Two years ago, I wrote a column about why players on the men's basketball team chose the numbers they wear on their jerseys. At the time, I posed the question to eight players, three of whom are still playing for Virginia: junior guard Mustapha Farrakhan, sophomore guard Sammy Zeglinski and junior guard Jeff Jones. I wanted to ask the current Cavaliers the same question, and this time around, I spoke to the entire team about their number selections.
I'll start by recapping the players I spoke with in 2007. Farrakhan explained that he had wanted to wear No. 2 in high school because of his birthday - Nov. 2 - but an older player already took it. He jumped on the chance to take the number at Virginia after the previous wearer, J.R. Reynolds, graduated and told Farrakhan he could wear it. Zeglinski chose No. 13 because he previously wore either 1 or 3, but both were unavailable at the time. (Fellow freshman Jeff Jones had already chosen No. 1, and No. 3 is retired in honor of former Cavalier guard Jeff Lamp.)
While Farrakhan and Zeglinski have kept the same numbers since 2007, Jones switched from 1 to 23 after his freshman season. Originally, Jones explained he had worn No. 23 in high school in homage to his favorite college player of all time, "Pistol Pete" Maravich. He chose No. 1 when he got to Virginia because he wanted to start anew and wanted to remind himself to always strive to be the top player at his position. But then he changed back to his old number. "I was trying to come to college and change things up," he said. "But I know this - stay true to yourself, stay with what got you here."
Jones' reason for switching digits is the same reason many of his teammates wear the numbers they do: familiarity. The first number freshman guard Thomas Kody ever wore was 11, and though he wore No. 22 in high school, he pulled a Jones and went back to old faithful at Virginia. Senior forward Solomon Tat kept the number 45 from his high school days, when he wore the number Michael Jordan used briefly when coming back from his first retirement. Likewise, senior forward Jerome Meyinsse has worn 55 since his sophomore year in high school.
"My coach was in the closet picking out jerseys, and he took number 55 and he threw it at me and I caught it," Meyinsse said. "I've just kept it ever since."\nPerhaps the longest tenured jersey number among all Cavaliers is the 15 worn by Sylven Landesberg, which has accompanied Virginia's leading scorer since age seven. "It was the first number ever given to me," Landesberg said. "I remember the first game I played in, it was a YMCA game. They said, 'What number do you want?' And I said, 'I don't know, this is my first time playing in a game, just throw me whatever!' And I just stuck with it."
For some players who couldn't get their first choice in jerseys, the numbers they wear at Virginia are simply the closest to what they had before. Senior guard Calvin Baker had worn No. 3 for many years in honor of his favorite player, Allen Iverson, but 3 is retired at Virginia and 2 was taken by J.R. Reynolds. So, Baker said, "I just picked the closest number to it; I picked No. 4. Then they started giving me the nickname 'CB4' and I kinda liked it, so I stuck with it."
Mike Scott's first choice was also unavailable, as former Virginia forward Adrian Joseph wore No. 30, which Scott donned throughout high school. Scott ended up choosing 32, the number he wore at Hargrave Military Academy. His frontcourt-mate junior forward Will Sherrill found that both the numbers he wore in high school - 21 from basketball and 12 from football - were taken by former Cavaliers Tunji Soroye and Jamil Tucker, respectively. Needing inspiration, Sherrill turned to an age-old decision making tool: what looks good. "I was just thinking of a good number to take, and 22 looked nice on a jersey," Sherrill said. "I'd never worn it before, but I liked how it looked."
Two Cavaliers are wearing the numbers shared by their favorite NBA players, including Tristan Spurlock. His top two choices coming into Virginia were Nos. 15 and 22, but Landesberg and Sherrill already had those taken. So, Spurlock said: "I'm a Kobe fan, since he's the best player on the planet, so that's why I picked 24."
Fellow freshman guard Jontel Evans chose his jersey because of a young superstar, Derrick Rose. "In college, he was 23, and in high school, I was 23," Evans said. "He went to a different level and changed his number to No. 1. I went to a different level, so I changed my number to No. 1."
I do have to say, among all the players I spoke with last week, Assane Sene's explanation for his jersey selection was the most interesting. Said the center: "I picked No. 5 for so many reasons. First of all, it's the number of my favorite player, Kevin Garnett. And second of all, it means a lot about my religion because I am Muslim, and the five prayers that I have to do every day - [wearing No. 5] reminds me a lot about that."
The passing of Sene's mother also played a role in his choice of jersey. "My mom passed five years ago before I came to college," Sene said. "That's why I've been wearing the No. 5. It means a lot."\nSome of his teammates do not have as much significance carried with their numbers, however, as they simply had very few choices. The two Cavaliers who joined the team as walk-ons during the preseason - freshman guard Doug Browman and senior guard Tom Jonke - picked from a trio of numbers: 0, 10 and 21. Browman, when justifying why he picked 0, said, "I chose zero because it's a different level [playing college basketball]. It's a new type of atmosphere so you've got to start at ground zero and work your way up."
Meanwhile, the 6-foot Jonke joked, "I didn't really want to be Tunji," referring to the 6-foot-11 center who wore No. 21 last year. He thus picked 10, and with that selection, the 2009-10 Cavaliers roster was finalized.
In addition, I asked coach Tony Bennett about his reasons for wearing 25, the number he wore during his college career at University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and with the Charlotte Hornets of the NBA. Similar to Landesberg's attachment to 15, Bennett found his number at the age of 7, when he met Gail Goodrich, who then was an elite guard at UCLA and later went on to play in the NBA.\n"[Goodrich] did a clinic or a camp at Stevens Point, Wisconsin," Bennett said. "I'm left-handed and he was a left-hander. He was a great shooter and scorer. He pulled me out of the camp and I demonstrated in front of the campers. I think he came over to our house and we had a cookout. He gave me his book and I always followed him. He wore No. 25, so that's where I got my initial love for the number."
Bennett also mentioned two others who were responsible for his wearing 25: his sister Kathi, who helped Bennett develop his game growing up, and Mark Price, a guard who went to Georgia Tech and played 12 NBA seasons. Both Kathi and Price wore 25, so Bennett began wearing 25 in high school and carried it with him throughout his career.
"Once you get a number, you stay with it," Bennett said. Many of his players would agree.
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