MBB vs JMU: The Game & The Event

My first game in the Dome since South Alabama last year. A few observations:

The Event
Is the new VIP section for employees of UL? Beginning, during and after were almost totally filled with athletics employees, outside of a few Rebounder Clubbers. After halftime, it was totally empty, save for the SID assistant and the gameday manager watching a hockey game. Terrible look, but I do understand eliminating some seating to make the Dome look less empty.

Speaking of empty, announced crowd of 2349 is an abomination. I felt like we had a bit more than that (I guessed with about 10 min left in the first half they'd announce 2600-2700), but people were actually surprised by getting more than 2k. If that doesn't illustrate just where we are as a program, I don't know what will. A ranked conference opponent in Jan and we can't get 2500? It's just so bad. The crowd that was there started getting into the game after about 7-8 minutes, but the lead up, including the hilariously bad banner unveiling and thanking of Bob, was cringe. Exactly one section of the dome cheered when the PA thanked Bob. AD looked awkward af, standing there with him. They announced the SBC championship banner when about 800 were there, mostly unaware of what was going on. It was another funeral home experience until the second half, where the student section (shoutout to them for impacting the game) and the usual areas got rowdy. Still, after Cajuns made runs or the game got tight, we pivot to someone named RV hollering about a crawl race or Kiss Cam or some other cheesy gimmick, totally killing the energy in the building. I'm totally out on the guy walking around emceeing the event. Not knocking the guy, but he's put in an impossible situation. They're forcing the issue with him. It doesn't work. Just stop.

And then, of course, the fan appreciation championship pennants that didn't arrive "due to a shipping issue." It's always something with this place. You have one game to promote this year and it's JMU. How does this happen? It's just hilarious at this point. In what world should 2 beers and a popcorn cost a man just under $40?? We just have absolutely no idea how to run a competent, entertaining event.

The Game
Once again, effort is top notch from the players. This is the second time this year where the defensive effort was extremely impressive. And yet, they are constantly derailed by a coaching staff that can't get out of their own damn way. Does anyone have a clue what kind of offense Bob runs? Why when we hear "motion" does no one move? Where is the spacing in the half-court set? Why isn't Hosana the focal point of the offense when he's clearly playing well AND a mismatch in the paint? Does anyone get disciplined for taking irresponsible shots? We make the same mistakes over and over and over again. Fulks kept us in that game in crucial stretches. Joe Charles needs a defined role. Julien was better than anyone JMU had and I'm just baffled by how we utilized him offensively. How we never went to a 2 man game with he and Kitenge, I'll never understand.

Speaking of Julien, two absolute horse sh¡t calls that went against him changed the trajectory of the game. The phantom travel call when he didn't even have possession of the basketball and the worst charge I've ever seen called in my life when the Cajuns were beginning to pull away from JMU about midway into the second half. I know Bob and his minions complain about refs way too often, but as far last night, I'll agree with them. You can't have legitimate outcomes with incompetence at that level on the officiating crew. Every crucial call went to JMU, and it seemed as though Ref Shows let the crowd cloud his professionalism. What a clown that guy is. Officiating was embarrassing last night or maybe I'm just not used to watching this god awful basketball conference and it's refs.

All that said, the game itself was fun. JMU is not nearly a top 25 team. Probably not top 50. Totally overvalued. I think the Cajuns should be the clear #2 team in the belt. But more importantly, their fanbase is as annoying as their punk-ass basketball team. I love adding rivals and I can tell you, after their incessant crying about football, bloviating about their ranking and now this crap, they're squarely in my top 3 hated programs.

The Event:
I laughed out loud when I read the update on the cancelled pennant giveaway on Facebook but was not surprised one bit. As far as the crowd, when you have 2349 show up when hosting the first ranked opponent since 2006, that is an indictment on the particular program. I don't even have to say anything else beyond that.

The Game:
The ref on our side called an "And 1" foul in the 2nd half when JMU's player had taken the shot at least 2 seconds after the whistle was blown. That was just a microcosm of the incompetence they displayed officiating this game.

The team battled but the shooting was just off. Brush it off and get ready for Coastal.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ULvictory

The Event:
I laughed out loud when I read the update on the cancelled pennant giveaway on Facebook but was not surprised one bit. As far as the crowd, when you have 2349 show up when hosting the first ranked opponent since 2006, that is an indictment on the particular program. I don't even have to say anything else beyond that.

The Game:
The ref on our side called an "And 1" foul in the 2nd half when JMU's player had taken the shot at least 2 seconds after the whistle was blown. That was just a microcosm of the incompetence they displayed officiating this game.

The team battled but the shooting was just off. Brush it off and get ready for Coastal.

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And even with all that, if we could rebound and consistently make FTs, we win the game.

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Originally Posted by ManAboutTown

And even with all that, if we could rebound and consistently make FTs, we win the game.

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First full Cajun game I’ve watched in a while. Agree JMU is not a top 25 team, but they are good and should win the league.

As a 12-13 seed with right matchup(s), who knows? Bickerstaff and Edwards are solid, and they have a couple experienced complimentary players to go with them.

Game was lost when Cajuns couldn’t get a nice lead in 1st half. JMU also helped Cajuns by taking some quick 3’s and not exploiting the 2-man game even further last 7-8 minutes.

Love how hard Cajuns play. Just missing some “dudes” to compete with championship level team. Fun to watch and looked good on TV.

Thought the game was very entertaining..

The banner unveiling was hilarious. Crowd still trying to get to their seats, settling in, "hey everybody look at this banner!"

The emcee guy infuriated me -- not because he's doing a bad job, but because of the timing of when they do it. You know it's scripted and he has to mention Dwight Andrus, Raising Canes, etc., but there were several points last night where JMU would call a timeout to stop our momentum, and this guy comes out there with goofy sack race or something. JMU gets the ball out of a timeout and it's dead quiet.

They do this same crap in football, too.. Texas State game, we make a big tackle and force 4th down.. What crowd there was, was in it. Texas State calls a timeout to consider going for it.

Literally THE biggest play of the game.. the most obvious point to play some kind of crowd hype song.. and we get: "Time out on the field... and Cajuns fans don't forget to go Petey's Plate Lunch special next Tuesday night from 4 to 6. All proceeds will benefit the Scott Knight's of Columbus. That's Petey's -- if it's meaty, it must come from Petey!".. Texas State comes out of timeout, crowd completely silent...

I had fun at the game last night even though we lost. There were a few times when the dome was rocking. It reminded me of the Jesse days. The crowd seemed bigger because it was loud at times. As far as this team, it could have been really good if Jordan would have returned, instead of wasting his talent for just a little more money. (Not sure if he even got any of it)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ULvictory

The Game:
The ref on our side called an "And 1" foul in the 2nd half when JMU's player had taken the shot at least 2 seconds after the whistle was blown. That was just a microcosm of the incompetence they displayed officiating this game.

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Either that or the Julian travel might’ve been the worst calls I’ve seen this year

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Originally Posted by Big Buds

Either that or the Julian travel might’ve been the worst calls I’ve seen this year

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They were absolutely the worst crew I’ve ever seen in the Cajundome. After the mulatto ref made some pretty terrible calls the older white guy told him to hold his beer. If those dome foams hadn’t cost me $345 I may have tossed one at them. Just horrendous

I don’t know what y’all are complaining about ? The administration did a wonderful job promoting the game put a thing on Twitter and Facebook. I don’t know what else you need to do to pack the dome? In fact it’s all the fans fault the reason they didn’t show up! Just a bunch of ungrateful fans, they should be bowing down to Marlin and company for how well they promoted this game !
I blame the fans and the people of Acadiana.


Cough Cough!! Sarcasm !!

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Originally Posted by ULvictory

The Event:
I laughed out loud when I read the update on the cancelled pennant giveaway on Facebook but was not surprised one bit.

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Ok, for those who don’t get the concept, this is an example of USL’ing it. One step forward, two steps back. No way to recoup a misfire.

Let’s not forget Marlin wanting to fight with the opposing team after the game. Then of course KATC’s sports division is now so ratchet that they posted a video of the brawl as if they’re trying to be World Star. The world has indeed changed and no one has good taste anymore.

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Originally Posted by bbhstiger5

Let’s not forget Marlin wanting to fight with the opposing team after the game. Then of course KATC’s sports division is now so ratchet that they posted a video of the brawl as if they’re trying to be World Star. The world has indeed changed and no one has good taste anymore.

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I don’t really blame Fitz for that. The whole game for his business is chasing attention. Fights get attention.

Thanks for the great summary, really wanted to make that one last night but too much came up last minute to make the drive over. I agree the turning point was that offensive foul on Kobe that was his 3rd and sent him to the bench. So much momentum in our favor at that moment that went out the window there. I was screaming at the TV “slow it down” as he went down the court. I totally can see how in real time it looked like a bad call but on the replay you could see he threw the elbow out as he went up and that is what they got him for. Even Mouton commented on the broadcast watching the replay that the ref got that one right. The travel and continuation that JMU got were pretty bad though.

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Originally Posted by Hatch

Thanks for the great summary, really wanted to make that one last night but too much came up last minute to make the drive over. I agree the turning point was that offensive foul on Kobe that was his 3rd and sent him to the bench. So much momentum in our favor at that moment that went out the window there. I was screaming at the TV “slow it down” as he went down the court. I totally can see how in real time it looked like a bad call but on the replay you could see he threw the elbow out as he went up and that is what they got him for. Even Mouton commented on the broadcast watching the replay that the ref got that one right. The travel and continuation that JMU got were pretty bad though.

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The problem is if we slow it down, they can match up with us in half court where they have the advantage

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Originally Posted by zephyr

The problem is if we slow it down, they can match up with us in half court where they have the advantage

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They had the advantage in every aspect. We needed to play lights out, not get Big Fished, and make free throws.

Defensively the effort was there, we got Marlin’d, and didn’t make free throws.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zephyr

The problem is if we slow it down, they can match up with us in half court where they have the advantage

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I was referring to that particular possession, I felt that foul coming as Kobe crossed half court.

Thanks for summary.

I’m not going to another game until change is made.