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<a href="https://forumeus.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1759">Thanks Trigger74</a>Quote:
Originally posted by Trigger74
Yes and for those out-of-staters, Jay has assured me that all games will be on the KPEL web as long as the team is playing.
GEAUX LOUISIANA'S RAGIN CAJUNS
I'm glad our season isn't over yet.
I'll go ahead and warn you; UAB is HOT right now. Their win over Marquette (C-USA regular season champs and No. 8 in the nation) wasn't a fluke, they took it to them.
UL is definitely capable of beating them, but y'all need to be clicking when you hit Birmingham.
Best of luck.
<blockquote><p align=justify>LAFAYETTE — The last time Louisiana was in the National Invitation Tournament, the Ragin’ Cajuns played like they didn’t care about the outcome. The result was predictable, an 83-63 loss at Louisiana Tech in 2002 shortly after the Cajuns had lost to Western Kentucky in the finals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
Coach Jessie Evans is hoping for a better performance on Wednesday when his 20-9 team travels to face 19-12 Alabama-Birmingham in the NIT.
“Last year, the (Sun Belt) tournament was closer to the invitation to the NIT,” Evans said Monday. “We were still recovering from the loss in the finals.
“We’re a little more mature this year, and we’ve had a little more time to get over it.”
The Cajuns suffered an unexpectedly early loss in the Sun Belt quarterfinals, falling 72-68 to Denver for the first time in school history, and have been inactive since March 8.
“It’s given us the opportunity to heal,” Evans said. “Laurie (team MVP Laurie Bridges) was about 60-70 percent in the Sun Belt Tournanent with a deep thigh bruise.
“And, (senior) Anthony Johnson is feeling a lot better with his lower leg injury. They’re all able to practice this year.”
<center><p><a href="http://www.theadvertiser.com/sports/html/F7DE17E6-112A-4CE6-B392-C12B06C2B318.shtml">The rest of the story</a></center></blockquote>South Louisiana Publishing
Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com <!--
Louisiana averaged 5,670 fans per game in the Cajundome during the season, and the Cajuns had hoped to land a home game to start the NIT. But they instead were assigned a road trip out of the gate.
“That does not faze our basketball team at all,” said Evans, whose squad was 10-8 away from home. “We know the routine. That will not change. The stakes are just higher now.
“It’s only fitting that we go on the road, with as many games as we’ve played there this year. I knew we would probably go on the road, and that’s fine with us _ just as long as we get to play.”
Evans’ Cajuns, who leave for Birmingham today, suffered a 92-86 loss at Birmingham Southern in the third game of the campaign in a previous visit this season.
UAB, a surprise finalist in the Conference USA Tournament where it lost 83-78 to Louisville, whipped Birmingham Southern 71-53. In two previous games this year against C-USA teams, the Cajuns are 2-0 with wins at Charlotte (68-47) and at Houston (72-56).
“Louisiana's a very good basketball team,” UAB coach Mike Anderson said. “I got a chance to watch the Charlotte game (UAB split two meetings with Charlotte).
“Jessie, I know him personally as a friend and he does a good job. He has the big (Michael) Southall kid and they have big guards, and I just remember that they have a very athletic team and they play up-tempo.
“When you get to tournament play, every team is going to be good. They didn’t win 20 games just by winning 20 games. They beat Mississippi State at Mississippi State, and that’s very impressive. We have our work cut out for us.”
The Blazers are in a similar position to the Cajuns of 2002, except that they can play at home after losing a chance at the NCAA Tournament with a loss in their conference finals.
“As far as a letdown,” Anderson said, “that’s something that concerns you as a coach.”At the same time, I think our guys just want to continue to play basketball. We have two seniors that just want to continue to play, and now they have another opportunity to play another game at Bartow (Arena).
“Our goal was to get to the NCAA, no question about that, but our guys will
be ready to play. I won’t let them have a letdown.”
“I know Mike from when I was an assistant at Arizona and he was at Arkansas,” Evans said. “He’s a disciple of Nolan Richardson, so we know they’ll press for 40 minutes. We’ve got to be able to handle the pressure. “We’re excited about playing. It’s a credit to our program that we’ve been in postseason for three of the last four years. “We need to play well, obviously. We must go over there and play well. We need to make the tournament work for us.”
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<blockquote><p align=justify>BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — For four days last week, Alabama-Birmingham’s basketball team was the talk of the Conference USA Tournament.
The Blazers wore the Cinderella slipper with three wins in three days to reach that league’s final, including upsets along the way over No. 8-ranked Marquette and a higher-seeded Saint Louis team.
Even though the glass slipper cracked in an 83-78 loss to Louisville in the finals, it was a memorable week for UAB head coach Mike Anderson.
“That was an opportunity for our team and our program to show people around the country that we had progressed tremendously,” he said. “We were progressing pretty nicely.”
Anderson will be hoping his 19-12 Blazers can sustain that hot stretch when they welcome Louisiana's Ragin’ Cajuns in the first round of the NIT Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in Bartow Arena.
That is, if his team can reach the emotional pitch that it used to get within five points of a seemingly-impossible NCAA berth.
“That’s something that does concern you as a coach,” Anderson said. “At the same time, I think our guys just want to continue to play basketball. We’ve got two seniors that just want to continue to play, and now they have another opportunity to play another game at Bartow.
“Our goal was to get to the NCAA, no doubt about that, but our guys will be ready to play. I won’t let them have a letdown.”
<center><p><a href="http://www.theadvertiser.com/sports/html/02B055E3-7842-4F63-9B47-CFC7E1BB121D.shtml">The rest of the story</a></center></blockquote>South Louisiana Publishing
Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com <!--
UAB had to play four games in four days in the C-USA meet, and still led Louisville at halftime and were within one point and had possession in the final 30 seconds against the Cardinals.
“We were shooting at the NCAA Tournament,” Anderson said, “and our way to get there was through the conference tournament. When you get on a roll like that, things happen. Our defense was the best it had been all season long.
“Eric Bush and Mo Finley took charge of the team, and the other guys just followed suit.”
Bush and Morris Finley, at 5-foot-10 and 5-foot-11, had been providing a spark for the Blazers even before the league tournament. Finley ranked among C-USA’s leading scorers with an 18.3 average and Bush, one of only two seniors on the Blazer roster, averaged nine points and 3.7 assists along with ranking in the nation’s top five in steals (3.2/game).
UAB, in fact, averaged an incredible 11.9 steals per game during the season and forced an average of 22 turnovers an outing.
“We really have to take care of the ball against these guys,” said Louisiana head coach Jessie Evans. “With Bush and Finley, it’s like playing against two Kenneth Lawrences out there. They do a great job of forcing you into turnovers.”
The Blazers are making their eighth NIT appearance and their first since 1998, and are among three C-USA teams in the NIT this year.
UAB had won three in a row before a stretch going into the league tournament that included road rosses at Marquette and Cincinnati and a home loss to Memphis. All three wound up as top-eight NCAA seeds.
“We were playing pretty good basketball down the stretch,” Anderson said. “For people just looking at the scores and the standings, we lost three in a row, but look at the schedule. We were playing good people.”
Anderson said that the same will be true on Wednesday when he plays against a familiar coaching acquaintance.
“I got a chance to watch their game with Charlotte when they won by 21 points,” Anderson said of Louisiana. “I know Jessie pretty well and I know he has a good team. They’re very athletic and they play up tempo. They didn’t win 20 games just by accident. We have our work cut out for us.”
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I will be shocked, stunned and stupefied should the Cajuns win on Wednesday.
Blazers up early 4-0
Jay says the Cajuns are playing hard.
16-15 UAB
21-16 Louisiana
Th defense is on fire.
Nice job right there on D