At least there's always this ...

Last year's National Marquette Day was an alcohol-soaked rager, Kelly Meyerhofer writes. Ahead of this year's event on Feb. 7, is the university making any changes to ensure student safety?

For one, the Athletic Department worked with broadcast partners to select an earlier tipoff time. Marquette police have also coordinated with local ambulance services to reduce response times for medical incidents.

Last year, staff triaged students in dorm lobbies as the wait for an ambulance grew to an hour. Marquette police eventually called Bell Ambulances and told them to park ambulances on campus.

"My concern is if this continues or goes any further, students are going to continue to get really hurt, and God forbid we would lose a student," Erin Gannon, the dean of students, said at a University Academic Senate meeting held in the days after the 2025 event.

(From MJS)

Quote from: Its DJOver on Today at 10:02:05 AMHe still takes too many threes for not being able to hit consistently. If you're going to take 3.5 a game you need to hit more than 26%. I do like that his 3PAr is down significantly from last year. I call him the "anti-Joplin", don't be a catch-and-shoot player, put the ball on the floor and drive.

I get your point, but this year by default is a developmental year and if I were Shaka I would not be taking that arrow out of his quiver yet.   Keep shooting the three, if wide open, and get all the confidence he needs for next year and the following.  He can be a first team all Big East player in future years with a legit three point shot.  Nothing to lose this year. 

Quote from: BCHoopster on January 25, 2026, 05:40:26 PMThen recruit kids that can shoot!

Agreed. Shaka doesn't seem to recruit shooters. Its also true that the players shoot worse at Marquette than when they played in high school. It seems that Shaka doesn't emphasize shooting or free throws. We've lost a lot of games because of poor free throw shooting.

He still takes too many threes for not being able to hit consistently. If you're going to take 3.5 a game you need to hit more than 26%. I do like that his 3PAr is down significantly from last year. I call him the "anti-Joplin", don't be a catch-and-shoot player, put the ball on the floor and drive.

Nice stuff, Andrei, and it affirms the growing enthusiasm for Royce. Count me in, especially if he can start hitting a bit more from beyond the arc.

I've been harping a bit about how roles for players this year have taken longer to emerge and clarify. And about how I think that Zaide's departure and Sean's injury have actually been helpful to some players and the team overall. You note Royce's increase in playing time and seem to imply that having him be the 4 (with Ben more as a 5, though still often on the perimeter, and with Zaide gone) has made him more comfortable and confident.

Since I don't have the data nor the skills, and even though it's a bit tangent to your specific points about Royce's leap, I wonder if you might pull together a chart (or article!) about how playing time and performance for particular players (notably Nigel and Owens) and the team overall have expanded for the better since Lowery and Jones have been gone/out. Perhaps the timing simply coincides with a degree of cohesion (and desperation?) within the season, but my eye test tells me that players 1-7 (Nigel, Chase, Ben, Stevens, Royce, Owens and even Phillips) have benefitted and stepped up since then. And that it's been not only ok, but good that Hamilton and Norman (along with Jones) are playing less.

Quote from: brewcity77 on February 02, 2026, 05:15:25 PMThis isn't really accurate. The House decision didn't come down until June. Rev share didn't kick in until July 2025, by which time the portal was mostly settled. If the Big East will have an advantage there, we'll see it start next season.

It didn't "kick in" but schools had a good six months to prepare for it and knew the amounts they were going to give teams.

https://commonwealthtimes.org/2025/01/24/press-box-vcu-mens-basketball-players-are-set-to-make-six-figures/

Quote from: tower912 on February 02, 2026, 07:34:51 PMNoah Kahan is back.  He still has issues. 

I don't know who that is, but my 15 y/o niece was posting about him on IG last night.

Three shows I have tickets for in the next few months:

Steven Wilson, JR
BJ Barnham (American Aquarium)
Barnes Courtney (acoustic tour)

Quote from: wadesworld on February 02, 2026, 04:52:17 PMThe only constant is change in college sports.  A P4 conference will take UCONN in at some point, maybe when they break away from the NCAA.

By then, Hurley will have left for the NBA and Auriemma will have retired. What is the value of UConn then?

Quote from: Tarragona on February 02, 2026, 10:52:40 PMHe's a smart guy. He's very good with people. He carefully chose to go there. Agree or disagree, he thinks long term, that he can make it be a Gonzaga type of place or insert another similar example. He's aware it takes time. He idolized Majerus. One thing they have in common is they both knew/know that their system will win. Very confident people without being off putting.

They have more money and resources than you think they might have, and, from more people than you think too. They aren't going to match the top levels of spending, but they can spend like a top tier Big East program.

I'd be more surprised if he left than if he stayed a while.

I've said it before, the money and resources at SLU blow away nearly all of the A10. The gap between the haves and have nots in the A10 is vast, not unlike the WCC that Gonzaga has owned for 26 years. Why not stay, get paid $3 million and be almost guaranteed to be in the top 3 of the conference every year?

They don't draw well for non-conference games, but are packing the arena for A10 matchups. SLU targeted Scherz early and got him signed before anyone else could get to him - they even had their Deputy AD relocate to Terre Haute to spend time with Schertz's wife to make sure other schools couldn't get to her while negotiations were ongoing. All of this funded by a billionaire who "bought" a college team when he couldn't buy a pro team.

This is long...obviously feel free to TLDR

I'll admit that this is a trivial use of ChatGPT, but I had an fascinating exchange this morning (to me at least). I was grabbing a hat this morning from a bin in our closet and came across a beanie with a logo that I didn't recognize. It's blue with a block M, so it immediately makes me think of Michigan. But it's got a paw print on it that I've not seen Michigan use. So, I asked ChatGPT what logo it was.

Without hesitation it said "That's a University of Michigan Wolverines logo. Specifically, it's the block 'M' with a wolverine paw print, a common secondary/alternate mark used by the Michigan Wolverines."

It still seemed "off" to me so I asked for pictures showing that logo on other clothing.

It responded with "some other examples of the same University of Michigan block 'M' with paw logo featured on clothing." Four pictures - not one paw (although one had a wolverine - the other three were just plain block M). It went on to say, "You'll often see that paw added to the traditional block M to give a more playful, team-oriented variation."

Obviously, since it said I'd "often" see it, it could come up with an example, right? So I asked.

Response was "Here are other examples of clothing items that use the block 'M' (the same style as your logo) on apparel - just like your beanie does for Michigan Wolverines, though not every item shows the paw print variant specifically (it's a less common mark, but still used)."

Seven photos - not a paw in sight. Not even a wolverine.

It concluded with, "If you want examples that specifically include the paw alongside the 'M' on clothing (like your beanie), I can help find some - those tend to show up on limited-edition or team-specific apparel."

I was pretty sure it was just making things up at this point, so of course I asked for an example.

Here's where it decided to go all in and gaslight me: "Here's a clear example of the exact same block 'M' + paw logo on an apparel item, just like the one showed on your hat." (The bold and italics are actually in the response.)

Four pictures: a maize hoodie with a solitary block M; a navy hoodie with arched "Michigan" and the university seal; two fleece dog coats with the block M and "Michigan"; and a yellow snow cap with a block M. Not a single paw print.

I pointed that out and it continued the gaslighting: "Thanks for pointing that out - you're absolutely right that the earlier examples didn't show the paw next to the 'M.' the **specific logo you have - the block-style M with a wolverine paw print - is a less common variation used on certain official team gear and special apparel. Here is a legitimate example of that exact variation (block 'M' with paw) on apparel from official Michigan merchandise." (again, bold and italics were from the bot).

Four pictures, no paws. At this point, it's just making crap up... "official team gear" my ass. Again, I pushed back.

It thought for nearly two minutes and came back saying it "doesn't appear to be a standard, widely used Michigan Wolverines logo..." It thought instead it might just be some custom design by some other school's booster that starts with M and has a wildcat/bear/dog mascot. To be helpful, it showed me "an example of the same 'M + paw" concept on an apparel item (a pet bandana - still clothing), with the paw overlapping the 'M' in the same way." It included a photo of a dog with a bandana that had a block M and also "Wildcats" - no paw.

We left it with the bot acknowledging, "I messed up there" and that it's not recognizable Michigan logo and probably some "generic/team/booster embroidery pattern used across many schools and youth/HS teams..."


I'm probably more fascinated than I should be when I encounter ChatGPT screwing up and how it responds when called out. I always keep this in mind when I'm using it for less trivial matters and so I take everything with a grain of salt. I think that confirmation bias is very real risk when using these tools. If you get the answer you want or expect and don't push back, you may be completely misled.