The NCAA limits jersey numbers with a rule that makes sense until you think about it | Weird Rules
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- I, for one, am sick of numbers and how dang big they get. For that reason, I give endless thanks to the NCAA and their rule about basketball jersey numbers. By restricting numbers to digits you can count with five fingers, my life has been simplified and I am sleeping better. They didn't even waver when the NBA solved the issue! They just kept saying "Zero to five only." Sure, maybe they don't "remember" when this rule became into existence because it isn't a "big deal." But the important part is making sure players have limited options and therefore can't pick a number that would help them become an individual. Reuse, reduce, recycle numbers in college basketball.
Written and produced by Ryan Simmons and Will Buikema
Shot and edited by Joe Ali and Jiazhen Zhang
Animations and graphics by Philip Pasternak
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I respect the fact the video was 6 minutes and 9 seconds long
Hard respect
Oh hey
Nice
My timer says 6 minutes 8 seconds. But I guess I can just "add one to".
pyrobryan lol😂😂😂
It might effect duke when they start retiring all the numbers.
Shane and north carolina, kansas, kentucky
Duke hasn't retired a single number since 2006. They don't have too many up there compared to a lot of schools. They only retire players who graduate, so the one and done era has slowed it down a lot.
Affect
One way to dodge that effect is to, after a kid's final game, change their "official" number to an illegal number. In most cases, that would involve changing either the ones digit *or* the tens digit, so that there is some resemblance to the original number, There are 3 special cases, however:
1. The numbers 01-05 are reserved for 1-5 respectively, likely for the first person to be retired under that number. To account for this reservation, the single digit numbers 6-9 are not available to these players (or to 0 or 00), being distributed by Case 2 below.
2. 6-9, (and by extension 06-09) would become available as a third option for players whose jersey digits summed to the respective (single-digit) number. (e.g. 51 becomes either 6 or 06 since 5+1=6)
3. Players whose numbers are a multiple of 11 (but not 0/00) may also elect to be retired under an illegal multiple of 11. Since only 5 players qualify for this rule and 2 of them also qualify for the "Sum of digits" rule, these numbers can be directly allocated: 66 could be allocated to (the first retired) 11, 77 to 22, 88 to 33, (but 33 would no longer qualify for 6 or 66) and 99 to 55; 44 would not be served under this rule but still remain in contention for 8 or 08.
As for the remaining 12 numbers, (67, 68, 69, 76, 78, 79, 86, 87, 89, 96, 97, and 98,) these could be set as "Important Contributor" numbers. (i.e. persons who were never on the court but are of *great* importance to either the team or the University proper.) 09 could also be assigned to this group, given that only 45 and 54 would qualify for it.
Shane lol
The number 69 is banned in the NBA. There was an instance in which Dennis Rodman wanted to wear it but they denied him
It would be dennis rodman
This was when he became a Chicago Bull and his number 10 was retired prior to his arrival. He applied for 69 got rejected, then applied for 91 and got accepted.
Neil Johnson
Football players definitely wear 69. Jared Allen for example
@@AGuyNamedBrook Nah. Since #10 is retired in Chicago, he wanted #01 but numbers starting with 0 is not allowed except 00. He settled for 91 because 9+1=10. So is 73(7+3=10) when he's in Lakers. He wanted 69 when he's in Dallas but not allowed. He settled for 70.
@@0b5qRa I actually went over that in a previous reply on this video. I did not know about the 01 part but I know he applied for 69 lol.
Change last name to "Threetimes" get number 23.
Jarvin Driftwood genius
200 iq
you have 69 likes
Nice
Or you can change the last name to Twotimes and make the number 34.5
Legally change your last name to: Add-Fourteen-To
And pick 55.
Nice
easier to pick 23 and change your last name to "3x"
i think this discriminates against six fingered referees.
It actually makes a case for missing fingers referees
Dread Pirate Roberts' secondary career choice is _screwed_ then.
Agreed
You mean four-fingered referees. A ref with six fingers would have no issue with this rule.
Maybe if the ref has 6 fingers they should allow #6 and such for just that game
The lack of a college number 6,7,8, or 9 is giving me some serious Mandela effect
Really? What basketball players did you think had those numbers in college?
@@bobross1550 In the NBA iguodala is a pretty famous number 9. I'm pretty sure Brent Barry wore 17 and Ron Harper wore 9. Again NBA only though but I would imagine they would have chosen to don those numbers in college as well
ZakuIIX They didn’t. Iggy wore 24, and Barry wore 31. Not sure about Ron
Wasny jj reddick 17 at duke???
kalstonii he was 4
Of course Will wants a number 69 jersey, dude was cheering for Big Daddy 69 in that episode of The Worst about XFL
He blessed for that one.
XD YES
I think we were all cheering for Big Daddy 69.
I wish the nfl had someone like that, like could you imagine getting tackled by Big Daddy 69
I could've sworn my MyPlayer in 2k16/17 wore #91 in college.
2k don't care
1128AM 2k doesnt need fingers to count
The refs grow fingers in 2k
It's a game dumbass
NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoN
"But 27's in there?"
"No. ...Do you know the digits, and the order that they go in?"
"Most of 'em"
💀😂😂😂
And then he forgets what comes after 38 lol
@MUFC ok
@MUFC stop commenting this on every vid
4:16 “17???”
@@rahellseddek8540 just realized this😂
Do a video on why football players have to wear certain numbers....you don't ever see wide receivers wearing 68, or lineman wearing 85
Parker Adams I second this
It's obvious why not, positions have certain number they have to use. It's not rocket science
Rev Hitit maybe to you, but it’s obviously not common knowledge.
Rev Hitit but not everyone are football fans that understand why.
@@skibbidyrizz All you have to do I look an NFL team, notice that a range of numbers is used for receivers and a range for OL etc and it's common sense at that point. But I guess some idiots need their hands held while they learn something
Speaker: And now presenting our starter line-up:
At Foward, Andy Roberts, number 10
At Center, John Francis, number 21
At Point Guard, Steve Peters, number 24
At Power Foward, Ben Stevens, number 33
[Silence] [lights go off]
...
...
*[Sirens and Airhorns intensifies]*
Speaker: AND NOW, STANDING 6 FOOT 1 INCHES, AT SHOOTING GUARD:
*"THE MAD LAD" WILL ADD-ONE-TO, NUMBER 68"*
That's why Peppers wore 45 for UNC basketball, but 49 for the football team.
Worldwide Wyatt the more we know
He’s thinking 27 from Mr. Splash Man!
Shot Clock Cheeeeeseeee
Number 27 to Number 21
Suti~Tooti HOU-STON
LeBron James We’ve got a problem
Ali Simchi W
the NCAA doesn't know how to count using sign language
Yeah, but the NCAA would only be able to add numbers 7, 8, and maybe 6 [since it's commonly used in place of '3' for players] . 9 is currently used to signify 3 point shots (or 3 foul shots), so I'm okay with the rule since it reduces ambiguity in signaling.
BrendanKearnsMusic wtf are you talking about
BrendanKearnsMusic I understand what you are saying but I feel like the scores table people are smart enough to know if they are using that sign for a 3 point shot or for a jersey number. If not. Then they should be fired.
the way I was taught to do higher numbers as a ref is to turn my hand sideways, indicating a plus 5. A sideways two is seven, a sideways four is a nine, etc. etc.
@@LuisFernandoAraiza "You're saying the foul was committed by a 3 point shot? That just doesn't make any sense ref, but okay!"
In the NHL #0 and #00 were specifically banned in the late-90s, and supposedly the reason for this was because rookie Buffalo Sabres goalie Martin Biron _crashed the NHL's computer system_ by wearing #00 during his 3-game stint in 1995-96. The NHL's denied that's the reason (though of course they would, that'd be embarrassing considering the NBA has no such problems with those numbers) but they've also admitted that they don't actually _know_ the real reason 0 & 00 are banned, because the minutes of that meeting are supposedly lost to the sands of time...
(my point here is that you should do more NHL history videos because the NHL's history is filled with so much silliness it should be talked about & laughed at all the time by everyone.)
99 is also leaguewide retired
Referees should just signal in binary, now they can count up to 1023.
Actually, you cant use the number 69 in the nba. Dennis Rodman already tried lol
Furious Storm158 of course he did
@@SimuLord nobody has ever used 64? what, no nintendo fans in the nba?
@@SimuLord I remember 98 was used by Hamed Haddadi in his one year with Phoenix because he wanted to reference his home country there. (It related to phone codes there for some reason.) However, I wonder if anyone else ever wore 98 before him?
@@SimuLord No one used a stack of numbers
@@crazyluigi6664 Jason Collins wore it in Brooklyn in honor of the dude who got beaten to death in a homophobic attack in 1998
As someone who has announced b-ball games and sat at the scorers’ table this rule is helpful. We need to record which players committed fouls and if the crowd is noisy you can only go off the ref’s hand signals. If someone wore 99 this would be really awkaward
@Hamed Khatiz still way easier to misunderstand
Hamed Khatiz when you are sitting at a table, floor level, and a ref points in the same general area as the rest of the players it’s even more confusing. But when he motions which foul the team belonged to and puts up a 3 and a 5 then I know the foul is on Blue 35
Just hold up 4 fingers sideways instead of vertical. Learned that watching Deadliest Catch.
There are hundreds of ways to express all 10 digits using only one hand. Start with the ASL way of expressing for example.
So just let them use 2 hands?
Legend has it that Will is still saying all the numbers he hasn’t seen in the NCAA
I got to this exact part of the video when I read this I just died 😂😂
George Mikan wore #99 for DePaul, but then again this was when basketball was played with peach baskets.
I'm still waiting to see a player in either college or pro wear a 1/2 Jersey.
As someone studying ASL it’s worth mentioning that the numbers 6-9 are also easy with one hand and also quite distinct from the other 6 digits, and that’s what makes this row even more wild for me
@Kevin L ..... it’s hard work to learn 4 hand signs? they need a way to communicate numbers with one hand and it exists. that’s it. they already have to know to much extremely specific info to be a ref, I think 4 related hand signs would not be that much of a burden. if knowing the difference between a crow and a raven made being a sportscaster easier, I would indeed argue they should learn that info
OK well...no one is using sign language in NCAA officiating, so it is a moot point.
@@FUGP72 yeah man I’m saying they should, keep up
I mean, the hand signal explanation makes sense to me. Then again I'm a programmer, so having bounds set up with that kind of practical logic is pretty common.
It makes sense until you think about it.
You would need all of 5 additional signs that the referees would need to learn.
And that isn't even a new thing, there are languages in which this is normal - Chinese for example HAS one handed signs for single digit numbers.
My HS told us about this rule when we were ordering our jerseys and said we couldn't do it, but I still just wrote down "#91" (Rodman) and ended up coming in, wore it all season with 0 complaints from refs or anything and it all went peachy.
We just not gonna talk about the fact that they fs made this video 6:09 on purpose
This was a very good and interesting video. Thank you.
Are you saying it was "Pretty good"?
NFHS (high school) works under these same rules. Makes even more sense when you are dealing with many scorekeepers who are often volunteer students, parents, or staff. Unless you are involved in HS basketball, you'd be surprised how often there are communication issues between officials and the table. One final note - under NFHS rules, you can have 0 or 00, but not both on the same squad. cheers
Man gets banned from ncaa for having a jersey number of 69
...but not for the reason you'd think.
This also gets more hilarious when you realize that ASL let's you communicate 0-9 using one hand. So there's already a hand signal system that gets around this
Omg when I was in 7th grade I was QB #40 (5:09)
4:10
"Who made that foul?"
*Holds Up 15*
"it was number 17"
"Wait 17?"
This made me chuckle all the 4 times i rewatched it
I feel like he just proved the point. 😂
Having worked the scores table before, I’ll say that this rule definitely helps but it’s really dependent on the refs for whether or not it’s necessary. The good refs will say the numbers as they flash them so you’ll see them go “one, five” when the foul is on number 15. But the bad refs will just briefly hold up their hands. And I worked an AAU game where a team had a 15, a 51, and a 6, and one of the refs wouldn’t mouth the number when he flashed it which honestly was a disaster if I didn’t see who the foul was on myself.
Shout-out to #68 in your programs, starting at small forward, Will Add-One-To.
There was a slight edit to the rule once. Before 1999 the numbers 1 and 2 also weren't allowed. The reasoning was the official would signal for one or two free throws.
They do ASL exists right? They have single handed signs for 1-99
Yeah, most of those signs have motion in them which would make them difficult. But 0-10 all have single hand signs that dont move
Sure and that would defeat the purpose by introducing a new system people aren't used to.
@@guppy719 Granted, but still, there is a very easy counting system out there most don't use
@@atticusshadowmore3263 Its not as easy as counting on your fingers which everybody recognizes.
@@guppy719 driving isnt as easy as walking, but ppl learn that. Just cause u want to limit yourself, doesn’t mean all ppl do.
“Player 24
Holding
I’m itchy”
“Do you know the numbers and the order they go in?” is such a brutal thing to say to someone.
WE LIKE SPORTS AND WE DON'T CARE WHO KNOWS
From shooting hoops
@@DenverGiants Kofie!!
To the super bowl
They're just 2 guys and they're havin a good time
WHEN I SAY CHEATING YOU SAY SUCKS
Everyone that ever watched or played a game of Highschool Basketball should know, that this rule exsist...
Which means the entire heterosexual community has been in the dark about this.
I didn't know about this and i play basketball and i know a lot of people who don't know about this either. A lot of people don't pick those numbers anyway
@@tommclarty17 Thanks for clearing up that the entire NBA is homosexual. I'm sure the hundreds of wives of NBA players are going to be shocked to hear this.
Same rules don’t apply in high school g.. tf are you talking about
Hogscraper you’re welcome!
I like how the video is 6 minutes, 9 seconds
Most people with iqs under 70 would
I used to ref HS ball and this never even occurred to me since we used ASL signs.
What I want to see is a ref with polydactyly who allows the number six.
Next to anything by Jon Bois, Weird Rules is my favorite SB Nation series. Good job dudes.
Ah, an update from the future. NCAA will allowed 0-99 on their jersey.
So, Will, your chance to get 69 in NCAA will be open if this allowed.
This actually came from a controversial ejection where a player wearing 15 was ejected but one of the fouls should have been attributed to #6. This happened twice in 1963.
Or you can change your last name to “sixty” and wear #9
No you can't...
As a basketball official I got to say this rule is one of the best ones. Two hand reporting is simpler when I can throw both numbers up at once. This also makes it less likely for an official scorekeeper to make any mistakes.
So if Antonio Alfonseca became a NCAA referee, could they wear up to 66?
I mean he would have to referee every single game across the country.
Do a video on why Raymond Felton is the undisputed goat
My college football team has a player named Titsworth
His number is 69
Dead serious, google it
Are people really just figuring this out?
Maybe there was a 1 handed ref in the 60s?
This is going to make a great question for Tom Scott's Lateral.
Wasn't expecting a Tom Scott reference over here. Mystery biscuits to you.
If you have ever officiated a basketball game you appreciate this rule. Just makes it easier and avoids confusion.
Yes, but then they couldn’t make these moderately funny jokes. Logic has no place here.
books about Sir Donald Bradman and then make a video about him please.
Americans talking about cricket would make that one even better
@@AlonsoRules it'd just be nice for them to see what a real statistical anomaly looked like. Jordan, Tiger, Brady and Federer are all great but literally no sportsman has stood out like the don did.
If the ref only has one hand, he can't handle any numbers above 5
Ummm maybe use 2 hands?.....
is the number then 9 or 45? or 54? they actually only use one hand. First digit is palm toward scores table, second is back of hand. to avoid any confusion.
College rules are applied to tournaments (unlike NBA) where refs may have to relay calls, or report calls far away, to the score table to keep the games moving. A sign language 7,8,9 is hard to see at distance and according to most coaches all refs are blind anyways, so this can be a problem. In all seriousness it actually is a good rule that seems silly.
2:40 oh so NBA refs have 9 fingers on each hand??
What
Kipple 1998 This comment makes no sense but 83 people liked it for some reason
@@TheBHNetwork he said has to be number 1-5 cause 5 fingers. NBA refs have 5 fingers too but no rule on the number. the fact it didn't make sense kinda says a lot about you.
In the NBA and non-NCAA bball organisations, the numbers are shown with both hands, while verbalising and switching the face of your hand to show a different number. E.g. for 32, you would show 3 fingers with the back of your hand, and then 2 finger with the palm towards the scorer
they're an elite group
It’s because it’s much easier for the referees to signal the player in contention’s jersey number to the scores table with their fingers, gesturing the signal for clarity and verification.
I didn't believe this so I checked my college's basketball team numbers and yeah it holds up.
As a waterpolo player with the number 36 I completely understand why this rule was put in place
Why don’t they... you know.... use both hands? The refs here in Australia do that
Jordan Davies They do now, and have been for at least a decade.
Because 6 and 15/51 would look the same. The same rule is used for high school bball. It's much clearer if one hand is used. No chance of confusion.
Ballwiz 23 how would 6 and 15 look the same. 6 you hold up 5 fingers on one hand and 1 on the other. 15 you close one fist to represent 10, and hold 5 fingers on the other. If you get confused because of that, there is something secretly wrong with you
@@jordandavies4482 Close one fist and hold up five fingers on the other hand? You serious? Do that and people will think that means 50. Literally nobody would inherently understand that and it's just asking for bookkeeping errors. Especially at lower levels where the people keeping score and track of stats aren't professionals. Much easier to have this simple yet effective rule in place.
- A basketball referee of 8 years
Ballwiz 23 if it doesn’t work then why does all of Australia do it that way?
You know other countries have hand systems that go way past five, right? Adopt that. It'll make your refs look cooler and more cultured too.
Basically they have Base-6 numbers
I remember watching a NCAA game when I was a kid when a player got a technical foul for an illegal jersey number
Do a video on why hockey has no formal jersey number rules.
You should explain how NBA and FIBA use the signals when a player in "#17" make a foul.
*Holds up a 1 and a 5* "It was number 17"
Does that mean that to be a Ref in NCAA, you have to have all ten fingers? "Dude's missing a thumb, cut him."
"I understand the words."
I'm not sure he does.
NOT ANYMORE 🎉🎉🎉🎉
"How foul is he?"
**Holds up fingers** "THIS MANY!"
dude my number is 47, i have always wear it on every sport and used 7 on football (soccer). bruh this is crime, let me use 47
Cf. Jon Bois, his topic choices, his unforced, brilliant humor.
Jon Bois is quite good at what he does.
just wait til they figure out how the ASL number system works
I wouldn’t say it’s a stupid rule. A referee holds up the number 6. Is the foul on number 15, 51, or 6?
The reason I had to wear 13
They only let him out to discuss weird rules. I wonder if he knows they never say his name, and that when they say they want him to read or explain a rule, they’re lying.
This video is 6:9 long.
Nice
Easy solution to the hand symbols, ASL. You can sign any single digit number with one hand
Gymnasiums can be very loud places. To avoid confusion and to avoid mistakes made by the scorer, limiting the jersey numbers to digits the ref can signal with one hand make complete sense.
Still odd you can have 1 and 11/2 and 22 etc but not 0 and 00
@@darrengordon-hill I think it might be a software/technical limitation that would prevent 00 from showing up on the scoreboard.
Yet somehow the NBA manages to do it in 18,000 seat arenas, how incredible
Makes sense that it came from an older era. Basketball is one of the few sports where fouls add up and can lead to ejection. So making sure the stat takers get the players number correct when a ref signals them can be pretty important. Sure with the technology we have now we could easily remove the number restrictions and probably never have an issue, but that wasn’t the case even 30 years ago.
This interaction was hilarious I lost it at 2:14
Using ASL you can count to 100 on a single hand, problem solved.
There was an Australian rules football player who wore #100 as a joke during a regular season game.
I've seen number 8 before and number 91 on Rodman... ?
Why can’t they just say the numbers aloud to the scorers table
College arenas
They do, as well as the hand signals. In a loud gym, though, yelling is unreliable. It is better to rely on the book keepers vision, which is seldom obstructed, than their hearing, which can be overpowered.
trippytropicana because I think about it all f your officiating a game in a gym where the atmosphere is excited and loud, the table is not going to hear you say whatever number your saying even if your projecting your voice. That why hand signals are important.
Use sign language. You can show 6,7,8,9 with a single hand
I actually think this rule is quite reasonable. I did book while in High School and this rule mostly eliminated miscommunication
I think college basketball makes enough money they can teach their refs and the scorers table the 4 ASL signs for 6, 7, 8 and 9 before giving them the job. It's not that big of an imposition on high school either.
BYU versus Utah beef, they had to stop off for a few years in basketball and football
Rewind David Ortiz's grand slam against the tigers
Base 6 numbering system. Makes perfect sense to me.
A couple years ago Euroleague changed the rules allowing numbers 0-99 under fifa rule changes 2014 ART 4.3.2
The NCAA discriminates against 6-fingered refs
"Do you know the numbers and the order that they go in?"
"Most of them."
lol
bruh geroge mikan was number 99 for depaul
Do a beef history on SB Nation vs Jon Bois
I wonder what number Kobe would have worn in college