Happy Monday, Golden Eagles.

The AP poll is out again today, and Marquette has shifted from #16 in the country up to #14. Pretty awesome, right? This upcoming Wednesday, we'll be taking on the Villanova Wildcats, who are 4-6 in Big East play. A month ago, when we played them on the road, we won by just 2 points. All these things considered, I hope we beat their pants off.

ANYWAYS.

This match against Nova also happens to be Student Appreciation Night, and MU Athletics is promising some pretty neat prizes, just for checking into the event on the Marquette Gameday app. As someone who has lost the Jordans raffle at the women's basketball game all season long, I'm pretty excited about having a whole night dedicated to students earning some hefty rewards. One prize will be awarded during all the media timeouts of each half- 16 minute, 12 minute, eight, and four. I've decided to rank these eight prizes on how delightful and beneficial I find them, personally.

BEFORE WE START: according to my email from Athletics, separate from the listed timeout prizes, there are also the opportunities to win $10,000, and 2023-2024 season tickets. It's unclear if these two are one prize together, but I will be putting them in the list and ranking them separately.

*cracks knuckles* LET THE RANKINGS BEGIN!

NO 1: $100 Gift Card to Shake Shack

Two lucky people will be receiving this, which I think is pretty neat. As previously stated, I am a student. And you know what most students don't have a lot of? Money. One Shack Burger costs $6.49. My handy dandy calculator app tells me that 100 divided by 7 (for tax purposes) is a whopping 14.28. Granted, if I'm going to Shake Shack, I'm probably getting some bacon fries along the way, definitely a seasonal shake, but the point still stands. Used judiciously, this could be a serious treat for yourself.

NO 2: MUBB Nike Shoes

If I'm being honest, I'm not exactly a shoe bro. I don't have the money or the mentality to have my walk-in closet with shelves lined with the best and coolest looking sneakers. I stick to my two everyday pairs of shoes for the most part, and that's really all you need. That being said, if you're handing out a pair of the Luka's, then I would absolutely like to get my hands on those bad boys. I promise to water and feed them everyday.

NO 3: Customized MUBB player jersey

There's a possibility I have this up too high compared to other things on this list, but I would really love to get my hands on a custom jersey for free. The jerseys in the spirit shop cost a gazillion dollars in college kid speak, and they're also pretty limited as to whose name and number you can get. My email from athletics doesn't say I have to pick a player from this year, so this is a pretty valuable item.

NO 4: $10,000

Ten thousand dollars is a pretty good stash of money, but the problem is that I'm almost certain it would get taxed, and also, I would put whatever's left of it into some form of savings. Let that stuff build up in a CD, for sure. And then anything that's not immediately in savings would go towards my crippling Serenitea addiction. A good prize, but I'm sure it has its limitations, which is why it's here at number 4.

NO 5: Lunch with Shaka Smart

It's important to know that ten people will be winning this prize, so there's a fair chance at this, if you're really hyped up by the prospect of lunch with Shaka. However, I have some questions about this lunch. Do I pick where we go? Is this lunch paid for by Coach Smart, or MU Athletics? What if our schedules don't align? Etc, etc, so on and so forth. Here's the other thing- I'm not sure that I, a college student, want to have lunch with him, a 45 year old man. This is nothing against Shaka, of course, I spoke with him briefly during orientation and he was pleasant to be around, but when I eat lunch with someone, I want to be able to have good banter while we consume our nutrients, and I don't think I have anything in common with him that would facilitate that- and I don't want to just awkwardly talk about how great the team's been doing. You see my point?

NO 6: 2023-2024 Season Tickets

I'm a little biased to be putting this as low as it is, because I got free, non transferable season tickets this year, and have not used a single one because I may or may not be in a certain pep band. Free season tickets are great, of course, but I suspect these would also be non transferable, and that means you can't resell them. If you're a student and you're going to personally attend every game yourself, this is a great prize. If you're not, then it's kinda meh.

NO 7: $100 Spirit Shop Gift Card

In theory, this is pretty good. Get yourself some sweet MU gear, courtesy of Athletics. Buuuuuut, then you remember that you gotta pick carefully, because depending on what you want, you're going to spend most of your gift card in one go. Don't get me wrong, I think that the spirit shop has some pretty neat things. The designs are cool, they have a large variety of items. I just also happen to think that it's a tragedy that students don't get 20% off of everything- because it's totally outrageous that almost all of the sweatshirts in there are $50+.

NO 8: MUBB team gear & Coach Smart autographed ball

There's nothing bad about this prize, I think it's totally good and fun and neat. It's simply that compared to the other, objectively better items on this list, it just kinda has to be here. I got an autographed ball from a coach when I was younger, and it was pretty cool and sentimentally valuable- but it's certainly not 100 dollars to Shake Shack.

NO 9: Ring Out Ahoya light and MUBB team gear

This earns a low rank purely because I don't know what the heck a "Ring Out Ahoya light" is, and because of that fact, it is automatically not as good as everything else on this list. Also, I could sing/hum/play Ring Out Ahoya in my sleep, so I don't really need any more Ringing Out in my life right now.

and finally,

NO 10: Direct Supply VIF Front Row Seats, for Nat Marquette Day

"But Kit," I hear you saying. "VIF is a totally cool privilege, and on National Marquette Day? That would totally rule!" Sure, I say to you. But half the fun on NMD is being totally engulfed in the crowd. You're one with the fans, arm in arm during the Alma Mater, in rhythm with everyone clapping as we acapella the riff to Seven Nation Army in the second half, and I don't think you get that experience in the VIF section? I've never been a VIF so I wouldn't know, but I don't really want to be sequestered off from everyone. And if you want VIF to be courtside, then you actually want to be on the other end of the arena, because the opponent's bench is over there, and heckling is the most fun when you know their coach might be able to hear you.

And here we are, at the end. All in all, these prizes are all pretty awesome, and I greatly enjoy that Athletics is pulling this whole night together for us students. It's a great way to get more game attendance while simultaneously giving us something to be excited about- although, personally, I think having a #14 ranked team with a coach only in his second season here should be plenty to get out attentions.

Don't forget! After Wednesday, National Marquette Day is just a hop, skip, and a jump away.