I suspect Dale Ellis would be the next to have his number retired, but Allan shouldn't worry, his time will come.
Ellis is one of my favorite UT players of all time; I went out of my way last year after the Vandy game to wade through most of the all-century team and meet him.
That being said, there is no scenario that should see his jersey hanging from the rafters in TBA before Houston's. I do believe that both belong, however.
I disagree. Team accomplishments matter. Ellis played on an SEC champion and 4 NCAA Tournament teams. Houston's teams sucked with or without him.
To me, you retire numbers because of the impact a player had on your program. UT could have just as easily been garbage without Houston. In fact, the history of the program tends to indicate they'd have been better without him.Team accomplishments matter, but in a team game, they don't detract from a great player who had no help.
When listing the greatest Volunteer basketball players, I think Houston has to be above Ellis. Actually, I think Houston has to be above everybody save King, although I understand honoring Ernie and Bernie consecutively and don't really have a problem with it.
Objective question. Did those of you for Houston's jersey hanging before Ellis ever see Ellis play at UT? He was a complete ballplayer that did some incredible stuff scoring, rebounding and defensively.
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To me, you retire numbers because of the impact a player had on your program. UT could have just as easily been garbage without Houston. In fact, the history of the program tends to indicate they'd have been better without him.
Seeing as how we hired an absolute disaster of a coach to get him, I concede your point.
However, I think you honor players because of the quality of their play. Houston's was terrific, even if the play of the four guys on the floor with him sucked.
There is always going to be some disagreement about the value of individual accomplishment in a team sport, but the knife cuts both ways. I wouldn't, for instance, advocate anybody's number from the '00 SEC champion team having their number retired.
Allan should have his number retired. I don't blame Allan Houston for the fact that his dad was, roughly speaking, the worst head coach in the history of college basketball.Seeing as how we hired an absolute disaster of a coach to get him, I concede your point.
However, I think you honor players because of the quality of their play. Houston's was terrific, even if the play of the four guys on the floor with him sucked.
There is always going to be some disagreement about the value of individual accomplishment in a team sport, but the knife cuts both ways. I wouldn't, for instance, advocate anybody's number from the '00 SEC champion team having their number retired.
This debate highlights why it is dumb to retire numbers to begin with.