http://www.nola.com/lsu/t-p/basketball/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/114094166264570.xml I really liked Pokey's fair comments. Augustus good bet to be in that number Jersey expected to be retired after five years Sunday, February 26, 2006By William Kalec Staff writer BATON ROUGE -- As a freshman -- unproven, unpolished and largely unknown even within her home state -- Seimone Augustus gazed upon the sacred trinity of LSU basketball and noticed an obviously similarity among the hanging banners. "It's just men up there," she said. "So maybe you've got to be a man to get your jersey retired?" Even though Augustus directed LSU to consecutive Final Fours, re-arranged the Lady Tigers record book, drastically inflated home attendance averages and changed the national perception of the program and local perception of the sport, the retired-jersey club at the school will remain exclusively male for at least five more years. Although there is no apparent opinion within the LSU athletic department that Augustus doesn't deserve to be the fifth Tigers athlete to receive such an honor -- joining football standout Billy Cannon and basketball stars Bob Pettit, Pete Maravich and Shaquille O'Neal -- university bylaws require a mandatory waiting period. According to guidelines approved Sept. 18, 1995, athletes are not eligible for nomination for a minimum of five years after the expiration of their eligibility and must have demonstrated "truly unusual and outstanding accomplishments, exceeding the criteria used for Hall of Fame selection. Athletic performance should be considered unique, such as the winning of a Heisman Trophy, and should be based on the total LSU career." "I wasn't here when the rule was put into place, but I believe the reasoning behind it is you get a better perspective of a person's career years down the line than you do right when they're leaving," LSU associate athletic director Herb Vincent said. "There's a lot of emotion involved at the end of someone's career. I think Seimone is an exception to the rule. She's a no-brainer. But the waiting period allows you to take the chance to look back and evaluate." LSU coach Pokey Chatman , a member of the Hall of Fame committee that must cast a unanimous vote of support for any number retirement, does not object to the waiting period. "People will not forget," Chatman said. "There are parameters and stipulations that are in place for very good reasons. If Seimone is the most important recruit in the history of LSU athletics -- and she's lived up that billing -- they can wait 20 years and no one will forget." "Each one of those players who came through this university made their mark, made an impact," Augustus said. "And if I joined them, that means that I made an impact in some way and left my mark here for the Sylvia Fowles and future recruits to come in and continue this. And if it goes up there, players can look up there and see it as motivation -- that it can be done."
Hang the jersey! What do we lose if we retire the jersey of one of our greatest athletes ever, in all sports? :geauxtige
Like Vincent said, it's a no-brainer this will happen. Her impact is obviously and unquestionably unique for women's basketball at LSU. 2 straight Final Fours already, their first ever, and hopefully even more soon, and countless individual honors. Oh, it'll get done.
From hundreds of fans per game to thousands.... that is only one of her many effects on LSU Basketball...
Wasn't she being heralded as one of the most amazing players ever when she was in middle school? I know she was in Sports Illustrated before she got to LSU. Seimone has been awesome, but she wasn't unknown.
She's a lock for jersey retirement and LSU Sports Hall of Fame. I don't think that she would want us to bend the rules in order to hang the jersey early -- but it would be nice if LSU did just that.
Her jersey will definitely be hanging up next to the others in five years. I don't think that the system needs to be changed, but I agree that it would be worth it!
LSU has been very, very tough when it comes to retiring jerseys and rightfully so IMO. Only a handful of jerseys have been retired in ALL sports and personally I think retiring a number should be reserved for the best of the best athletes. Retiring a player's number should be reserved for LSU Hall of Fame athletes that stoodout above their peers who are also in the HOF. That being said I can't think of another female athlete that has donned the purple and gold that is more deserving than Semoine Augustus. She elevated LSU women's basketball to a level not seen before and she will leave Tiger Town as the greatest in her sport - worthy of having her number retired.
I will miss watching her play as a tiger. Isn't it amazing to watch her? She shoots as if it's practice or a pick-up game, without a care in the world, total faith in her shot, as mentioned in the book "Golf is Not a Game of Perfect."
