Marquette will retire Jim Chones' No. 22 basketball jersey this season

There will soon be a new Marquette jersey hanging from the rafters at Fiserv Forum.

The school announced on Friday that Jim Chones’ No. 22 jersey will be retired on Feb. 18 when the Golden Eagles play Seton Hall.

Chones will be the 10th former MU player to have his jersey retired and the first since Dwyane Wade's No. 3 in 2007 .

“Jim Chones has exemplified excellence, on and off the court, both during his Marquette career and in the decades that followed,” MU head coach Shaka Smart said in a statement.

Jim Chones starred for Al McGuire before leaving for ABA

Chones is recognized as one of the greatest high school players to ever come out of Wisconsin. He played at Racine Park and Racine St. Catherine's from 1966-69, scoring 1,073 points.

The 6-foot-11 Chones was a prized recruit for MU head coach Al McGuire. In his two seasons with the then-Warriors (freshmen were ineligible at the time) from 1970-72, Chones scored 952 points and pulled down 583 rebounds.

MU went an incredible 49-1 in the 50 games in which Chones appeared. The lone loss was to Ohio State in the 1971 NCAA Tournament.

In the 1971-72 season, MU started 21-0 with Chones averaging 20.5 points and 11.9 rebounds. But Chones left school in February to turn pro and sign with the ABA's New York Nets.

MU finished the season 25-4 and lost to Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament. It is a big "what-if" in program history with many MU fans wondering what one of the best teams could have accomplished had Chones stayed in school.

McGuire never questioned Chones' decision.

"I looked into my refrigerator and I looked into Jimmy's, and I said, 'Jimmy, take the money,' " McGuire famously said. "Why should I stop a kid from making a million dollars?"

Chones played 10 seasons in the ABA and NBA, winning a title with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1980 alongside another former MU player in Butch Lee.

Chones works as a radio analyst for Cleveland Cavaliers' games.

Basketball jerseys retired at Marquette

44 - Don Kojis (1959-61)

43 – Earl Tatum (1973-76)

31 – Doc Rivers (1981-83)

31 – Bo Ellis (1974-77)

24 – George Thompson (1967-69)

22 – Jim Chones (1970-72)

20 – Maurice Lucas (1973-74)

15 – Butch Lee (1975-78)

14 – Dean Meminger (1969-71)

3 – Dwyane Wade (2001-03)

MU noted that it retires jerseys and not numbers, meaning that it is possible the numbers can go back into circulation.

The school has also honored No. 77 for McGuire to celebrate the 1977 NCAA championship and previously honored No. 38 for former trainer Bob Weingart's years with the school.

McGuire had also "retired" No. 11 in honor of the Apollo 11 astronauts , but that number has been used, most recently by Tyler Kolek.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Marquette will retire Jim Chones' No. 22 basketball jersey this season