Last week, the University of Arizona saw its 2012 nominee Richard Jefferson officially selected as a member of this year’s PAC-12 Men’s Basketball Hall of Honor class.

It’s elite company for the former Wildcat, who joins such notables as Lute Olson, Sean Elliott and Steve Kerr to name three of the 10 Arizona alums to receive the conference’s highest honor.

Jefferson, now a 10-year NBA veteran, averaged 11.2 and 5.0 rebounds per-game in three seasons in Tucson. His final campaign ended in the 2001 National championship game — a loss to Duke.

Between graduating from Phoenix’ MoonValley High School and pulling on a New Jersey Nets’ jersey to tip-off his professional career, Jefferson became a fan favorite with his high-flying aerial assaults on the rims.

Not many of those Arizona loyalist in the Old Pueblo will argue Jefferson’s status among Wildcat elite. No one can question his dedication to his alma mater, either. Look no further than the Richard Jefferson Gymnasium on the UA campus for proof.

 This year’s class of a dozen former athletes and/or coaches reads like a who’s who of “remind me who he is again.”

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THE 2012 PAC-12 HALL OF HONOR CLASS

Richard Jefferson, Arizona

Kurt Nimphius, ArizonaState

Lamond Murray, California

Burdette Haldorson, Colorado

Jim Barnett, Oregon

A.C. Green, OregonState

George Selleck, Stanford

Ed O’Bannon, UCLA

Sam Barry, USC

Arnie Ferrin, Utah

George Irvine, Washington

Steve Puidokas, WashingtonState

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PAST WILDCAT HONOREES

2002 – Sean Elliott

2003 – Steve Kerr

2004 – Khalid Reeves

2005 – Pete Williams

2006 – Damon Stoudamire

2007 – Chris Mills

2008 – Miles Simon

2009 – Lute Olson

2010 – Mike Bibby

2011 – Michael Dickerson

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So how does an alumnus become eligible for the esteemed conference honor? And, using that criteria, who should be the next Wildcat alum inducted into the conference’s Hall of Honor? Who is even eligible?

 

 

According to the Arizona Athletics:

Each Pac-12 institution will be responsible for nominating the honoree from their individual school. Following are the criteria that should be considered, when determining your nominee.

1. Nominees may be former athletes, coaches or administrators.

2. Nominees that are former athletes are only eligible for consideration provided a period of five years has passed since completion of his period of eligibility.

3. All nominated athletes must have met the eligibility requirements of his time.

4. When selecting an outstanding athlete, consider these elements (not listed in order of importance).

a. Winning a national championship

b. Selection to a national team

c. Selection as an All American

d. Recognition in the National Hall of Fame.

e. Winning an Olympic medal

f. Membership on an Olympic team

So which former Wildcats are eligible?

 

The breakdown:

A)    WINNING A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Who is eligible: A.J. Bramlett; Bennett Davison, Donnell Harris and Jason Terry

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B)    SELECTION TO A NATIONAL TEAM

Who is eligible: Gilbert Arenas; Bob Elliott; Jason Gardner; Jordan Hill; Andre Iguodala; Roger Johnson; Sean Rooks; Salim Stoudamire; Jason Terry; Luke Walton; Loren Woods; Michael Wright…and Derrick Williams*

*Not eligible for five years

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C)    SELECTION AS AN ALL AMERICAN

Who is eligible: Jason Gardner; Salim Stoudamire; Jason Terry

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D)    RECOGNITION IN THE NATIONAL HALL OF FAME

Who is eligible: None

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E)     WINNING AN OLYMPIC MEDAL

Who is eligible: None

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F)     MEMBERSHIP ON AN OLYMPIC TEAM

Who is eligible: Gilbert Arenas** and Andre Iguodala (2010)***

**2006-08 USA Men’s Senior National Team

***2010USABasketball FIBA World Championships

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THE SKINNY:

“Selection to a National Team” could apply to Arenas and Iguodala and their participation on USA Basketball squads.

If so, then all players in category “B” bump down to “C” and join Gardner, Stoudamire and Terry, who were Consensus All-Americans, while the rest were members of secondary All American lists.

Either way, they’re all eligible and it’s not worth the headache trying to decipher.

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Arizona has enough candidates to last them the next 15 years — 16 when you calculate the currently ineligible Derrick Williams into the mix.

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Based on this criterion, there is no way less established programs such as Washington State or Colorado can have a player inducted every year.

The Cougars have had one All American in their history. That would be Don Collins in 1980. Colorado has had two All Americans, and none since Chauncey Billups in 1997.

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The PAC-12 has more NCAA titles (15) than any other conference, but 11 of them belong to UCLA. That leaves only eligible players from Arizona’s 1997 championship (the conference’s last) and Oregon (1939), Stanford (1942) and Utah (1944).

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Winning an Olympic medal (E) is kind of superfluous if a candidate only has to be on an Olympic team (F) to be eligible.

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If the conference slacks on who is eligible, does it cheapen the selections from strong programs such as UCLA and Arizona?

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Does any of this really matter? The answer is no. Think of it as mostly as more Bear Down & Blog fun with semantics.

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SOME NOTABLE INELIGIBLE WILDCATS

Joseph Blair

Chase Budinger

Jud Buechler

Channing Frye

Reggie Geary

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There are plenty of former Wildcats to select. Some potential candidates for 2013:

JASON TERRY

Only Wildcat to win NCAA and NBA titles

PAC-10 Player of the year in 1999

Consensus All American in 1999

NBA Sixth-man Award winner in 2009

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JASON GARDNER

Pomeroy Naismith Player of the Year 2003

Consensus All American in 2003

No. 22 jersey retired by UA

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BOB ELLIOTT

Former All-time leading scorer in UA history

One of just 105 players in NCAA history with 2,000 points/1,000 rebs

All-American

Color commentator voice for NBA Live video game!

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SALIM STOUDAMIRE

Consensus All American in 2005

First Team John Wooden All-American in 2005

Finished 9th on NCAA all-time in 3-pt percentage list

Fourth all-time leading scorer in UA history

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ANDRE IGUODALA

Member of 2010 USA National Team (gold)

PAC-10 All Freshman team

All PAC-10 as sophomore

Honorable mention All American;

7-year NBA pro, 2011-12 All-Star

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 16th, 2012 at 4:04 pm and is filed under Sports. Tags for this post: Arizona basketball, Arizona Wildcats, PAC-12 basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.