MBB G13 Final: Louisiana 73, SLU 72

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Originally Posted by anhil8tor

So with our current situation is it safe to say this year is a wash?

And if so, with two injuries is "a pass" handed out for this year?

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Yes...... and no.

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Originally Posted by ULvictory

Basketball right now is like the Bustle days. "But Bustle was bowl eligible 4 out of 5 seasons."

Yeah, and just like the years we weren't Bowl eligible, we were sitting on our rear ends at home watching other teams play.

I’m not gonna sit here and polish this turd.

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Yet Bustle made half of what Marlin makes now.

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Originally Posted by anhil8tor

So with our current situation is it safe to say this year is a wash?

And if so, with two injuries is "a pass" handed out for this year?

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Oh yeah. We will miss the tournament, and we will hear how it’s injuries that caused it. You see, before it was because of “three games in March are hard to win and we are a one bid league.” But now, we won’t have to hear that.

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Originally Posted by cajun_lannister

Yet Bustle made half of what Marlin makes now.

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Yup.

And yet, we hear the same excuses and narratives that justify underachievement.

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Originally Posted by ULvictory

Yup.

And yet, we hear the same excuses and narratives that justify underachievement.

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Typical Farmer era apathy

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Originally Posted by cajun_lannister

I sit back and ask of those 25 wins what win do you hang your hat on and say that win was special
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Hang your hat on the 27 wins and enjoy the year.

If you're looking to hang your hat on a single game it will be a,very short season.

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Originally Posted by Cajunsmike

Good points there. JD will have to play more consistently going forward for the team to have success. He has been playing mostly at the four spot but will now have to play some at the three spot due to the Marquetti injury. So far this year, coaches are pleased with his improvement and work on the glass. He was victim of a terrible traveling call at SLU as he was dribbling the ball when infraction was called. A basket was taken away with that call. I didn't know you could travel while dribbling. Another key is Jeremy Hayes. I would expect him to step in the starting role as he did that at SLU and was effective for a few minutes. I always say it takes 1/2 year for JUCO guys to be ready to really contribute and we have reached that time with him now. You are not the only way perplexed about Russell. He simply is suffering from lack of confidence and passes up open shots. That is why Hardy is playing more recently and PJ has played well on defense even in games when he does not shoot it effectively. Don't be surprised if Wesley becomes a starter along with Stroman at guard as that gives you two guys who can take people off the dribble. Granted you wouldn't have a three point threat that way but you probably would be solid defensively to start the game and the shooters could sub in. All these ideas and more are probably going through the heads of coaches as they try to figure out how to go forward without their most versatile player.

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Marquetti was averaging 33 minutes a game. I hope in some way at least a small number of those can trickle down to Gladney or Lafayette, just so we get a chance to see what they have. The one think Malik had that none of the other guards do was size and wingspan.

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Originally Posted by cajun_lannister

Typical Farmer era apathy

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That’s what happens when you let a proud program flounder like we did under Robert Lee.

I was screaming from the rafters when we hired Robert Lee as HC. He was a terrible hire. Crippled this program.

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Originally Posted by ULvictory

Oh yeah. We will miss the tournament, and we will hear how it’s injuries that caused it. You see, before it was because of “three games in March are hard to win and we are a one bid league.” But now, we won’t have to hear that.

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I said we were unlikely to win the tournament prior to the injuries. Reason is simple, we are just not good enough regardless of who would be coaching them. It is not impossible now but quite challenging.

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Originally Posted by cajun4life

That’s what happens when you let a proud program flounder like we did under Robert Lee.

I was screaming from the rafters when we hired Robert Lee as HC. He was a terrible hire. Crippled this program.

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I thought Robert would do OK after the 2005 season. We later came to realize that was because of the talent Jessie left him. Looking back his hiring was a mistake. Wonder how Cyprien would have done had his resume issue not arisen.

How about we give the group that is left a chance to prove themselves. Then when they fall short, we crucify somebody - farmer, Lee, Baldwin, big fish, Mike . . . If they overachieve, we won't have to crucify anyone. How about DAT?

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Originally Posted by CajunVic

How about we give the group that is left a chance to prove themselves. Then when they fall short, we crucify somebody - farmer, Lee, Baldwin, big fish, Mike . . . If they overachieve, we won't have to crucify anyone. How about DAT?

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Good advice. Hope someone else is chosen to be crucified if they fall short. Sounds painful.

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Originally Posted by Cajunsmike

Good advice. Hope someone else is chosen to be crucified if they fall short. Sounds painful.

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Plenty Mikes in this town. I wouldn't just jump up when they call the name for crucification.

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Originally Posted by Cajunsmike

I thought Robert would do OK after the 2005 season. We later came to realize that was because of the talent Jessie left him. Looking back his hiring was a mistake. Wonder how Cyprien would have done had his resume issue not arisen.

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Being part of the athletic department back then there were obvious signs that were missed.

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Originally Posted by Ragin4U

Did you miss the part about those accomplishments with different coaches? I would think this was strong evidence that a coaching change isn't always a panacea.
Maybe they dont have vocal members of their fan base poo pooing a 27 win season.

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I don't poo poo any win and appreciate every single victory regardless of competition. Reason is I have competed in enough corporate athletic and pick up competition (still do to this day in my early 6o's)in my life to know you can get beat at any time by anyone. Been on teams that lost games to guys that had no business winning and been in the other situation as well quite often. The RPI thing does not impact me either as that is so heavily based upon schedules where so many of our opponents play a preponderance of road games that I find that measure meaningless and not a good indicator. The fact we have not finished in the top three more consistently is a disappointment as that goes beyond any single game however. I thought we could challenge for that prior to the Marquetti injury but that we did not have enough depth or overall talent to win the tournament. Now I doubt we can do so. As Vic suggested, we should give the guys a chance to prove us wrong.

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Originally Posted by Cajunsmike

I said we were unlikely to win the tournament prior to the injuries. Reason is simple, we are just not good enough regardless of who would be coaching them. It is not impossible now but quite challenging.

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Don’t worry. I wasn’t directly talking about you. I respect your point of view with the basketball program. And the fact that you thought that we wouldn’t win the tournament prior to injuries tells me all I need to know on our program’s current situation. It ain’t good.

So, basically the point I'm trying to make to the vocal posters who defend Marlin and what he's accomplished such as Willis, Cajunsmike Ragin4U etc. is this. You guys have pointed to our program over a long period of time and suggested the success we've had during Marlin's tenure is similar or better to past coaches and teams. Scheduling is similar, conference success is similar as well NCAA tournament births etc. I think we all agree that our University had to make wholesale changes at the top that trickled down to bringing in guys who valued a collective approach to athletics thus pushing us further along.

We've brought in a president who wants more success and is willing to bring in an AD who feels the same and has the tools to bring us to a higher level. So, we can agree that expectations have to increase as well, especially when funding our programs to a level we never saw before and giving our athletes more resources to succeed. The question is when do our overall success expectations increase as well.

You guys have basically said we are similar in success levels of our MBB program from then to now, so when does our quest for excellence that is brought in through new leadership say to a coach that winning slightly more than half your games in a poor conference and with a very weak schedule is just not good enough? Its the evolution of building a winning program. You put more money and resources into something with the expectation that you will get more out of it. We are not getting more out of this program. In fact, it seems that we are happy with present results particularly as they compare to past accomplishments through comments from our people at the top and evidenced through our willingness to continue extending current contracts.

When do we collectively say thanks but we need more?

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Originally Posted by Turbine

Hang your hat on the 27 wins and enjoy the year.

If you're looking to hang your hat on a single game it will be a,very short season.

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It was a great year. It was an exciting year and I thoroughly enjoyed it even though we fell short of our potential. It really brought me back to the Dome a lot and I enjoyed watching this team play. Unfortunately, it was the exception not the norm.

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Originally Posted by zephyr

So, basically the point I'm trying to make to the vocal posters who defend Marlin and what he's accomplished such as Willis, Cajunsmike Ragin4U etc. is this. You guys have pointed to our program over a long period of time and suggested the success we've had during Marlin's tenure is similar or better to past coaches and teams. Scheduling is similar, conference success is similar as well NCAA tournament births etc. I think we all agree that our University had to make wholesale changes at the top that trickled down to bringing in guys who valued a collective approach to athletics thus pushing us further along.

We've brought in a president who wants more success and is willing to bring in an AD who feels the same and has the tools to bring us to a higher level. So, we can agree that expectations have to increase as well, especially when funding our programs to a level we never saw before and giving our athletes more resources to succeed. The question is when do our overall success expectations increase as well.

You guys have basically said we are similar in success levels of our MBB program from then to now, so when does our quest for excellence that is brought in through new leadership say to a coach that winning slightly more than half your games in a poor conference and with a very weak schedule is just not good enough? Its the evolution of building a winning program. You put more money and resources into something with the expectation that you will get more out of it. We are not getting more out of this program. In fact, it seems that we are happy with present results particularly as they compare to past accomplishments through comments from our people at the top and evidenced through our willingness to continue extending current contracts.

When do we collectively say thanks but we need more?

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1000% agree we put higher expectations on Napier , Glasco & Robe and expect them to move the needle each year. When it comes to basketball that seems to go out the window

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Originally Posted by cajun4life

Did UCF use an injury as an excuse to fold against Memphis? Nope, next man up. Did Tua going out stop Bama from beating UGA? Nope, next man up.

Does Stove getting hurt/sick do us in last year? Yep, no depth. Does Marquetti getting hurt do us in? Yep, no depth.

Who’s fault is that? The injury boogeyman? Nope Bob Marlin and his lack of solid recruiting over the long haul. Right now Julian is like the Easter bunny. He may be all world, but we don’t know because he isn’t playing. So you can’t count on a kid who was never intended to play this season as an excuse.

Marlin gets solid character kids in the program. No one will ever say otherwise. But he sure don’t get enough really good basketball players to prove he is worth $600k.

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You use football for your basketball analogy. Totally absurd. Football is where the "next man up" cliche started. And, it's somewhat valid there.

But when you have 13 schollys, you're going to miss on a couple. The end of the bench is what it is (another bad cliche') for virtually every school. In other cases, players are projects and not quite ready to contribute immediately. That is at every school (especially mid-majors).

The injury to Marquetti is a crippling one. But as I said earlier, it will only help people like yourself fuel the fire about Marlin. Because we will be a shell of ourselves without him. So, in that regard, congratulations...I guess.

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Originally Posted by Cajunsmike

Willis, do you think there is any chance that consideration is given to pulling the redshirt from Julien. I recall hearing he would be cleared to practice next week. I know his preference was to redshirt so as to have four years at 100 per cent health. Don't know if the Marquetti injury changes his view. I doubt it will.

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I'm sure that question will be asked at the presser today. My guess is the redshirt stays. I hope it does, frankly.

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Originally Posted by ULvictory

It’s the narrative that will be set, and the goal posts will be moved once again.

With a full healthy team, we would come up short because “it’s hard to win three games in March.” Now, it will be because “player X was injured.”

Look, I feel for Marquetti. That’s never fun to see. But I see where a lot of fans are coming from when they get frustrated with what always seems to be a reason of why we CAN’T do something rather than actually doing it. Against Tech, it was because “Gant got hurt.” But no one seemed to mention the fact that Tech had two starters out. And then, I started to hear “but we’ve beaten them 4 out of 6 times.” Yeah well again, we lost one of those two times when two of their starters weren’t even playing.

Cost has to match quality, and there needs to be a return on what fans are paying for. With the money we invest in this program, finishing in the top 3 every year should be a MINIMUM. People can call me “miserable” or a “pessimist,” but I’m not seeing the ROI. And people who really know me see that I’m a realist. It’s not like I’m just picking on basketball for _____s and giggles.

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Realist? Didn't you say in an earlier thread your bar is to be in the postseason every year?

C'mon man.

And,, you referring to this program as a "turd" means you need to get out more. There are plenty of turd programs in D-1. This is not one of them.

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Originally Posted by talktomewillis

Realist? Didn't you say in an earlier thread your bar is to be in the postseason every year?

C'mon man.

And,, you referring to this program as a "turd" means you need to get out more. There are plenty of turd programs in D-1. This is not one of them.

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I think that the postseason every year should be the goal, but understand that the reality is that 2/3 to 3/4 of those “postseason” appearances will probably be in a tournament that starts with a C. I still don’t get why those tournaments are so riduculed by most here with the way mid majors are currently treated by the NCAA and NIT.

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Originally Posted by Hatch

I think that the postseason every year should be the goal, but understand that the reality is that 2/3 to 3/4 of those "postseason" appearances will probably be in a tournament that starts with a C. I still don't get why those tournaments are so riduculed by most here with the way mid-majors are currently treated by the NCAA and NIT.

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The "CBI" is the worst tournament of the 3 and shockinlgy Marlin likes the best.

IMO you can equate it to what ULM and Wyoming wanted to set up this year in football a joke.

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Originally Posted by zephyr

So, basically the point I'm trying to make to the vocal posters who defend Marlin and what he's accomplished such as Willis, Cajunsmike Ragin4U etc. is this. You guys have pointed to our program over a long period of time and suggested the success we've had during Marlin's tenure is similar or better to past coaches and teams. Scheduling is similar, conference success is similar as well NCAA tournament births etc. I think we all agree that our University had to make wholesale changes at the top that trickled down to bringing in guys who valued a collective approach to athletics thus pushing us further along.

We've brought in a president who wants more success and is willing to bring in an AD who feels the same and has the tools to bring us to a higher level. So, we can agree that expectations have to increase as well, especially when funding our programs to a level we never saw before and giving our athletes more resources to succeed. The question is when do our overall success expectations increase as well.

You guys have basically said we are similar in success levels of our MBB program from then to now, so when does our quest for excellence that is brought in through new leadership say to a coach that winning slightly more than half your games in a poor conference and with a very weak schedule is just not good enough? Its the evolution of building a winning program. You put more money and resources into something with the expectation that you will get more out of it. We are not getting more out of this program. In fact, it seems that we are happy with present results particularly as they compare to past accomplishments through comments from our people at the top and evidenced through our willingness to continue extending current contracts.

When do we collectively say thanks but we need more?

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No idea what the answer to your question is. If the good but not good enough for many results continue, I expect it will go to at least the end of the current contract. One losing season and I suspect it ends there.