Can someone who was there please report on what they saw? The stats looked good, but stats don't tell you everything. What was the chemistry like? Any stand-outs?
Printable View
Can someone who was there please report on what they saw? The stats looked good, but stats don't tell you everything. What was the chemistry like? Any stand-outs?
Does someone have a picture of our new court?
My thoughts on the game tonight:
The good: This team seems to have some chemistry, they are hustling on defense, and are extremely deep on numbers. We will have multiple options on offense to score and we are very athletic.
The not so good: We are still average at the point gaurd. We have no big man and very little presence inside. We don't seem to have identity on offense yet.
Most improved: 1. Tyren Johnson- much improved over last season. Last year he seemed unsure and weak. He seems to be more confident and stronger. 2. Willie Lago now has a decent outside shoot.
Pleasant surprise: 1. Chris Gradnigo looked much better tonight than the midnight madness scrimmage. He can play in the half court and create his own shoot. He scored 15 pts. tonight. 2. Brandon Dison can play some defense. He plays a little high, would like to see drop his behind a little, but will be our best perimerter defender. Dison can also rebound and he hit a couple mid range jumpers. Reminds me of Laurie Bridges.
Disappointment: Corey Bloom did not play as much as I expected and did not contribute much. I do expect him to play alot this season and be our biggest 3 pt. threat.
Injured: Maurice Barksdale and Randell Daigle both did not play but are expected to be back next week.
Redshirt: Most likely Travis Bureau (3 pt. and slam dunk champ), Stephan Dees, Sutton Yanosky, and some new local kid. Although much improved and will play this season, I believeTyren Johnson needs a redshirt year. Tyren has alot of potential and will be someone who will get better every year in the program.
Future Stars: Chris Gradnigo and La'Ryan Gary.
5 best players: 1. Dees 2. Millsap 3. Gary 4. Gradnigo 5. Dison
Pros: We were defending as soon as the opponent got the ball. We made free throws. The new court looks good. We got new Nike Uni's. The Dome Foam.
Cons: Didn't get to see Barksdale or Travis Bureau play. We didn't seem to guard the three ball very well but LC was shooting lights out. We are young. The spicy peanuts burned me up.
I thought I saw nike logos. What does that mean for the rest of the sports?
Quote:
<table bgcolor=#eaeaea> <td> <font color=#000000> <blockquote> <p align=justify>
UL's basketball team will have more athleticism and more weapons than last year's 9-21 squad. That was obvious Tuesday at the Cajundome.
Whether the Ragin' Cajuns can defend anyone is still undetermined.
The Cajuns used advantages in depth, quickness and firepower to eventually take a 95-81 victory over Louisiana College in the squad's annual exhibition contest. But Cajun head coach Robert Lee was less than happy with his team's defensive effort.
The NAIA Wildcats hit 11 3-pointers and shot over 61 percent as a team. That shooting kept LC within 10 points in the final four minutes.
<center><p><a href="http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071107/SPORTS/711070320/1006" target="_blank">The rest of the story</a>
Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com
<!--
"Our intrasquad scrimmages had been about 84 to 83, and we didn't know if it was because of good offense or bad defense," Lee said. "We saw tonight it was bad defense. We didn't have a scout report for an exhibition like this, but we didn't defend the way we'd practiced to defend."
The Wildcats made their first six 3-point tries and only missed 17 shots in the game. Ironically, UL's defense forced 28 turnovers and converted a lot of those into easy baskets on the other end. The Cajuns finished with 15 steals compared to only two for the visitors.
"I don't know if our kids ever really adjusted to their quickness," said Wildcat coach Eugene Rushing. "Their athleticism and quickness gave us a lot of trouble. And their depth ... they came at us in three waves, and it didn't look like they had a drop-off."
The Cajuns, aiming for their regular-season opener next Wednesday against North Alabama, had 11 players that played eight or more minutes and five players scored in double figures. Returning Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year Elijah Millsap led that group with 19 points, 13 coming in the second half, while newcomers Chris Gradnigo and La'Ryan Gary had 15 and 14 points, respectively.
"We were able to run it pretty well," said Gradnigo, UL's most heralded freshman signee. "But our defense has to get better. We'll be better on the defensive side for North Alabama."
LC got 21 points from returning All-American Southwest Conference pick Josh Johnson, but sophomore guard Jeremy Hollier was the sparkplug with 19 points. Hollier hit three straight 3-pointers in a period of less than five minutes, the last of which tied the game for the final time at 32 with 6:35 left in the first half.
David Dees, UL's leading scorer (17.4) last season, had 10 points and he and Gary each had a game-high six rebounds. UL took a 26-21 board advantage in a game that didn't have a lot of missed shots.
"It was good that they (La. College) had some success offensively," Lee said. "Now that we've played somebody else, hopefully our guys will buy into what we're saying about playing defense now."
-->
</td> </table>
Does anyone else think that Randell Daige can be our true point guard? He handled the ball very well during Midnight Madness.Quote:
Originally Posted by J-Town Cajun
I don't know what it means for the rest of the sports becuase they have all pretty much been wearing different uni sponsors anyway: Mens basketball was wearing a brand that I had never heard of last year, Womens soccer and Volleyball wear Nike (I'm pretty sure), There were rumors of the Football team getting Adidas last year after the Houston win but they are still wearing Russel Athletic this season. I figure if Nike would be providing uni's for the entire sports program we would have heard something. So there's your fashion update (I hate that I know so much about uniforms)Quote:
Originally Posted by fiz
I think once Barksdale is healthy (which he should be by next week, we will have a better half court offense. I heard Lee say he is the Sr. leader of this team.Quote:
Originally Posted by RaginCajun08
I think this team will surprise alot of people this year. We are deep in talent and that will go a long way in the sunbelt. I think we will be able to tire teams out in the sunbelt. We can definately get up and down the floor. I see us having having trouble with no post presents but wilson and wallace should be able to handle that most of the time. Tennessee is a damn good team who we are built similar to. They are almost all guards and it seems to work for them. If we play good defense we have enough players to keep the intensity. It seemed we will be able to shoot free throws alot better than last year. I think dison will be our defensive specialist. Gary and milsap will be the most exciting to watch in my opinion. I was glad to see that Lee seems to have his "anger" under control. When things went wrong he seemed to coach the guys last night instead of screaming with frustration and that will go a long way. Overall i think we will have a much better year than expected.
I have to say I enjoyed the young and entergetic team we put on the court last night. The positives of the night would have to be Gradnigo being better than he looked in the scrimage and LaRyan Gary, who kinda reminds me of Brian Hamilton w/ a little more offense. I think Gary will be a beast for years to come. I agree that we looked somewhat weak at the point but like it was previously said, when Barksdale comesback he should be able to improve that area. Also, Daigles contribution will be a plus so I wouldn't say that's a negative just yet. Also, our increase in the overall size should create more rebounding opportunities for the team. I can see Milsap and Wallace getting a few boards but I think Gary, Gadnigo, Johnson and other tall new comers will contribute in that area. Oh yeah...and our new floor looked damn good and the bear tasted great!!!
Some of the negatives I say were, for one, our youth. We are going to make bad mistakes b/c of our lack of collegiate experience. We are young and you kinda have to asume that will happen. Our inside game will be a little week but at the same time, Milson and Wallace looked much improved. It's hard to imagine our rebounding stats going up without Adam James (just joking). I also, once again, am going to stress that David Dees needs to shoot more. He sometimes perfers to give the ball away when he has an open 3. I don't understand that b/c he's suck a good shooter. He's not the pointguard so he shouldn't be distributing the ball like one. Take the open shot!! Another negative would be that attendence was a little week but it's only and exhibition and hopefully that's the reason. Oh and our mascot still looks stupid....He had a football jersey on for a basketball game!!!
I also noticed that our banners for NCAA Tourney and Sunbelt Champs were empty (becuase of Orien and Tiras) I didn't really like that too much. Also behind the American Flag there are the flags of all the sunbelt schools hanging vertical and for some reason Monroe's flag is in the middle haning Horizontal. Just a few things I noticed last night.