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UCLA Basketball: Should UCLA Retire Don MacLean’s Jersey? – An Investigation

By Jake Liker

Dec 10, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Pac-12 Networks broadcaster and analyst Don MacLean (left) interviews UCLA Bruins guard Norman Powell (4) after the game against the UC Riverside Highlanders at Pauley Pavilion. UCLA defeated UC Riverside 77-66. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 10, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Pac-12 Networks broadcaster and analyst Don MacLean (left) interviews UCLA Bruins guard Norman Powell (4) after the game against the UC Riverside Highlanders at Pauley Pavilion. UCLA defeated UC Riverside 77-66. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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Nov 25, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Pac-12 Networks broadcasters Roxy Bernstein (left) and Don MacLean during the basketball game between the Cal State Fullerton Titans and the Southern California Trojans at Galen Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 25, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Pac-12 Networks broadcasters Roxy Bernstein (left) and Don MacLean during the basketball game between the Cal State Fullerton Titans and the Southern California Trojans at Galen Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

The Professional Standard

Perhaps you remain unmoved by the choices of other lowly college programs who don’t have 11 national championships. Maybe it’s better to compare UCLA Basketball to professional teams, so I did that too.

I went through all 30 NBA franchises to see if being the best scorer in team history warrants a jersey retirment. 10 franchises’ can’t retire their leading scorer’s jersey yet, as those leaders played in the NBA last season. Of the remaining 20 teams, all but two had bestowed that honor upon their all-time leading scorer.

Even at the professional level, if someone is the all-time leader in points scored for their franchise, a jersey retirement is almost guaranteed.

Moreover, those two franchises–the Los Angeles Clippers and the Charlotte Hornets–have never retired a jersey to honor basketball prowess. Taylor Swift has more honors near the ceiling of the Staples Center than the Clippers. The Hornets have a retired a jersey, but only under specific, tragic circumstances.

So even at the professional level, if someone is the all-time leader in points scored for their franchise, a jersey retirement is almost guaranteed.

Verdict: MacLean gets his jersey retired 18 times out of 20.

Resetting the Standard

Arguably the strongest case against retiring MacLean’s jersey is that the UCLA Basketball program already has specific criteria to meet for a player to be eligible to have their name in the rafters of Pauley Pavilion:

  • Be a three-time consensus All-American OR
  • Be a consensus National Player of the Year OR
  • Get inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame

MacLean doesn’t qualify by UCLA’s standards, but he does qualify by everyone else’s. NBA teams and college basketball programs–both the prestigious ones and the obscure ones–have repeatedly demonstrated that MacLean’s accomplishments make him qualified for this honor.

UCLA may have standards, but they ought to be superseded by the standards set by the rest of the basketball world. To believe otherwise is to favor a viewpoint tinged with the hubris that comes with 11 national championships.

The slippery slope is a logical fallacy. Making an exception for MacLean or expanding the criteria will not bring upon the jersey retirement apocalypse. Besides, UCLA has expanded the prerequisites numerous times in the past.

Originally, there was no way to get your number retired if you weren’t a three-time consensus All-American. If the Bruins had never modified their draconian restrictions, only Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar would have received the honor. The absences of jerseys belonging to Walt Hazzard, Sidney Wicks, and Gail Goodrich would be glaring.

The absence of MacLean’s jersey is just as glaring. It’s time to fix that.

Next: Rapid-Fire Rebuttal