It's A Joke That Trey Burke's #3 Isn't Hanging In The Rafters At Crisler Center
It was announced today that Luka Garza would have his jersey retired at Carver–Hawkeye Arena on February 22nd at halftime against Michigan State. That only makes sense. Luka Garza was a two-time Big Ten Player Of The Year and National Player Of The Year in 2021. Garza was a transcendent part of the Iowa program. But it got me thinking that Michigan basketball has spent the better part of a decade as an excellent program despite this year's disappointment. They've been to two Final Fours. They won the Big Ten three times and the Big Ten Tournament twice (including one time in 2017 when they almost died in a plane crash), yet they have not retired a single number from the John Beilein era. I felt this way for a while, but it is frankly disgraceful that Trey Burke's number three is not hanging in the rafters at Crisler Center.
People quickly forget what Michigan basketball was before Trey Burke. For several years under John Beilein, they appeared to be a program that was on the up and up, but they still had not made it to the second weekend in 20 years, and they hadn't been nationally relevant since the Fab Five. Then this three-star recruit from Ohio came along and changed the entire program. The impact that Trey Burke had on Michigan's program is more significant than Luka Garza's impact on Iowa. It's greater than the impact that Ayo Dosunmu had on Illinois, and it's more significant than the impact that Evan Turner had on Ohio State. Grinders like Stu Douglas and Zack Novak paved the way for a player like Trey Burke, but Trey Burke was the piece that Michigan basketball so desperately needed. He was National Player Of The Year. He hit perhaps the biggest shot in Michigan basketball history against Kansas in the Sweet 16 in 2013 and helped bring the Michigan basketball program back to relevance for the first time in two decades. What am I missing here?
I have heard the rumor (I can't confirm or deny it) that Michigan basketball doesn't like to retire players' numbers unless they graduated from the school. If that is the case, then that policy needs to change. We live in the age of one and done. Quite frankly, it's a miracle that Trey Burke played for more than one year. He probably could've gone pro after his first year in which he helped bring Michigan their first Big Ten championship in 26 years. But he chose to come back, and all he did was win National Player Of The Year and take his team to a National Championship, where they would've won the whole thing if not for the fact that they were going up against a Louisville team that got busted for cheating.
It frustrates the hell out of me that, in general, Michigan fans do not care about basketball the way they do about football. That makes me sad because Michigan basketball has provided us with way more entertainment over the last decade than the football program has. Trey Burke was at the forefront of that resurgence. Please, for the love of God, retire number three. It's about time.