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No one will ever know for sure how the 2018-19 UL men's basketball team would have fared in the Sun Belt Conference race if not for the season-ending injury to senior standout Malik Marquetti in the final league tune-up of the season.
And while Ragin' Cajun coach Bob Marlin's heart is pretty convinced, he's also not spending much time these days mired in the frustration of last season's obstacles. Rather, Marlin and his staff are motivated and guided by them.
I found it interesting in that Marlin said we still have a spot available and may try to bring in another PG. I thought we were full on scholarships.
Big year coming up.
Everytime I see a new thread about basketball, I just get mad... then sad.
Actually All the changes may be good for the program. A young assistant coach with different ideas and basically a new set of hungry players could bode better days are ahead. Perhaps some level of complacency had set in, it was recognized, and changes were made accordingly. For the record, we have only 12 players on scholarship at this time and one is available. I would not be surprised to see it go to a JUCO player which graduates from junior college sometime this summer. You can’t sign with a four year school from JUCO unless you graduate from the two year institution. Exception is if you were Eligible out of high school. Another transfer from a four year school is also a possibility.
Was the complacency recognized if its there? We lost a coach to another school. We didn't fire him due to poor performance. If there is complacency in the program, that issue would not seem to have been addressed just by bringing in Brock Morris.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cajunsmike
I am hopeful that we have truly upgraded our roster. I'm often skeptical of creating high expectations based off of so much turnover and unknowns with the players but I would bet your house that our frontline will be drastically improved from what it would have looked like without some of this player movement and we will hopefully have more quality depth.Quote:
Originally Posted by ManAboutTown
As you said in your followup posts, we have overhauled the roster and that probably is a bigger indicator of a need to change than staff movement. As far as Brock is concerned, I do know that there was an emphasis on bringing in youth when the position became open. Both he and Josten Crow aspire to be D1 head coaches one day and that is a good thing to have on your staff. I also don't know at what level the players brought in will perform at but it does appear we will have more athleticism and more depth than in the past. Of course none of us have any idea what type of team we will have at this stage. Consider, only four members of the squad saw playing time last year and one of those saw minimum action. At least two to of the eight new guys were able to practice due to redshirting. On an optimistic note, folks who went to practice have said they were the second and third best players on the team after Gant. That leaves six guys who have never had one practice at the D1 level at this time. Impossible to predict with any kind of confidence how successful they will be at this stage due to so much turnover. This is definitely a wait and see year.Quote:
Originally Posted by zephyr
Yep, i am with you! Another year wasted with excuses from the Big Fish, while we lose stock with conference realignment!
It’ll be interesting to see how the changes play out. It can either be a huge blessing in disguise or it can be a disappointment. We will see soon enough.
With that being said, I’m very skeptical of “how good” a transfer or a recruit is in any sport because I’d rather not set myself up for disappointment. Show me on the field (or court in this matter), and I’ll judge you based on that. Hopefully, these guys can step up and get the job done. Watching us win games against glorified high schools before getting bounced out early in the conference tournament is starting to get kind of old.
Marlin has had some really good transfers though.Quote:
Originally Posted by ULvictory
Shawn long and frank Bartley are two that come to mind.
The whole thing is stale, my friend. We need sweeping changes across the board. From head coach, to how we approach the basketball program, to how we schedule. We need to overhaul the basketball program, top to bottom.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cajunsmike
Can we go out and get some Easter Bunnies?
This x 1000Quote:
Originally Posted by ManAboutTown
I have zero confidence that Marlin will ever get this basketball program at a high enough level to matter. I did like him initially and thought he could do it. Nope, I was wrong.
Do you know how hard it is to play in the nicest gym in the conference???Quote:
Originally Posted by ULGrad@HOU
I would generally agree. How many wait and see years do we have to have before we start seeing that change is on the horizon.Quote:
Originally Posted by ManAboutTown
Y’all need to understand that the UL administration is fairly satisfied with the Big Fish. No NCAA issues, high GPA and good graduation rates. Conference titles are highly overrated. We’ve got a stable and aging fan base. We can go on like this far into the future.
Face it, the big Fish will probably decide when his days are over, much like Robe.
Basketball will soon have to pull it's share of the load with finances it should easily be the #2 sport for generating revenue yet it's 3rd maybe 4th.Quote:
Originally Posted by CajunEXPRESS
Much like Hud the record or lack of success will not get Marlin fired the ROI will
We already understand this. We just don't agree with it.Quote:
Originally Posted by CajunEXPRESS
I don't think Maggard will sit on his hands and let Marlin ride off into the sunset 10 years down the road.Quote:
Originally Posted by zephyr
Everyone except for the CFO.Quote:
Originally Posted by CajunEXPRESS
We are missing big money opportunities with this basketball program. Money we need and would be depending on, if we’re lucky enough to get into a real conference.
Neither do I agree with UL decisions. But I’m never asked anything by T Joe, or Maggard except for additional dollars.
According to Mike, he's more than willing to give him as much time as he can outside of a couple of catastrophic years to attempt to make that next step. I don't think Marlin is going anywhere anytime soon.Quote:
Originally Posted by cajun_lannister
Hopefully he was just pandering to the basketball crowd or he was serious and we have no ambition to advance ourselves.Quote:
Originally Posted by zephyr