Bulldogs To Tip Off Hoops Season Against Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
<blockquote><p align=justify>Louisiana Tech tips off the 2004-05 basketball season Friday as the Bulldogs take on Louisiana-La. in the LSU Louisiana Classic at the Maravich Center in Baton Rouge, La.
Tech and ULL will tip-off at 5:37 p.m. with LSU and Tulane meeting in a following game. On Sunday the two losers of Friday's games will meet at noon with the two winners of Friday's games meeting at 3 p.m. Sunday.
All four Louisiana Classic games will be televised live in Louisiana by Cox Sports.
"We're just excited to get things started for real and playing in this kind of tournament will be great," Tech coach Keith Richard said. "This will be great for our team and for basketball fans from all over the state. All four teams are good teams and it should be a great tournament and fun to watch."
The Bulldogs return four starters off of last year's 15-15 squad, including 2003-04 Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year and NCAA rebounding champion Paul Millsap.
Millsap topped the nation last season with 12.5 rebounds per game while also leading the Bulldogs with 15.6 points per game and the WAC in blocked shots with 1.73 per game.
<center><p><a href="http://www.latechsports.com/article.php?article_id=2004_11_18_18:00:01">The rest of the story</a><!--
This season Millsap brings a bigger body (6-8, 243) to the court and is again expected to be a cornerstone for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs also return senior guards Corey Dean and Donell Allick along with senior forward Wayne Powell. Dean hit for 12.7 points and 4.1 rebounds per game last season, while Powell added 9.2 points and 5.5 boards per contest.
Allick played at the point last season, hitting for 11.2 points and 3.6 assists per game. But this season Allick will make the move to the No. 2 guard role as junior college Daevon Haskins takes over at the point.
Haskins will be a key for the Bulldogs this season and in the opener against Louisiana-Lafayette, and the 6-4, 180-pound junior looked strong in Tech's two exhibition wins as he averaged 6.5 points and nine assists during those preseason contests.
Millsap averaged 21.5 points and 11.0 rebounds in the two preseason games while Powell chipped in with an average of 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Tech and ULL are no strangers with the Bulldogs holding a 82-69 series advantage. The last time the Bulldogs and Cajuns clashed was in the 2001-02 NIT tournament as Tech took a 83-63 first-round home win.
The Bulldogs are 453-317 (.588) in all-time games against schools from the state of Louisiana. LSU holds a 9-1 series advantage over the Bulldogs while Tulane holds a 2-0 series advantage over Tech.
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