2005-06 Basketball Preview

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Originally Posted by Dawgbytes

All BS aside, I would be surprised if he has a good game, simply because it has been two years since he has played D1 ball, and it will be a very intense environment, trust me.

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so you're going to show us what an "intense environment" is like???

I always get a kick out of college students. You guys have a really high opinion of yourselves....

Hopefully we can handle "the hostile environment".. OOoooooohhhhhh....

:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by SalukiRage

Yea- we do think highly of ourselves...with good reason.

* 4 straight at large bids;
* Sweet 16 Appearance;
* 4 straight conference championships;
* 3 NCAA tourney victory's in four years (two close losses against Alabama, Missouri and Ok. St.)
* 2nd longest home Court winning streak in the country;
* The MVC as the top rated Mid-Major in the country (many SIU fans hate that Mid label but I don't mind it so much);

There is probably more to be proud of but I stayed out too late last night to remember! I admit the Zags have accomplished more but we are a good middle ground between Zags and LALA. I don't say that to be an |||, I think you guys are a great up and coming program.

Oh and there are still several beer laws in place around Halloween. It's complete bull|||| and I don't think the local government should be allowed to restrict keg sales and stuff over any weekend but there is not much we can do about it.

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That is very impressive and a lot more than Cajuns can say in the very recent years, but we have the following of the top of my head:

last 4 years 20+ wins
last 4 years post season
last 2 years NCAA and very competitve first round loss (NC St. and Louisville)

3 NCAA wins (two in 70s, one in 90s)

trips to NCAAs in 1971, 72 (sweet sixteen), 82, 83 (at large), 91, 92, 00, 04, 05, (might be off on one by a year or so)

Andrew Toney and Bo Lamar

ranked as high as #4 in 70s

in 80s ranked as high as #17

in 90s ranked as high as #24

I seems that the program is on the way up again and not just because of sunbelt titles. The talent level and depth and recruiting is at an extremely high level for even the top mid-major programs.

The cajuns last year and this year are capable of beating just about any team in the country.

I think the Cajuns could easily lose this Friday but this is a very dangerous team that can on any given night walk into a tough place like Carbondale and win, just like SIU almost did the same last year in Lafayette.

UL is trying to reach the level that SIU is on, as far as recent NCAA tourney success. Until UL starts winning NCAA games again, there is no way Cajun fans can even argue that we have a better program than SIU.

But keep in mind on Friday, the Cajuns will be introducing a better team than last year, a better team than the Salukis lost to last year and all of your very very impressive banners and home court streak are not going to make a difference, except maybe to motivate the Cajuns players even more.

Good luck! And I concur with most on this board that this is a truly great series and I hope it continues. The Sunbelt is better this year, but still not so great and it is nice to see the Cajuns play teams that are a challenge early on. Once sunbelt play starts the Cajuns rpi will start the annual drop from at-large shoe-in to must win the tourney. With the new rpi ratings system, a road win over SIU would be great for at-large consideration.

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Originally Posted by miamicajun32

That is very impressive and a lot more than Cajuns can say in the very recent years, but we have the following of the top of my head:

last 4 years 20+ wins
last 4 years post season
last 2 years NCAA and very competitve first round loss (NC St. and Louisville)

3 NCAA wins (two in 70s, one in 90s)

trips to NCAAs in 1971, 72 (sweet sixteen), 82, 83 (at large), 91, 92, 00, 04, 05, (might be off on one by a year or so)

Andrew Toney and Bo Lamar

ranked as high as #4 in 70s

in 80s ranked as high as #17

in 90s ranked as high as #24

I seems that the program is on the way up again and not just because of sunbelt titles. The talent level and depth and recruiting is at an extremely high level for even the top mid-major programs.

The cajuns last year and this year are capable of beating just about any team in the country.

I think the Cajuns could easily lose this Friday but this is a very dangerous team that can on any given night walk into a tough place like Carbondale and win, just like SIU almost did the same last year in Lafayette.

UL is trying to reach the level that SIU is on, as far as recent NCAA tourney success. Until UL starts winning NCAA games again, there is no way Cajun fans can even argue that we have a better program than SIU.

But keep in mind on Friday, the Cajuns will be introducing a better team than last year, a better team than the Salukis lost to last year and all of your very very impressive banners and home court streak are not going to make a difference, except maybe to motivate the Cajuns players even more.

Good luck! And I concur with most on this board that this is a truly great series and I hope it continues. The Sunbelt is better this year, but still not so great and it is nice to see the Cajuns play teams that are a challenge early on. Once sunbelt play starts the Cajuns rpi will start the annual drop from at-large shoe-in to must win the tourney. With the new rpi ratings system, a road win over SIU would be great for at-large consideration.

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Don't forget some nice in-season tournament titles in the 80's: Won the Great Alaska Shoot-out (beating #1 Georgetown, Washinton State & Marquette), the Sugar Bowl Tourney (Michigan State & Kansas), & the UKIT - Univ. of Kentucky Invitational Tourney (Cincinnati & UK). So you can see we have had some big wins in our past. We also beat Oklahoma in Norman when they were nationally ranked in the 90's, and then beat 'em in the NCAAs the next year. Had a nice near-miss against the Houston Phi Slama Jamma team featuring Olajuwan and Drexler - one point loss, with Olajuwan coming out to the key to partially block a last second shot that would have won the game for us.

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<table bgcolor=#eaeaea> <td> <font color=#000000> <blockquote><p align=justify>
&nbsp; The Louisiana Ragin' Cajun men's basketball team has been trying to emulate the defensive pressure in practice that it expects from Southern Illinois on Friday, but coach Robert Lee said he won't know how effective that's been until his team takes the floor.

"You do the best you can, but you can only simulate so much," Lee said Wednesday prior to his team's final full-length workout prior to the 7:05 p.m. (CST) Friday opener. "We've got to be able to handle the pressure their guards will put on us, and we've got to handle the double-team in the post."

The Cajuns play the first of three straight road contests to open the season Friday, and the Salukis may be the most difficult test of that streak. SIU went 27-8 last year and reached the NCAA Tournament second round.

But one of those eight losses was 63-61 at the Cajundome last January.

"There's no question in my mind if we can limit turnovers and handle their pressure, we can win," Lee said. "But we have to be able to get the ball down low. If we can't get it inside, we can't win."

<center><p><a href="http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051117/SPORTS/511170342/1006">The rest of the story</a>

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

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ONE GOT AWAY: The Cajun squad lost one of its wished-for recruits Wednesday, with 6-foot-7 swingman Aubrey Butler of Central High in Little Rock, Ark., signing with Wichita State.
"It was down to us and them all along," Lee said, "so it didn't surprise me."

Two other potential Cajun recruits, 6-foot-7 Courtney Wallace of New Orleans-Brother Martin and now attending Woodlawn High in Baton Rouge, and 6-foot-10 Marcus Hubbard of Kilgore, Texas, Junior College, had not signed national letters of intent as of 5 p.m. Wednesday. Players had until midnight Wednesday to sign in the NCAA's early signing period, and cannot sign with any school until April if they did not hit the midnight deadline.


ROAD WARRIORS: The Cajuns are opening a season away from home for the fourth straight year, and UL is 2-1 in those last three openers with its only loss to a nationally-ranked Georgia Tech team two seasons ago. Maybe not by coincidence, UL went on to win 20 games each of those years.
The Cajun squad took a 79-76 win at Mississippi State in 2002 before falling at Georgia Tech 79-45 to tip off 2003. Last year UL opened in LSU's Louisiana Classic Tournament and crunched La. Tech 84-63 in the first round.

But UL will be looking to snap a three-game losing streak on hostile courts, having finished last year's Sun Belt Conference season with losses in its last three road games before winning the neutral-site league tournament in Denton, Texas.


DWAYNE REMEMBERS: Dwayne Mitchell was just starting to round into form as a regular at point guard for the Cajuns last year when UL faced Southern Illinois on Jan. 5 at the Cajundome. Mitchell finished that game with a career-high nine assists, but also missed a pair of free throws with a minute left and the Cajuns leading by three points.
Eventually, UL trailed 62-61 before Brian Hamilton drew a crowd of defenders with only seconds left and dished to Chris Cameron for a game-winning layup with 0.2 seconds left.

"We know we've got to play better than we did here to win up there," Mitchell said, "but we're very capable of doing that. We've come a long way since we started in October."


HISTORIC: The Cajuns haven't made a men's basketball trip to Carbondale since 1940, when a Dutch Reinhardt-coached squad took a 40-33 win in December of that year.
Since then, SIU's made two trips to Cajun country, falling to then-USL 99-73 in the 1983 Bayou Classic in Blackham Coliseum prior to last year's visit.




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I concur on continuing the series, both schools have great programs, I would certainly look forward to it every year. Thanks for the hospitality on this board, and good luck for the "rest of the year"!

A. I am no longer a college student, but I sure would love to go back to those days!

B. You can't argue with 55-1 at home, can you?

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Originally Posted by miamicajun32

That is very impressive and a lot more than Cajuns can say in the very recent years, but we have the following of the top of my head:

last 4 years 20+ wins
last 4 years post season
last 2 years NCAA and very competitve first round loss (NC St. and Louisville)

3 NCAA wins (two in 70s, one in 90s)

trips to NCAAs in 1971, 72 (sweet sixteen), 82, 83 (at large), 91, 92, 00, 04, 05, (might be off on one by a year or so)

Andrew Toney and Bo Lamar

ranked as high as #4 in 70s

in 80s ranked as high as #17

in 90s ranked as high as #24

I seems that the program is on the way up again and not just because of sunbelt titles. The talent level and depth and recruiting is at an extremely high level for even the top mid-major programs.

The cajuns last year and this year are capable of beating just about any team in the country.

I think the Cajuns could easily lose this Friday but this is a very dangerous team that can on any given night walk into a tough place like Carbondale and win, just like SIU almost did the same last year in Lafayette.

UL is trying to reach the level that SIU is on, as far as recent NCAA tourney success. Until UL starts winning NCAA games again, there is no way Cajun fans can even argue that we have a better program than SIU.

But keep in mind on Friday, the Cajuns will be introducing a better team than last year, a better team than the Salukis lost to last year and all of your very very impressive banners and home court streak are not going to make a difference, except maybe to motivate the Cajuns players even more.

Good luck! And I concur with most on this board that this is a truly great series and I hope it continues. The Sunbelt is better this year, but still not so great and it is nice to see the Cajuns play teams that are a challenge early on. Once sunbelt play starts the Cajuns rpi will start the annual drop from at-large shoe-in to must win the tourney. With the new rpi ratings system, a road win over SIU would be great for at-large consideration.

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Smart post and I agree with everything you said! Southall is gonna be fired up for his first game in a long time and you guys will give us a great game. You guys will be one of the top five or six teams we play all year and we are gonna need to be on our game to win. This early its really anyone's game cause neither team has really gelled yet. That is why home court is so advantageous now. It will be close but I say Dawgs by 7 or 8 (late freethrows make it seem not as close as it was).

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Originally Posted by SalukiRage

Smart post and I agree with everything you said! Southall is gonna be fired up for his first game in a long time and you guys will give us a great game. You guys will be one of the top five or six teams we play all year and we are gonna need to be on our game to win. This early its really anyone's game cause neither team has really gelled yet. That is why home court is so advantageous now. It will be close but I say Dawgs by 7 or 8 (late freethrows make it seem not as close as it was).

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Nice post SalukiRage, and you are so right, no one has gelled as of yet. On our side of the ball hopefully we have a little more of "Bill Cosby's Jello Brand Jelliton" than SIU has!!

Remember "Bull Gators" favorite snack is "Dawg Meat"!..O..

Good Luck the rest of the year, Friday night I hope the Cajuns prevail. This will be a good contest, one that should continue from year to year!!!

DaddyCajun!!

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Originally Posted by SalukiRage

That's funny....

I don;'t know if anyone is actually gonna hand any flyers out we are actually just having fan on the fan site. There has been some chatter about actually passing them out but I kinda doubt the students will organize for this...to many are on thanksgiving break. Most students don;t percieve this as a big game for us. I think they are wrong to overlook you guys but nothing can be done about it with the holiday break.

You guys like the avatar? lol

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A poem just for you.....
Do you sleep with a night light
bright bright
So at night the bed bugs dont come and bite, bite?

Southall will have a million points and a million rebounds.

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Originally Posted by 50Cent

A poem just for you.....
Do you sleep with a night light
bright bright
So at night the bed bugs dont come and bite, bite?

Southall will have a million points and a million rebounds.

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I hadn't heard dat 50.
Have you heard this one:
Yea...Yea...
I'm from the hood where the drop-outs is bangin for the feelin
For houses wit Tvs hangin from the ceilin
We gamble on ball courts
Keep the paint peelin
You either play ball or rap if you aint dealin
I'm stuck in the past
|||| changed since the 80s (What)
I know ladies, that got babies wit babies
Out here its basketball and speedbags
And guns that'll stiffin you up like freeze tag.


Don't go there 50 or you will get another hole in dat |||||.
Dawgs gonna bit ya.
Dis ain't da waterboy.
No Adma Sandler gonna save ya.

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Originally Posted by Zeebart21

Welcome, dont flatter yourself, though... With everything S'hall has been thru, only a guy coming out of the stands w/ a gun would shake him...

We arent expecting that till we play the wKY hillbilly's......

have a good game....

Z.

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I hear Tonya Harding is a WKU fan. Southall better keep an eye out for her boys...

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Originally Posted by RaginFan2

Don't forget some nice in-season tournament titles in the 80's: Won the Great Alaska Shoot-out (beating #1 Georgetown, Washinton State & Marquette), the Sugar Bowl Tourney (Michigan State & Kansas), & the UKIT - Univ. of Kentucky Invitational Tourney (Cincinnati & UK). So you can see we have had some big wins in our past. We also beat Oklahoma in Norman when they were nationally ranked in the 90's, and then beat 'em in the NCAAs the next year. Had a nice near-miss against the Houston Phi Slama Jamma team featuring Olajuwan and Drexler - one point loss, with Olajuwan coming out to the key to partially block a last second shot that would have won the game for us.

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Isn't the UKIT tourney win the only time UK has lost their tourney? I seem to remember reading about that in the DA about 2 years ago.

That #1 Georgetown team had some guy named Patrick Ewing on it. Believe they were National Runners-up that year; lost to Nova.