Quote from: Vander Blue Man Group on Today at 09:49:01 AMNothing Shaka says at a press conference is going to "light a fire" under anyone.  To think so, as well as this line of conversation, is ludicrous. 

Quote from: Pakuni on Today at 10:08:10 AMSpeaking of RGV, a not-so-flattering item about Shaka in Busting Brackets yesterday:

No. 2: Shaka Smart's approach to the transfer portal.

Marquette is bad and, right now, projects to be one of the worst teams in the Big East and, subsequently, one of the worst power-conference teams in the country, and it could all have been avoided.  The Golden Eagles had a loaded roster last season that won a ton of games under head coach Shaka Smart; the only problem was that those players were seniors and out of eligibility.  Well, coach Smart did what every other coach did: adapted to the rules and used the transfer portal with NIL to build a roster, right?

No, in fact, Coach Smart has made it clear how much he thinks the transfer portal is killing the game and how much he loathes it.  If that were not enough, Coach Smart flat-out refuses to talk to any agents. I understand that agents can be frustrating to deal with, especially when trying to get the most money for their players, but that is the way of the college basketball world, especially for players that Marquette is going to be after.

As a result of the refusal of both of these key roster-building principles in the age of NIL, this Marquette team.  It is one thing to stand on your principles, but when everyone else is playing within the rules and building a roster through the transfer portal, it's going to be either adapt or lose your job.  If coach Smart doesn't start using the portal, Marquette might turn into DePaul, and then coach Smart will be out of a job, like it or not. This is how the game is building rosters.

https://bustingbrackets.com/shaka-smart-and-potential-tournament-in-dubai-lead-the-week-of-bad-beats-basketball

Quote from: Billy Hoyle on Today at 09:21:34 AMRight now, the Seahawks are tied for the lead in the best division in football, have beaten three division leaders, and are 6-1 on the road (their only loss a last-second missed field goal away from a win at the Rams). That seems pretty good to this observer.

Quote from: Pakuni on Today at 10:41:07 AMKind of irrelevant, but I think you're math is off a bit.
The Brewers' projected 2026 payroll is $136 million. The Dodgers' is $359 million. Add $24 million to the Brewers = $160 million. That's about 45%, not 29%.

Quote from: wadesworld on Today at 08:56:06 AMI'm 100% on board with a salary floor, and that would be necessary with any change to revenue sharing or adding a salary cap.  Have never argued otherwise.

But cool.  The Brewers could shoot for putting all but 1 penny of their profit back into their roster and they'll almost catch the Dodgers in payroll.  They only fall $388MM shy of the Dodgers if you add the $24MM profit the Brewers made all back into their payroll.  That'd get them all the way to 29% of the Dodgers payroll!  So close!

Think of how absolutely absurd the system is that the Brewers could spend every penny of profit that they make and still only be able to get to 29% of what the Dodgers spend on their payroll.

Quote from: Pakuni on Today at 10:09:26 AMMiss some shots and we're 3-7, with losses to Central Michigan and Valpo.

Quote from: wadesworld on Today at 10:32:13 AMThis thread is so relevant to current day Marquette basketball, I can understand the concern here.