Gun laws, campus policies perplex sports programs

perceive as seat-of-thepants decision-making on issues that can have lifeor-death consequences.

Marquette coach Shaka Smart said he’s been “yelled at by my superiors” over the years when he brings up sensitive topics such as guns to his players. So, he says, he treads lightly on the subject.

“Now, should you be driving around with a gun in your glove compartment or whatever?” Smart said. “I’m not passing judgment on anyone anywhere else as it relates to that. But no, our players should not be doing that and I should not be doing that. And so I don’t, and they don’t.”

Guns are prohibited in buildings on the Marquette campus in Milwaukee. At Kansas State, concealed weapons are allowed on campus, so long as they are legally owned.

“We have to explain to them why we feel like one decision may be, in this moment in time, a little more prudent than another decision in another moment of their life,” KState coach Jerome Tang said. “Like, later on in life, if they want to get a license, that’s fine. But right now, in this moment, it may not be as wise for you.”

The AP’s analysis found that in many instances, school policies differ from state to state, and sometimes from campus to campus within the same state. Most studentathlete handbooks simply reiterate school policy regarding weapons.

In Texas, open carry is not allowed at either the University of Houston or at the University of Texas in Austin, the site of a 1966 mass shooting from the clock tower on campus. But concealed carry is allowed in some areas of each campus, the listings of which are available on the school websites.

The NCAA bans guns on the premises of its championship events, presumably meaning the Final Four sites — in Dallas (women) and Houston (men) — will be gun free.

In Alabama, a state law that went into effect this year made it legal to openly carry a gun without a permit. Still, guns are prohibited on campus. Police say Alabama star Brandon Miller delivered a gun to a teammate and another person who are charged with the Jan. 15 fatal shooting of 23-yearold Jamea Harris.

Miller has not been charged with a crime and has continued to play for his team, which is the overall top seed in the tournament that gets into full swing Thursday. But the school’s handling of Miller’s status in the aftermath of the shooting underscores the confusion over the topic.

There was more than a month between the killing and police testimony that Miller had brought the gun to his teammate, Darius Miles, who was removed from the team after he was charged, then later indicted, in Harris’ death.

“Our role in a criminal investigation is to support law enforcement, not to conduct our own investigation and not to interfere with their efforts,” athletic director Greg Byrne said in an ESPN interview.

At New Mexico State, campus officials appeared unprepared to deal with a shooting that resulted in the death of a student from University of New Mexico. NMSU forward Mike Peake said he was acting in self-defense when he shot and killed Brandon Travis last November while the Aggies were on a road trip in Albuquerque.

Guns are prohibited on New Mexico State’s campus and on school road trips. Still, police say Peake brought the gun with him on the team bus; it took the school 16 days to permanently suspend him from the team after the shooting.

LSU receiver Malik Nabers was disciplined by the school (no specifics were given) but will not miss games next season after being arrested for illegally carrying a weapon on Bourbon Street last month. Had the incident happened on a busy street in Texas, where permits are not required to carry a concealed weapon, he wouldn’t have been arrested in the first place.

Baylor won the NCAA Tournament two years ago behind its outstanding backcourt and will try to do it again with a different set of guards. All three of them score at least 14.5 points per game. Flagler was one of five finalists for the Jerry West Award given to the nation’s top shooting guard. He also earned AP first-team allBig 12 honors. George, the best pro prospect in the trio, was a second-team all-Big 12 pick. Baylor ranks second in Division I in adjusted offensive efficiency, a metric measured by college basketball stats guru Ken Pomeroy that essentially translates to points scored per 100 possessions when adjusted for the level of competition.

Sasser is one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Award given to the national player of the year. He’s eager for this NCAA Tournament showcase after a foot injury ended his 2021-22 season after just 12

The defending national champions had to replace virtually their entire nucleus from last year but still put together an outstanding backcourt to complement forward Jalen Wilson, the AP Big 12 player of the year. Dick, a freshman, is a Jerry West Award finalist, scoring nearly 15 points per game; he arguably is more a small forward at 6foot-8, but Kansas lists him as a guard. Dick and McCullar both were AP second-team all-Big 12 selections. McCullar, a Texas Tech transfer, has scored in double figures three straight seasons and is pulling down more than 7 rebounds per game. Harris is dishing out more than 6 assists per game and ranks third among all Division I players in assist-turnover ratio.

Kolek, a Naismith Award semifinalist and the Big East player of the year, has 7.7 assists per game and has well over three times as

many assists as turnovers. He was named the Big East Tournament MVP. Jones, a second-team AP all-Big East selection, leads Marquette in scoring and makes nearly three 3-pointers per game. Mitchell has more than 7 points per game but is best known for his defense. This group helped Marquette win its first Big East outright regular-season title and first Big East Tournament championship.

This trio helped Miami win a share of the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title and earn the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament for the first time since 2013. Wong is a Jerry West Award finalist and AP first-team all-ACC pick. He was named ACC player of the year by a 75-member panel including coaches and media representatives. Wong, Miller and Pack are each scoring more than 13 points per game.

This trio helped Xavier lead all Division I teams in assists per game. Boum and Jones are each averaging more than 4 assists per game, while Kunkel has 3 per game. They’re also scoring about a combined 42 points per game. Boum, an AP firstteam all-Big East selection, ranks second in the conference in scoring. Jones was an AP secondteam all-Big East pick.