Editors Note:  Nice job KC...thought we'd do a little Front Page Friday for your efforts.  - Denver

As we all know, there is quite a bit of history that goes along with Kansas Basketball.  Understatement, I know.  There are only so many things that can be said of the pageantry, prestige and history of one of the utmost, tip-top athletic programs in all of college sports.  We all know the players, the coaches, the games, the conference titles, the national titles, etc.  It has all been discussed ad nauseun.

Something that I don't think I've ever heard was a discussion about the greatest collection of players to wear the same jersey number for Kansas Basketball.  There's been some great players to play for Kansas, obviously.  But, off the top of your head, who would you say is the best collection of players to wear the same number?  What jersey number has the most history in Kansas Basketball history?

My personal opinion and reasoning ahead...

(Note: Special shoutout to rockchalk.com (Historical stats section) for every single one of these wonderful stats cited in this post.  Quite possibly, the greatest website ever for a Jayhawk junkie.  An incredible database of everything Kansas Basketball.  Be sure and check it out sometime.  You will learn something you might not have known already.)

The Numbers

3 Players with 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds

3 National Player of the Year Award Winners

5 NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player Awards

11 Olympic Gold Medal and 1 Bronze Medal Winner(s)

15 Current Players, Coaches and Executives in the NBA

16 Players and Coaches in the Basketball Hall of Fame

25 Player Jerseys Retired

28 First Round NBA Draft Picks (69 Total Draft Picks)

57 First Team All-American Selections

132 Consecutive Games Scoring in Double Figures - Danny Manning (NCAA Record)

Quite impressive, eh?  You would have to be a Missouri fan to think not.  Of course, those are overall numbers for every jersey number.

Jersey Number Facts

Most Popularly Retired Number - 15 (3 players)

T-2 - 5, 10 and 13 (2 each)

Most Commonly Worn Number of All-Time - 20 (27 players, including Kenny Gregory - video here.  That's high school, by the way.)

2nd - 12 (25 players - including Brady Morningstar (current), Billy Thomas and Wilt Chamberlain (before switching to 13)

T-3 - 13, 22 and 24 (24 players each - including (13): C.J. Henry (current), Jeff Boschee, Carl Henry and Wilt Chamberlain; (22): Marcus Morris (current) and Dean Smith; (24): Travis Releford (current), Sasha Kaun, C.B. McGrath, Chris Piper, Dean Smith, George Dick (for namesake purposes only)

6th - 15 (23 players - including Elijah Johnson (current), MARIO CHALMERS, J.R. Giddens (I had to), Bud Stallworth and Jo Jo White)

T-7 - 3, 10 and 32 (21 players each - including (3): Russell Robinson (most recent), Lester Earl and Ray Frisby (once again, for namesake purposes only); (10): Tyshawn Taylor (current) and Kirk Hinrich; (32): Tyrone Appleton (most recent), Darnell Jackson and T.J. Pugh)

T-10 - 14 and 23 (20 players each - including (14): Tyrel Reed (current), Kevin Pritchard and Darnell Valentine; (23): Mario Little (current), Wayne Simien and Rex Walters)

12th - 44 (19 players - including David Padgett (most recent), Eric Chenowith and Ron Kellogg)

13th - 25 (18 players - including Brandon Rush (most recent), Michael Lee and Danny Manning)

T-14 - 5, 11 (17 players each - including (5): Jeff Withey (current), Rodrick Stewart and Keith Langford; (11): Quintrell Thomas (most recent), Aaron Miles and Jacque Vaughn)

16th - 4 (15 players - including Sherron Collins (current), Nick Collison and Ryan Robertson)

The Countdown

#5: 11
Players Responsible for Ranking: Aaron Miles and Jacque Vaughn
Possibly the two greatest true point guards to every play for the Jayhawks, Miles and Vaughn are 1-2 in career assists (954 and 804), assists per game (6.9 and 6.4) and 4th and 5th, respectively in assist/TO over ratio (2.293 and 2.290).  Vaughn ruled the point guard record book at Kansas by the time his stellar career as Jayhawk floor general had been completed.  One of my very first favorite players, he ran Roy Williams breakneck speed, transition offense to near perfection.  Never known for his scoring ability, he did score over 1,200 points in his career, averaging nearly 10 ppg.  Vaughn's records all stood strong for eight years.  Then, a very similar player, a kid from Oregon, came into the program.  Aaron Miles started from day one, racking up 137 career starts of the 138 games in a Jayhawk uniform.  He actually had his career high for assists in a season his freshman year, when he dropped 252 dimes (6.8 apg).  Another thing Vaughn and Miles both had in common was their reputation as sticky-handed thieves on the defensive end.  Miles ranks third in career steals with 214; Vaughn twelfth with 160.  Floor generals, to say the least.  Very fitting they shared the same number.

#4: 25
Players Responsible for Ranking: Brandon Rush and Danny Manning
Danny Manning is arguably the most famous, popular and best player during his Kansas career.  2,951 career points (20.1 ppg) (nearly 1,000 more than second place), 1,187 career rebounds (8.1 rpg) - both records.  250 steals (1.7 spg) - second all-time.  200 blocks (1.4 bpg) - fifth all-time.  And, on and on and on.  Danny's numbers are undeniable.  But, what he will forever be immortalized for is the run to the 1988 National Championship.  I was six full months from birth when Danny and The Miracles cut down the nets in my hometown of Kansas City, but no matter how old you are, if you are a Jayhawk, you know all about the '88 title.  Danny is so great that he's a quickly rising assistant coach, starting to creep onto the radars of programs around the country.  (Please do whatever it takes to keep him here, Bill.  Please.)  Brandon Rush is one of my all-time favorite Jayhawks, without a doubt.  When he first came to Kansas, the sky was the limit.  He showed brief flashes of brilliance and what-could-be-to-come throughout his freshman year.  Known as a flashy scorer in hugh school, from day one Coach Self's number one project was to make Brandon an elite, lockdown defender that he could put on the opposing team's best player, and know that he would be taken nearly out of the game.  Brandon became just that by his junior year, when he was giving the unenvious task of guarding Kevin Durant on two occasions.  Though he gave up three or four inches in height, Brandon put the clamp on Durant down the stretch, something the longer, more suited Julian Wright couldn't do.  That year, Brandon also did something that Danny did - raise the NCAA hardware after an historically epic national championship game.  Thank you, to both of you gentlemen for those lovely trophies.

#3: 15
Players Responsilbe for Ranking: Mario Chalmers, Bud Stallworth and Jo Jo White
Between the 15's, two retired jerseys and a national title are accounted for.  Stallworth and White are names that are commonly mentioned, but most, or at least myself, know little about.  At the conclusion of their careers, Stallworth and White finished third and fourth respectively on the all-time scoring list.  So, there's that.  They've both got their names hanging in the rafters of the Fieldhouse.  So, there's also that.  White was even named to the All-Time Big 8 squad.  Only in a program like Kansas would players with such accomplishments go somewhat unspoken for in conversation of all-time greats.  So, why do they rank third among collective groups of players to share a number?  I think that's quite obvious.  Mario.  I think this says it all.**  Without doing too much brain-racking research, I would venture to say that the tandem of Mario and Russell Robinson were the most notorious bandits in Kansas history.  You couldn't make a pass anywhere around the perimeter without one of those two getting a hand on it, tipping it down court and finishing with two the other way.  It would have been really great if Mario came back for his encore senior year, but it seems as if he made the right decision and has settled in the starting role alongside Dwayne Wade.  Not a bad gig - even for a guy that hit the biggest shot in Kansas Basketball history.

** Dear Mario Chalmers,
Thank you.  Thank you for undoubtedly the most exciting, fulfilling, joyous and memorable moment of my life to this point.  You will forever live in the hearts and minds of Jayhawk fans for not only having a great career and being a tremendous ambassador to the university, but foremost, for your answered prayer of Jayhawk Nation when you let fly the prettiest, sweetest three point basket seen this side of Jupiter.  In one fleeting moment, you paid every single fan back that has been with the program through the very best of times, and the very worst of times, with the stuff that dreams are made of.  As fans, we invest so much of ourselves into a team and sometimes forget that we're not even really a part of the team.  You brought something that, as much as I believe and am an eternal Kansas Basketball optimist, I wondered whether I would ever see.  Every heartbreak every year in the tournament, Bucknell, Bradley, Mike Bibby and Hakim Warrick were all removed as the proverbial monkeys on our back.  With that one act of clutch, you erased every ounce of pain, sadness and tear ever shed over Kansas Basketball.  In that moment, nothing else mattered.  Not a single one of us will ever forget exactly where we were, what we did or how we felt in that moment.  It's amazing how one little moment can become so ingrained into your heart and mind, and never, ever leave you.  I think I speak for everybody associated with the University of Kansas when I say you will always have a special place in my heart.
Once again, thank you,
KC

#2: 0/00
Players Responsible for Ranking: Darrell Arthur, Drew Gooden and Greg Ostertag
The battle between number one and number two on this little countdown was really difficult to decide.  Once again, very similar groups.  One National Player of the Year big man, one '90's throwback type player and one member of the 2008 title team each.  I chose to go with the number before numbers as the runner-up.  Nobody sent more balls back from whence it came than The Big Double Zero.  If you were blessed with a monstrous 7 foot, 2 inch frame, do just what Ostertag did - be as awkward and goofy looking as possible, bully guys half your size, jump as little off the ground as possible and ride your way to a multi-million dollar NBA career doing it.  Drew Gooden was arguably the best player to play for Kansas during the last decade.  If you think about it, there might only be one other better, more complete player than Drew.  And, he has a leg up on Drew, because he played out all four seasons of eligibility.  Had he come back for his senior year, Gooden would have almost assuredly become the all-time leading rebounder and reached top three on the scoring list.  Not bad for three years.  Now, if we could just get him to do something less ridiculous with his hair.  The history of Darrell Arthur is fresh enough in our minds that not much need be said about him.  The one memory I will always have of Shady is the alley-oop flush in overtime of the '08 title game.  It was at that point that I was one hundred percent positive we were the champions.  It would have been nice to have DA back for a third season last year and witnessed he and Cole form another dominant frontcourt duo, but once again, strike while the iron is hot.  Kinda odd that there were that many great players to wear 0 or 00.

#1: 4
Players Responsible for Ranking: Sherron Collins, Nick Collison and Ryan Robertson
Ironically, the last three guys to pay homage to Brett Favre (as if we didn't need another reference to that guy on the internet) are the ones to bring the power to the number.  Ryan Robertson was never really an outstanding, mind-blowingly good player, but he was scrappy, tough and always seemed to kill Missouri when doing so was most needed.  That, and he was always the one that I chose to take the buzzer beater in my driveway when I played out every KU game, calling out player names and broadcasting as I went along.  That has to be worth something, right?  Nick Collison is the Player of the Decade, as far as I'm concerned.  Second in points, third in rebounds, 20th in assists and second in blocks.  I don't think anybody worked harder to get more out of what they had than Nick did.  The climax of his career, unfortunately, would probably have to be his 24 point, 23 rebound performance against Texas in the Fieldhouse.  You know, the one where Dick Vitale had a man-gasm on air and joined in the standing ovation.  I mean, Dickie V never exaggerates, right?  So, it had to be of epid proportions.  Actually, he did get that one right.  Still, to this day, the greatest single game performance I've seen.  It may just be my opinion, but I think Nick, along with Kirk, were the reasons that Roy stuck around as long as he did.  Those were his babies, and I don't think he could have stood not finishing out their careers with him.  Nick and Kirk graduate, Roy bolts.  Hmmm.  As the only current player of any group to make the top 5, that says something about the legacy of Sherron Collins.  Still being written, he carried enough clout to vault the number four into the top position.  There's not much to say about Sherron that hasn't already been said, and will be said the rest of this season.  One day, his number four jersey will join that of Nick's high atop Allen Fieldhouse, and he will be remembered as one of the very best to ever lace them up for the Jayhawks.  Sheron Collins' excerpt - still to be written.

That's a lot of quality history, right there, folks.  I don't know about you, but putting it into perspective like that, with even some the better, more popular players (Clyde Lovellette (16), Scot Pollard (31), Jerod Haase (35), Matt Kleinmann (54 - five-time Big 12 Champion and National Champion) not even getting a mention in here based on the fact of an uncommon number, you really realize how lucky you are to be a Jayhawk Basketball fan.  For that, I am thankful.  Thanksgiving came early, I guess.