Colonial Athletic Association issued the following announcement on Dec. 26
Unlike their professional counterparts, college basketball players are numerically limited in how unique they can be with their uniforms.
NCAA rules do not allow a digit higher than 5 in a uniform number, leaving athletes 37 options from which to choose. With the 8 of Liz Cambage, 77 of Luka Doncic, or variety of options in Ron Artest’s career off the table, creativity is limited – but not eliminated.
A handful of Colonial Athletic Association basketball players have chosen the next-best option with the selection of 0 – or 00 – to grace their uniforms. The rulebook allows for a team to have a player wearing one but not both versions of the integer that holds no value numerically, but plenty to those who wear it.
Towson’s Allie Kubek entered the holiday break ranking fifth in the CAA in scoring at 15.7 points per game and earned a CAA Player of the Week honor in December. The sophomore forward, who has helped the Tigers to a 9-1 start, is the top-scoring 0 on the women’s or men’s side this season.
“I wore 21 in high school, but when they gave me the numbers to choose from, I thought ‘oh, 0 is nice – Jayson Tatum wears 0 – I’m going to pick 0,” said Kubek, one CAA player who did not request it as an option in advance.
Elon’s Brie Perpignan made a SportsCenter appearance with 0 on her uniform earlier this month, as the Phoenix women’s and men’s programs won on buzzer-beaters minutes apart. Perpignan’s selection was also inspired by Tatum along with Russell Westbrook, to the point that it was an ask prior to arriving on campus.
“I think when players are getting recruited by a school, they look to see if anybody’s wearing the number they want,” said Perpignan. “Nobody had 0, so I absolutely asked for it.”
Northeastern’s Jason Strong went another route with his uniform selection, determining that two 0s were better than one.
“I wanted to be a little bit different with it,” said Strong. “Around the league and around the NBA, there are a lot of players wearing 0. I decided to go with 00 because it would be cool and different and my own number.”
Strong’s request was a backup plan, as his first choice – 20 – was taken by former CAA Sixth Man of the Year Bolden Brace.
“When I came up with 00 and went to the coaches with it, they said, ‘if you want that, it’s all yours,’” Strong recalled about his outside-the-box request.
For Kubek and Perpignan, CAA play will determine the leading 0 on the women’s side this winter. Kubek is fifth in the league in scoring and Perpignan ninth, while Kubek is second in field-goal percentage and Perpignan third in assists.
Perpignan, when presented with the idea of being No. 1 among those to wear 0: “if it does come to that, that would be pretty cool.”
Original source can be found here.
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