think you have to either go without a Ring of Honor, or only put in Neal Walk.

[GothamGator]

For those unfamiliar with Neal Walk, here is a brief description of his accomplishments from the UF media guide.

The only player in Florida history to have his
number retired…Walk had his number 41
retired following the 1968-69
season…Walk was the first All-American
in school history when he was named
second-team All-America in 1968…He was
a third-team selection in 1969…All-SEC
selection in 1968 and 1969…Voted the
seventh-best player in the nation in 1968
and led the nation in rebounding during the
1968 season with a 19.8 average…Set 22
game, season and career records during his
UF career…Finished career as the career
record holder in all but two categories…Hit
18 free throws vs. LSU to set a then-school
record…Was a first-round draft pick and
the second overall (behind UCLA’s Lew
Alcindor) in the NBA Draft…Played in the
NBA for eight years with Phoenix, New

Orleans and New York.

[gatorump]

I don't see how Brewer, Noah, and Horford don't get in. I like the idea of having all (the whole team) of their names and number on a team banner, it only emphasizes Billy's team philosophy. But I can see the argument going back and forth about the rest of the 2006-2007 teams. Horford and Noah demanded double teams thus providing wide open looks from Hump and Green, but they still had to hit them. Because they hit them teams couldn't double team in the post allowing them to score at will. And to me, Brewer= Percy on a basketball court. I still think those three should be rewarded because they gave up millions to do something rare, then they accomplished it.

[SmootyGator]

What about one and dones? Would Beal be eligible if he does awesome things in the NBA?

[orangeblueorangeblue]

Originally Posted by SmootyGator

What about one and dones? Would Beal be eligible if he does awesome things in the NBA?

see i think in a committee situation, you get to make those decisions based on their presence in the NBA, their continued connection to the school, etc.

right now, I would not be a big fan of one and dones being in any ring of honor

[orangeblueorangeblue]

in fact, i think a nice rule of thumb for both rings of honor are that for any player, you have to get a degree from UF.

now that doesn't mean you can't leave early, this wouldn't preclude Emmitt Smith, for example.

[gatorbogey]

"ring of honor" in the shape of the basketball "rim" (i do like that idea) - could be easily hung in the entry area at gate 1 of the o'dome. it's for the fans!

and speaking of the fans: suggest a 'Rowdy Honor Ring' - that shows great shots of the rowdy reptiles thru the years, could be over in the gate 3 foyer.

need to start getting some donations in to make this happen

[gatorchris]

I like the idea, and I think the 04s need to be on there as one entry. That was the consumate team that played for each other, no need to honor them individually.

[corpgator]

The '04s with Humphrey.

[g8rvet]

Collegiate Career Category Leaders

Doesn't Hump hold the career made 3 pointer in the NCAA tourney record?

[iam4uf]

Having a ring/rim of honor is an interesting thought, but for the reasons others have stated it might be difficult to implement. Here is how Arizona & Notre Dame handle theirs:

Inclusion in the Ring of Fame requires one of the following: first team All-American, national Player of the Year of major distinction, Pac-10 Conference Player of the Year, Pac-10 Freshman Player of the Year, school leader in three or more major positive career categories (minimum of five years), an Olympic Games medalist, or playing at least 10 years professionally in the United States

Beginning in 2010-11, the Notre Dame Athletics Department plans to honor annually additional former and present men's and women's basketball and volleyball players who have made distinguished and noteworthy contributions during their career while student-athletes at the University. A committee that will consist of Irish coaches and administrators will be formed to determine future inductees.

[Marshall]

I like the idea of team banners. When you get individual it gets away from why our best teams won....1994 team; 2000 team; 2007/2008 team -- these guys got to Final Fours because they played as a team, not some hot individuals. Yes, the hot dog guys in high school love all the unique attention paid to them, but when they learn "team" wins, they appreciate how that works. The "all me" guys can go to KY Jelly and help them have years like this one. Billy will pick off some really good players and mold a team.