Yeah, I worded that one poorly. I was meaning more along the lines of those that acheive greatness at the next level. Almost everyone of their college careers take a back seat to what they did in the pros. Even if they were a once in a lifetime player like Barry Sanders.
yeah i see your point. I really am not a fan of having every player to ever be more than mediocre number retired, but i think there are some greats that played at LSU who should have their numbers put up on the side of the stadium.
Out of curiosity, had he been a dud in the pros, would his jersey have been retired? I bet some would argue that Chris Jackson had a more spectacular college career, but I don't recall his jersey being retired. Point being that as good as Shaq was at the college level, without his success in the pros, his jersey probably wouldn't have been retired.
Well, Shaq did win a National Player of the Year award, Jackson didn't. I'm sure Maravich won it as well (if there was such a thing back then), and probably Pettit too.
Jackson was a two-time Consensus SEC player of the year, set NCAA freshman records for the most points in a season (965), most points in a game (55) and highest scoring average (30.2), was an All-American, was a two-time SEC scoring champion with 889 points in his sophomore season, set the NCAA single season free throw percentage mark with 91% including an LSU record of 35 consecutive made shots, scored in double figures in 63 of 64 games ever played, and scored over 50 points 4 times. In two years.
Jackson never graduated. That is one of the criteria used for LSU to retire numbers. Shaq went back and got his degree. After he did that, they scheduled the retiring of his number.
just out of curiosity, would the banner say Chris Jackson, or Mahmoud Abdul Rauf? I wonder if the one at UCLA says Lou Alcindor or Kareem Abdul Jaabar.
