AFA men's basketball: How players got their jersey numbers

How did the members of the Air Force men's basketball team come to get the numbers they're wearing this season? Answers are below.

3 - Brandon Provost
Provost wore No. 22 growing up because his father, who played football, and his mother, who played basketball at Sam Houston State, both wore No. 22. But Dan Miller took over as coach of his high school team prior to his junior year and wanted Provost to switch to No. 3.

4 - Saj El-Amin
El-Amin wore No. 13 his first two seasons at the academy. It was his top choice of a limited selection as a freshman because his older sister, Najla, wore it when she played basketball in high school and "she was the one who always took me to the court when I was little," he said.

El-Amin asked equipment manager Rob Malone for No. 4 this year because that was his football and basketball number, from his Pop Warner days through high school. El-Amin's younger brother, Jauhar, wears No. 4 playing football and basketball as a junior in high school.

10 - Andrew Henke
"The first day out of basic training, I came down here (to the locker room), had a locker and I had No. 10 in there," he said.

Henke was No. 34 in high school, but then-junior Dan Nwaelele had the number when Henke arrived. "I tried to get him to give me the jersey, but that wasn't happening," Henke said. "There's really nothing I could offer at the time. I didn't have any money, I didn't have any clothes, even. I had no possessions other than what they gave me. It was a begging."

12 - Jon Atkins
Atkins wore No. 21 in high school, but sophomore Phillip Brown has that number. No. 12 was in his locker when he arrived at the academy this year. He takes the number over from recently graduated Tim Anderson, who ranks second all-time at Air Force in career steals (175) and games played (124).

"Obviously, everybody knows that Tim Anderson was 12, so I don't want to like ruin that number's dynasty," Atkins said. "I'm going to stick with it. It's a cool number to have."

13 - Trevor Noonan
The freshman got the number he's had "since about the fifth grade" when El-Amin switched to No. 4.

"We talked, and he said I could have 13 because he wanted 4," Noonan said.

Unlike some highly publicized, big-money deals for jerseys in the pros, this was "just a nice, friendly trade," Noonan said.

15 - Taylor Stewart
Like several of his teammates, Stewart wore No. 21 in high school (for his last three seasons - he wore No. 34 as a freshman).

Because Brown had No. 21, he chose No. 15 because some of his favorite players wore that number - most notably former Kentucky guard Jeff Sheppard, who played for the 1996 and 1998 national championship teams. Stewart hails from Lexington, Ky.

20 - Tom Fow
Fow, who wore No. 42 in high school and No. 23 for his AAU team, wanted 23 at Air Force but had to choose between 20 and 15.

21 - Phillip Brown
"It's always been my number since I started playing basketball," said Brown, who noted liking former football and baseball great Deion Sanders as one of the reasons he chose No. 21 originally.

Brown took over the number from 2007 graduate Jacob Burtschi, the academy's 10th-leading scorer all-time (1,205 career points) and its all-time leader in steals (196) and games played (125).

"He makes jokes about it," Brown said. "I told him, ‘You're lucky you're not going to be here, because if you were I'd just take your number away.' And he said, ‘No, it'll be hanging in the rafters.'"

22 - Avery Merriex
Merriex was No. 24 in his senior year at Denver East High.

He thinks.

"I honestly don't remember," Merriex said. "I'm not a big numbers guy. I'm just happy to have a jersey and be able to play."

No. 22 was in his locker when he got to the academy. "It's grown on me," he said.

31 - Matt Holland
In high school Holland wore Nos. 21, 30, 3 and 24 his freshman through senior years, respectively. "I just mixed it up every year," he said. No. 31 was in his locker when he got to Air Force.

"Yeah, I like it," he said. "I really wasn't sure at first because I couldn't really think of any players that wore 31. But I think (NBA player) Shane Battier has it, and I think (baseball great) Greg Maddux was 31 too."

32 - Shawn Hempsey
The freshman guard's favorite number is 11, which has been worn by many great point guards, including Isiah Thomas. He wore No. 11 his freshman through junior years in high school before switching to No. 44 as a senior to honor Tom Meeks, an assistant coach on his high school team. Meeks had worn No. 44 in high school.

"He was a really good mentor to me, so I wore it in my senior year for him," Hempsey said.

Hempsey will try to get No. 11 next year, he said, when senior Hunter Myers, another member of the program, graduates.

33 - Mike McLain
McLain wore No. 45 in high school and at the prep school because it was the number Michael Jordan wore briefly during his first comeback. "He's my favorite player of all time," McLain said.

But when McLain got to Air Force, he was given No. 33 because 2007 graduate Nick Welch wore No. 45.

McLain said he probably could have changed numbers after his freshman year, but he decided 33 was a good number and to stick with it.

"I'm definitely not changing it now - I have it written on too much stuff," he said. "All my equipment and bag tags and stuff like that."

34 - Sammy Schafer
Schafer didn't choose No. 34, but he assumes it's "a synthesis of some of my choices," which were No. 3 (his high school number), No. 4 and No. 33 (which he likes because former NBA great Scottie Pippen is one of his favorite players).

35 - Evan Washington
Washington got No. 35 at the prep school after wearing No. 21 in high school. "I came to practice a little late, and they already gave the jersey numbers out, so No. 35 already was there, so I had to grab it," Washington said.

42 - Anwar Johnson
Johnson wore 24 - his mother's old number - for his AAU team and at the prep school. But because then-junior Ryan Teets had it when he arrived at the academy "I just switched it around."

50 - Grant Parker
Like many of his teammates, Parker was given his number, which he said he doesn't even like.

"They just gave it to me," Parker said. "And I was kind of confused, because I came in thinking I'm a (small forward) or a (power forward), and I'm the (second-)highest number on the team. ... I was like, ‘I thought I was going to be a forward.'"

Parker wore No. 23 in high school, but he doesn't like that number either. He said he likes No. 33, which McLain has, and No. 71.

Why does he like 71?

"In high school I didn't have a favorite number," he said. "So I was sitting in the library, I had an hour to waste. So I ripped up 100 little pieces of paper, and wrote a number on every single one, put them in hat and picked 71. I like No. 7 and No. 1, so it worked out."