Hoosier Favorite No. 22? Picking Favorite Indiana Basketball Players, One Number At a Time

There are no names on the Indiana basketball jerseys, just a number, and those digits mean a lot to all Hoosiers fans. We want to know who your favorites are, resuming with the No. 22 in Indiana basketball history that's meant the most to you. Pick your favorite, and we'll do this every day for the rest of the summer.

Haley Jordan | Jul 20, 2022

News-Sentinel.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Welcome back to our summer series where Hoosier basketball fans can vote on their favorite Indiana players to ever wear each number. Today, we resume with all the best to wear No. 22.

Hoosier favorite?

Every day we're going to give you four choices along with a short player bio to pick your favorite Hoosier who wore a certain number.

Here are your four No. 22 jersey choices in alphabetical order so that we're not showing bias. Be sure to take the poll below via Twitter.

(Editor's Note: We'll take results for 48 hours on the poll and then share results on this story the next day, so keep coming back to see the results.)

Damon Bailey (1990-94)

Guard Damon Bailey from Heltonville, Ind. is ranked eighth on Indiana's all-time leading scorers list with 1,741 points over 3,729 minutes played for the Hoosiers.

Bailey caught the eyes of former head coach Bobby Knight when Bailey was a 14-year-old eighth grader. Knight said Bailey was better than any guard he had at the time.

When Bailey elected to go to Indiana, his career boomed as a four-year starter. In his first three seasons with the Hoosiers, the team held 87 victories, the most by any team in the Big Ten during a three-year span.

In Bailey's Hoosiers career, he and his team made the NCAA Tournament each time including a Final Four run in 1992. Indiana knocked off No. 1-seed UCLA to reach the national semifinals, but lost to Duke 81-78.

Bailey was selected with the 44th overall pick in the 1994 NBA draft by the Indiana Pacers. He was cut after one season and never played in an NBA regular season game.

Later, Bailey coached for his alma mater Bedford North Lawrence High School before becoming the Butler Bulldogs women's basketball head coach from 2014-17.

Dean Garrett (1986-88)

Center Dean Garrett from San Clemente, Calif. started in 61 out of 63 games for the Hoosiers. In two seasons, he finished his Hoosiers career with 854 points shooting 53.8 percent from the field and 534 rebounds.

Garrett was a member of the 1987 NCAA Tournament championship team that defeated Syracuse by one point for the Hoosiers' fifth title overall and Coach Bob Knight's third.

Post college, Garrett was selected in the second round as the 38th overall pick in the 1988 NBA draft by the Phoenix Suns, but went to play in Italy and Greece instead. When Garrett returned eight seasons later, he had several stints with various teams including the Nuggets, Timberwolves and the Warriors.

Wayne Radford (1974-78)

Wayne Radford from Indianapolis, Ind. scored 922 total points during his Hoosiers career with 298 rebounds.

Most notably, the guard/forward was a member of the undefeated 1976 Hoosiers team that defeated Michigan in the NCAA title game for Indiana's third NCAA title and Coach Bob Knight's first.

Radford played for the Indiana Pacers for one season and was later inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. He passed away unexpectedly in Jan. 2021 from a ruptured aneurysm.

Jimmy Rayl (1960-63)

Guard Jimmy Rayl from Kokomo, Ind. ranks 24th on the Hoosier's all-time leading scorers list with 1,401 points in 68 games played.

Rayl still holds the record for most points scored in a single game with 56 in Indiana's matchup versus Minnesota and 56 again the following season versus Michigan State.

Two must have been his lucky number because he was also a two-time All-American and two-time All-Big Ten, not to mention the purpose of this story — he was No. 22.

Following college, Rayl played for the Indiana Pacers when the team began play in the American Basketball Association. He hit the first three-pointer in Pacers history and was once voted Most Popular Player by fans.

Rayl passed away in January 2019 at age 77.

Honorable mentions:

Archie Dees (1955-58)

Forward/center Archie Dees won Big Ten MVP twice in 1957 and 1958, only one of three Hoosiers to achieve multiple Big Ten Conference honors.

Following graduation, Dees was selected as the No. 2 overall pick by the Cincinnati Royals in the 1958 NBA Draft. He played four seasons in the league with various teams.

Dees passed away in April, 2016 in Bloomington, Ind.

Jordan Geronimo (2020-current)

Rising junior forward Jordan Geronimo and New Hampshire's 2020 Gatorade Player of the Year played in 21 Hoosier games off the bench his freshman season shooting 51.4 percent from the floor.

Last season as a sophomore, Geronimo played in all 34 games off the bench and tied for second on the team with 24 blocked shots. Geronimo posted a career-high 15 points off the bench in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament versus Wyoming as Indiana advanced to face Saint Mary's in the First Round.

Stew Robinson (1982-86)

Guard Stew Robinson played in 113 games, starting 46 of them during his Hoosiers career. The Anderson, Ind. native scored 632 points and had 391 total assists.

Under former head coach Bob Knight, Robinson made the NCAA Tournament with his fellow Hoosiers for three out of his four seasons. The best appearance was in 1984 when Indiana shut down No. 1-seed North Carolina to advance to the Elite Eight where Virginia won by two points.

Steve Robinson — Stew Robinson / IU Archives

Marshall Strickland (2002-06)

Guard Marshall Strickland lands at No. 45 on Indiana's all-time leading scorer list with 1,106 points. He totaled 370 rebounds and 312 assists during his Hoosiers' career.

Strickland went to the NCAA Tournament twice in his Hoosiers career but never made it past the Second Round.

Bootsie White (1970-73)

Guard Bootsie White from Hammond, Ind. was a part of Indiana's third Final Four team and Coach Bob Knight's first in his Hoosiers' career in 1973.

Indiana fell to UCLA in the Final Four 70-59 and faced Providence in the National Third Place Game. The Hoosiers won 97-79 for White's last season with the Hoosiers.

All-time No. 22's at Indiana

Here are all of the players who have worn No. 22 at Indiana:

Jordan Geronimo — (2020-current)
Jacquez Henderson — (2019-20)
Clifton Moore — (2017-19)
Quentin Taylor — (2015-19)
Stanford Robinson — (2013-14)
Maurice Creek — (2009-13)
Lance Stemler — (2006-08)
Marshall Strickland — (2002-06)
Jean Paul — (1994-95)
Damon Bailey — (1990-94)
Dean Garrett — (1986-88)
Stew Robinson — (1982-86)
Steve Reish — (1978-79)
Wayne Radford — (1974-78)
Trent Smock — (1972-74)
Bootsie White — (1970-73)
Joe Cooke — (1967-70)
Bill Russell — (1964-67)
Jimmy Rayl — (1960-63)
Archie Dees — (1955-58)
Jim DeaKyne — (1952-54)
John Scott — (1949-50)
Jack Brown — (1946-49, 1950-51)
Dick Schneider — (1944-45)
James Copeland — (1944-46)
Claude Retherford Jr. — (1943-44)
Jay McCreary — (1939-41)
Curly Armstrong — (1938-40)
George Reed — (1930-32)
Joseph Zeller — (1929-30)

Vote for your favorite No. 22 on Twitter

You'll be able to vote on Twitter for your favorite player with each number. Here's the link to today's poll for No. 22.

We have four players and FIVE honorable mentions for the best #iubb players to ever wear No. 22. Hoosier Favorite? https://t.co/e5Jgxiz30F
— Indiana Hoosiers on SI (@HoosiersNowFNSI) July 20, 2022