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Oscar Tshiebwe explains why NCAA won’t let him wear No. 9 jersey this year
By Adam Spencer
Published:
Oscar Tshiebwe wore the No. 34 jersey in his first year with the Kentucky Wildcats in 2021-22. That jersey number clearly worked well, as Tshiebwe was the National Player of the Year.
However, he wanted to change his jersey to No. 9 this offseason. Why? Because that’s his goal — lead the Wildcats to national championship No. 9.
But, the NCAA won’t let him change his jersey number. Tshiebwe explained why during a media conference on Thursday (via Kentucky Sports Radio):
“Why did the NCAA stop with number five? You cannot go up,” Tshiebwe said. “I was trying to get number nine, to wear number nine, just to remember this is my number for this year, I have a purpose for this number but they told me I can’t wear number nine. The numbers stop at five. I was like wow this is crazy.”
The NCAA has a rule that digits on the backs of jerseys can’t be higher than 5, so that referees can signal fouls to the scorer’s table more easily.
Of course, that’s not a rule in the NBA, so it’s unclear why the NCAA hasn’t adopted the same numbering rules as the professional league. Either way, don’t expect to see Tshiebwe in a No. 9 jersey this upcoming season.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
