Eddie Lampkin #44 - DC not happy?

[Toga]

Importance of player numbers in SU sports:
#1 - 44 - Football
#2 - 22 - Lacrosse


#3 - 44 - Basketball

 

[tbonezone]

Freeman i'd have no problem with. lotta promise . lotta upside. but 4 seasons shows me eddie lampkin is nowhere near the caliber of player that DC or JW was. not even in the same conversation. why drag #44 down ? Otis Hill wore number #4 . give him that number and hope he's half as good as derrick and dubs.

 

[Niastri]

And those were the days of “assigning “ the number. This is not that and to me the most innocuous way of it happening with simply just it being a guy keeping his old number. Social media makes this a bigger deal. Eddie isn’t out there making videos of himself as “the next 44” with highlights jdub and DC leading up to it…

It will only be a few minutes now that the idea is out there...

 

[Niastri]

It's the same football IMO. Which is 44 means more to alumni/fans than a HS player. The school could pitch it sure but the longer things stay in the past the less current players will care.

Notre Dame still recruits with "win one for the gipper."

I think 44 can be strongly relevant in both sports with the right storytelling.

 

[Trueblue25]

I think Freeman would have been the natural choice... A top10 recruit at the historical power forward position that normally has worn #44?

No doubter.

Closest thing to being worthy - agreed.

To me the people saying no big deal are just a reflection of how much our programs deteriorated and how cheapened the sports became with NIL.

 

[Nicknack]

A couple things...

- The fact that Eddie wore 44 at previous stops doesn't matter. Do you think North Carolina would unretire #23 and let a kid wear it just because that was the number they wore before? Hell no. What number they wore before is irrelevant. Now that said, maybe Eddie being able to wear #44 was part of the negotiations, which is fine by me. Not ideal, but ok.

- I'm in the camp of giving 44 to a guy like Freeman over Lampkin. That said, I don't really have a big problem with it. No one outside Syracuse cares, but if Lampkin lays an egg next year, that can water the number down. Hopefully Eddie will represent the number well.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Do you think North Carolina would unretire #23 and let a kid wear it just because that was the number they wore before?

We didn't unretire 44 for Lampkin. The number is available every season.

 

[Orangezoo]

Closest thing to being worthy - agreed.

To me the people saying no big deal are just a reflection of how much our programs deteriorated and how cheapened the sports became with NIL.

It’s NIL and just the culture around the game. It’s just not as relevant and Notre Dame is a big outlier in this context and most any context.

 

[Nicknack]

We didn't unretire 44 for Lampkin. The number is available every season.

I didn't say we did.

 

[Orangezoo]

A couple things...

- The fact that Eddie wore 44 at previous stops doesn't matter. Do you think North Carolina would unretire #23 and let a kid wear it just because that was the number they wore before? Hell no. What number they wore before is irrelevant. Now that said, maybe Eddie being able to wear #44 was part of the negotiations, which is fine by me. Not ideal, but ok.

- I'm in the camp of giving 44 to a guy like Freeman over Lampkin. That said, I don't really have a big problem with it. No one outside Syracuse cares, but if Lampkin lays an egg next year, that can water the number down. Hopefully Eddie will represent the number well.

It was never retired

 

[Nicknack]

It was never retired

I'm aware. Wasn't my point.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I didn't say we did.

So there's no problem.

 

[Nicknack]

So there's no problem.

Good to hear.

 

[Domedog84]

So have we just been asleep at the wheel for nearly 30 years? If this number is so powerful what have we been doing?

It would only make sense to get worked up about this if we actually used this history with the number. I agree with a lot of what people have been saying about 44 being given to deserving players, but we haven't done that since well before current players were born.

Is this because we have not offered it to any players? They have declined to wear it? JB said no?

I just don't get the problem with the kid keeping this number. Freeman may be one and done too, is it still better to give it to him?

 

[Sbucketball]

History and tradition are a selling point for the program, so I'm in favor of continuing as we were with these types of things. That was part of the reason for an internal hire. I would prefer 44 only go to elite players, but DC definitely went about things wrong by making it personal to Red and JW in a tweet. At the end of the day, the sport got turned upside down a few years ago, so maybe it's time to shake everything up anyway.

 

[Orangezoo]

I'm aware. Wasn't my point.

So how does the example compare then? Is DC our MJ ? I’m not sure we’ve treated him as such or we’ve held 44 in such a regard since J Dub to deem in so important in hoops.

 

[Nicknack]

So how does the example compare then? Is DC our MJ ? I’m not sure we’ve treated him as such or we’ve held 44 in such a regard since J Dub to deem in so important in hoops.

Yes

 

[Orangezoo]

Yes

I would argue Bing is our MJ not DC but that’s me. Forget the era he played in - Bing is that guy not DC.

Our most decorated player not named Bing is Melo who didn’t wear 44… not to mention the most relevant player to kids today. The time to make 44 an ongoing staple has long gone. If Eddie brings attention to it as someone else mentioned, without all the hoopla being it’s his old number then it could be a win win.

 

[hoopsupstate]

Whoop-de-damn-do.

JB hasn’t recruited anyone in the last ten years worthy of wearing 44. Fans forgot it’s still available.

 

[NJCuse97]

Notre Dame still recruits with "win one for the gipper."

I think 44 can be strongly relevant in both sports with the right storytelling.

Agreed, but as pertains to storytelling, I think DC says he wore it in honor of George Gervin

 

[Domedog84]

JB hasn’t recruited anyone in the last ten years worthy of wearing 44. Fans forgot it’s still available.

We didn’t use it the almost 20 years before that either when we regularly recruited studs though

 

[kcsu]

DC is a legend too bad he isnt acting like it.

 

[Marroniac]

You know, everyone that cares about the #44 is gonna die someday and then no one will care about it anymore.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

You know, everyone that cares about the #44 is gonna die someday and then no one will care about it anymore.

I can't argue with that.

 

[Cuse181]

You know, everyone that cares about the #44 is gonna die someday and then no one will care about it anymore.

yeah, but just think about how great those who wore it get to feel! They never have to see anyone else out perform their legacy. It selfish and childish