Someday, Vandersloot’s Jersey Will Hang From Gonzaga’s Rafters

[ZagDad84]

It appears that winning the WNBA championship was the final arrow GU needed to see in Sloot's quiver before raising her jersey into the rafters.

From Thursday's Spokesman-Review.

Someday, Vandersloot’s Jersey Will Hang From Gonzaga’s Rafters: ‘She’s Just Special’
Thu., Oct. 21, 2021
By Jim Allen
[email protected]
(509) 459-5437

The cheers rose from coast to coast on Sunday when Courtney Vandersloot and the Chicago Sky won their first WNBA title.

Some of the loudest came from Spokane, where Vandersloot starred at Gonzaga before turning pro.

Now Gonzaga wants to raise the roof for the greatest player in program history by retiring her No. 21 jersey at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

“It’s definitely a priority for us,” GU athletic director Chris Standiford told The Spokesman-Review.

Retiring Vandersloot’s No. 21 jersey has been in the works for some time; in fact, no one has worn it since she graduated in 2011.

All that remains is to find an open date in her busy schedule. Vandersloot also plays in Europe, and it’s unclear when she will depart.

You can read the rest of the article here: https://www.spokesman.com/stories/20...-from-gonzaga/

ZagDad

[RenoZag]

12. 30. 21 Ceremony

SPOKANE, Wash. – Courtney Vandersloot, who just won her first WNBA Championship, will be honored by Gonzaga Athletics on Thursday, Dec. 30 during a ceremony prior to GU's game against San Francisco.

Vandersloot, who will become the first women's player in program history to have her jersey displayed in the McCarthey Athletic Center, will be present for the ceremony.

In the 2011 WNBA Draft, she became the first Bulldog player in school history to be drafted in the first round of the WNBA, as she was the third overall pick, taken by the Chicago Sky.

Vandersloot, the three-time West Coast Conference Player of the Year, was named to the Associated Press All-America Team second-team and State Farm Coaches' All-America Basketball team, USBWA All-America, named the Nancy Lieberman Award winner as the top point guard in the nation, and was the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award winner during her time as a Zag.

https://gozags.com/news/2021/12/8/womens-basketball-gonzaga-athletics-to-honor-courtney-vandersloot-on-dec-30.aspx

[sittingon50]

[zagzilla]

Well deserved! Congrats 'sloot

ZZ

[GonzagasaurusFlex]

Courtney Vandersloot is obviously a fantastic, legendary player in her own right. Greatest PG in Zags women’s hoops history no doubt. What sort of amazes me is how much her game resembles the other great Zags PG, John Stockton, or so it seems to me. Maybe that’s a reach but it’s the impression I’ve gotten for watching her play as a savvy, fearless, controlling the game WNBA veteran.

So happy Gonzaga University is finally raising a women’s basketball player’s jersey to the rafters. Hard earned and well deserved.

I wonder if this is super rare across D1 college basketball campuses or if in fact most have not ever retired a women’s jersey. No time to research that right now but perhaps I will do so later or suggest it as a great article topic to some WBB reporter.

[tyra]

GU has simply produced the two greatest point guards in men and women’s bball. Full stop.

[GoZags]

GU has simply produced the two greatest point guards in men and women’s bball. Full stop.

Bingo.

[seacatfan]

Congrats to Sloot, beyond well deserved!

[seacatfan]

Courtney Vandersloot is obviously a fantastic, legendary player in her own right. Greatest PG in Zags women’s hoops history no doubt. What sort of amazes me is how much her game resembles the other great Zags PG, John Stockton, or so it seems to me. Maybe that’s a reach but it’s the impression I’ve gotten for watching her play as a savvy, fearless, controlling the game WNBA veteran.

So happy Gonzaga University is finally raising a women’s basketball player’s jersey to the rafters. Hard earned and well deserved.

I wonder if this is super rare across D1 college basketball campuses or if in fact most have not ever retired a women’s jersey. No time to research that right now but perhaps I will do so later or suggest it as a great article topic to some WBB reporter.

I think it depends largely on the school. I'm sure Tennessee has several of their women's players jerseys retired. Iowa retired Megan Gustafson's jersey about 5 minutes after she graduated. South Carolina has a statue of A'ja Wilson in front of their arena, I think that trumps a jersey hanging from the rafters. I think UConn doesn't "retire" jerseys but they have a ring of honor or something, they've got a ton of those. From first hand experience I can tell you a school that doesn't have a female basketball player's number hanging from the rafters that galls me is Washington. Isaiah Thomas is up there, but not Kelsey Plum? Utterly ridiculous, he did bupkis by comparison to her. They do have several of their volleyball players honored though.