Quote from: Billy Hoyle on February 13, 2026, 05:06:32 PMNot me.

I'll never forget an MU staff member telling me, "Buzz and his wife got so insufferable  we would have taken the Creans back in a second."

I'll never forget what an MU staff member told me about Billy Hoyle.

Quote from: wadesworld on February 13, 2026, 11:30:28 PMHaha it's Groundhogs day. Every year they get a couple nice wins. Every time MU fans cry and say they're a top 4 team. Every year Gard's team is a Tourney team but not a threat to make a run.

IMO, the key to making a run is to keep getting to the tournament. Eventually, the cosmic tumblers fall into place. UW will get there again this year and MU crapped the bed. Shaka needs to right the ship that he foundered.

Haha it's Groundhogs day. Every year they get a couple nice wins. Every time MU fans cry and say they're a top 4 team. Every year Gard's team is a Tourney team but not a threat to make a run.

Quote from: brewcity77 on February 13, 2026, 09:41:22 PMI'm going to guess you didn't spend much time on campus this past Fall, at the Spirit Shop, or the online store.

The disconnect is that using lower case relationship building to foster growth and believing that will lead to victory is plausible with transfers. But that's not what the staff has been talking about and not what critics of the model are talking about.

If you were in the Spirit Shop in Fall when they launched the upper case RGV line, honestly, it was offensive. The entire front of the store had nothing but RGV everywhere. It was not easy finding merchandise that said "Marquette" on it. RGV tables probably took up 25% of the store footprint, and when 20% is youth apparel, 20% is non-clothing merch, and 20% is the checkout counter, that doesn't leave much space for fans just looking for Marquette clothing.

And the public comments that surrounded it, from the interview with Broeker to Big East Media Day to the open scrimmages, it was very clear that when they say RGV, what they mean is recruiting players strictly from high school and developing them through their 4-5 year college careers.

People that didn't make it to campus or see how hard the Spirit Shop and website were pushing that crap may not realize how pervasive it was to the brand and how they were trying to eclipse the Marquette brand with RGV.

And no, I'm not being hyperbolic in the least.

If Shaka is going to salvage his program at Marquette, he needs to disconnect his RGV roster building model from the tenets of relationships/growth/victory. Yes, you can have good culture and use the portal, but it was very obvious that wasn't what RGV was about and why it was so widely ridiculed, especially as public comments on it persisted through the November-January losses.

I think the RGV branding is dumb, but it's also a fundraiser for the Bo and Candy Ellis student success fund. Not sure how much the university is making in profit.

I don't know where else to post this, but I don't think I've ever seen what happened in the Seton Hall baseball game happen before.

I'm not posting the video here because it's also one of the most gruesome injuries ever.

Absolutely love your post Brew. Even without being on campus, when I read about the RGV merchandise in scooeward knew that what it signaled was a displacement of the Marquette name. I thought "what's next? Replacing the Marquette name on the unis with RGV? And changing the chant at the end of games when V is only a few minutes away to "We R!.....GV!? 

Shaka's own personal beliefs included RGV as you defined it, and that's why I deboarded the Shaka train. I want the previous version of Shaka back, not this Don Quixote one. It is Marquette's team, NOT Shaka's, very own personal team, and our AD and President supporting this crap is very insane. They are an embarrassment to Marquette.  I have been referring to RGV as the "operating system" that needs to be thrown out, not RGV as background music. 

It is about the relationship Shaka has with Bradley Beal that is important.

It has been said many times and excuse my need to vent. Disappointing and Frustrating it feels like other teams went after victories and Shaka went after relationships This Year. How and why.
But feel Marquette will be back Soon. Hopefully starting tomorrow with a victory and shakes.

Quote from: onepost on February 12, 2026, 10:33:20 PMDamn, loved having him nearby.
Sheek starred for BBE so that's gotta be a decent landing spot for us, no?

I'd think more that it doesn't hurt us. BBE produces a lot of HM players, including JJ Andrews who picked Arkansas over us.

Quote from: The Sultan on February 11, 2026, 08:03:43 PMNo, but Relationships Growth Victory certainly can work with transfers. People have this strange idea that Shaka and Marquette are slavishly tied to a model regardless of the results. They are going to find out very shortly that this isn't the case, and RGV will still be splashed around.

I'm going to guess you didn't spend much time on campus this past Fall, at the Spirit Shop, or the online store.

The disconnect is that using lower case relationship building to foster growth and believing that will lead to victory is plausible with transfers. But that's not what the staff has been talking about and not what critics of the model are talking about.

If you were in the Spirit Shop in Fall when they launched the upper case RGV line, honestly, it was offensive. The entire front of the store had nothing but RGV everywhere. It was not easy finding merchandise that said "Marquette" on it. RGV tables probably took up 25% of the store footprint, and when 20% is youth apparel, 20% is non-clothing merch, and 20% is the checkout counter, that doesn't leave much space for fans just looking for Marquette clothing.

And the public comments that surrounded it, from the interview with Broeker to Big East Media Day to the open scrimmages, it was very clear that when they say RGV, what they mean is recruiting players strictly from high school and developing them through their 4-5 year college careers.

People that didn't make it to campus or see how hard the Spirit Shop and website were pushing that crap may not realize how pervasive it was to the brand and how they were trying to eclipse the Marquette brand with RGV.

And no, I'm not being hyperbolic in the least.

If Shaka is going to salvage his program at Marquette, he needs to disconnect his RGV roster building model from the tenets of relationships/growth/victory. Yes, you can have good culture and use the portal, but it was very obvious that wasn't what RGV was about and why it was so widely ridiculed, especially as public comments on it persisted through the November-January losses.