The Book: 2006-2007 Ragin' Cajuns Basketball

[CDeb]

Do you think any one of the above mentioned 4 players would have considered Cajuns as high school seniors? Greene was a high school All-American and chose Florida.

Speaking of Florida, and other top teams, their best players rarely stay 4 years, although they don't have to deal with transfers because they can get the top talent as Freshmen.

If Cajuns finish with a losing record this year, for the second year in a row, this team has no chance in future of rising even above what they were two years ago, a solid mid major. You are not going to become a Gonzaga by recruiting high school players that the major programs are not interested in.

And if Lee has always been so focused with bringing in 4 year players, why did he go after all the transfers last year and then declare the team to be sweet sixteen worthy. Was he just joking around when he gave those players scholarships, knowing that he was not going to honor those scholarships the following year?

I am tired of hearing all the excuses. Less wins, less fans at games. Worse team in over 20 years. If that is what is needed in your opinion in order to take this program to the next level, then I hope you are right, but it seems idiotic.

Hitler should have easily overrun Russia. He should have easily beat the Allies back into the English Channel. He had an overwhelming amount of troops in France with a tactical genius as their commander in Rommell. Eisenhower considered defeat such a real possibility that he had a statement prepared for the press in the event that a beachhead could not be secured.

So why was the Third Reich no more a mere 10 months after D-day? Because in Hitler's stubborness, he refused to allow his commanders to concede an inch of ground. They were to fight to the death for every scrap of land in their possession. They were not allowed to pull back and reform their lines if it meant giving up ground that they held. Never retreat or regroup, always gaining, never willingly losing any ground. It's nice propaganda, but sometimes you have to give a little to regroup and strengthen your strategic (if not tactical) position.

Just a little for folks to ponder......

[SlappyCajun]

These guys are not freshman at major schools because they were not going to be eligible. Bigger schools were recruiting them, however those schools have the luxury of not taking acadmeically at risk kids. To get the type of talent that you want we had to take some kids that could sit out.

Grandigo was offered by Notre Dame and Arkansas. Millsap, Gary, and Dison would have all been major college guys if their grades were in order.

Orien Greene come around once in a lifetime major college or not, we were lucky enough to get him.

As far as talent and Brian Hamilton goes, he went to TAMU - Corpus Christi, the thing that separated him was his heart and effort, but I guess you already know that these kids have no heart and effort. I agree that there have been problems in the program in the past couple of years. However, this past years recruiting class is not one of them.

[SlappyCajun]

Also, the program is taking a step forward. People were like do you want to be like Northwestern St. and win a tournament game and then be back to nothing next year? My answer to that is look at Northwestern St. this year.

High school guys we have had in the past:

Cedric Williams, Brad Boyd, Antoine Landry, Laurie Bridges, Blaine Harmon, Chris Cameron.

These guys were good enought to win conference championships, this class is more highly touted than the previous guys.

Also, if you want to realize why we are not getting more "high major" high school recruits maybe you should check into the basketball practice facility/locker room, which is the temperature that it is outside when the guys practice.

I will tell you this. If the program can find a quality big man, they can win the Sunbelt title with the talent they have for two to three times.

[BeauCajun]

High school guys we have had in the past:

Cedric Williams, Brad Boyd, Antoine Landry, Laurie Bridges, Blaine Harmon, Chris Cameron.

These guys were good enought to win conference championships, this class is more highly touted than the previous guys.

And only two of these 6 were eligible out of high school.

[RustyR]

These kids don't have the talent of Hamilton, Greenes, etc., or they would be freshmen at much more major programs. It is always possible that one of the youngsters is a diamond in the rough, but Greene started for the Gators as a freshman and was a high school all american. He also happens to have nba talent. The idea that Cajuns had an option to bring in the Hamiltons and the Greenes as freshmen is just not realistic. They only could have had them as transfers.

Didnt Hamilton transfer from Texas A&M Corpis Cristi or something like that?

[kracka75LSU]

YOU'RE ANOTHER IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice comeback. Funny thing is... I figured the name calling would have started sooner. You can kiss my rear. I was offering up an opinion, if you don't like it respond to it with something in depth, maybe why you don't agree, or maybe your viewpoint as to why the team is depending too much on transfers and kids who don't have the grades to participate. Who probably in the long run will visit the bench again due to grades.

So I guess since you don't have anything else to say, I guess that makes YOU the idiot.

[paulpaul2]

Sounds like you are someone close to the program. If so, what do you think has to happen for the team to reach it's potential this year.

I think that program is headed in the right direction. Now thats not to say that there wont be a few bumps along the way. There are only a select few programs in the country that are always up there at the top, there are good years and there are not so good years (notice i did not say bad). I believe that the only way to build a program to a point where it is respected and competitive every year is to do what coach lee has done. Now if he was in a similar situation to his first year, would signing alot of freshman be the thing to do? maybe not. I know for a fact that he did not go out and get alot of JUCO players for this year for a specific reason. That reason is, as he told me, that he wants to build the program the right way, not to use players for 2 years and some more wins, he wants to mould these young men into great people and great players, and i promise you that after he is done and when these guys jump on board, not only will this team exceed expectations they will come out of school better people than when they went in and with a piece of paper aswell.

Is this year going to be tough, yes there is no question, BUT i honestly believe that with the kids we have and the good recruits we will get this program will get back to winning the sunbelt, and it wont be once every couple of years, with everyone on the same page and good recruits coach Lee can make this program the team to envy in the sunbelt, not just because they will smoke everyone on the court, but off the court they will be more mature and better prepared fot life after basketball, and if you look at how many guys go pro yo tell me whats really important.

Coach knows it, and the players are beginning to realize that.

[paulpaul2]

and as for this years potential. how do any of us know what it is? the players wont even realize what they could do until a few games in. The thing i have noticed about potential, is it often gets mixed up with expectations, so we need to sit back and say did they meet their potential? or did they meet our expectations? maybe they wont meet either, maybe they will meet one and exceed the other, but i do know that they are working their ___'s off and they want to win more than any fan out there.

[Cajun Monkee]

Probably the most ridiculous thread I have ever read in my life.

Marty recruited local kids, won games, went to the NCAAs, won there, and graduated kids. What did that get him?

Shouts of "Marty, you suck" echoing throughout the Cajundome as Cajun fans sat on their hands in quiet tribute to Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence".

Jesse didn't recruit local kids, won games, went to the NCAAs, didn't win there, and didn't graduate kids. What did we complain about? They didn't play offense. (Pretty funny since we said Marty didn't play defense).

Now we have Robert Lee. Went to the NCAA and plays nose-to-nose with Pitino. Entering his 3rd year. 2 maybe 3 players left from his first year. Which was only one before his second year. Which was last year. And now we're saying the program has been in steady decline since Coach Lee took over?

I really can't think of anything sarcastic to say. Congratulations.

[CDeb]

Probably the most ridiculous thread I have ever read in my life.

Marty recruited local kids, won games, went to the NCAAs, won there, and graduated kids. What did that get him?

Shouts of "Marty, you suck" echoing throughout the Cajundome as Cajun fans sat on their hands in quiet tribute to Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence".

Jesse didn't recruit local kids, won games, went to the NCAAs, didn't win there, and didn't graduate kids. What did we complain about? They didn't play offense. (Pretty funny since we said Marty didn't play defense).

Now we have Robert Lee. Went to the NCAA and plays nose-to-nose with Pitino. Entering his 3rd year. 2 maybe 3 players left from his first year. Which was only one before his second year. Which was last year. And now we're saying the program has been in steady decline since Coach Lee took over?

I really can't think of anything sarcastic to say. Congratulations.

I've tried an failed.

[cajunjack]

These kids don't have the talent of Hamilton, Greenes, etc., or they would be freshmen at much more major programs. It is always possible that one of the youngsters is a diamond in the rough, but Greene started for the Gators as a freshman and was a high school all american. He also happens to have nba talent. The idea that Cajuns had an option to bring in the Hamiltons and the Greenes as freshmen is just not realistic. They only could have had them as transfers.

Hamilton was a freshman at Texas a & M Corpus Christy (Independent School that has a very slim chance to make a post season) and T-Wade was a freshman at East Tennessee State. He did average 20 ppg in his only season. I think that Millsap and Gary CAN play at that level also. I also think that Daigle and Dison are not far behind. If these guy's had grades we would not get Gary and Dison. Looking forward to next year Grandigo is a top 100 player and if he is not the god-father of Rick Labito we do not get him. Same with Millsap with Johnny Simmons being his Uncle. You can build a program with 4 year player. You do need a mix and fill in with a few transfers. If I remember right Brad Boyd, L. Bridges, A. Landry, Mike Southall, Ced Williams, all had the chance to play here for 4 years. It is way too early to say that the team is on the long term downslide.

[CajunKate]

It is way too early to say that the team is on the long term downslide.

Could not agree more.

[CajunKahouna]

Could not agree more.

Could not disagree more.:o

[rhineaux]

What? The last three years Evans was rebuilding? Are you serious? You do know that you are talking about 3 of the most sucessful years over the past 30 years. 20 win seasons every year, NIT and NCAA berths. If this was "rebuilding," it would have been nice to see what the team looked like when it was finally built.

I'm sorry but as a rational thinker I can't say that this program is headed in the right direction. It will take many years to rebuild this program into what it was under Jesse's final 3 years.

When Evans was trying to bring in these high-caliber players like mitchell and Greene and wade, etc., it took time for them to come together. Sure they were great, but they played very averagely for a while, then started to come along during conf. play, and then performed well in the conf. tournaments. But, when you are trying to bring in transfers to be playmakers, and those transfers aren't the ones that are out there every year, who are only going to be here for one or two seasons, then you are constantly trying to replace playmakers with other transfers. Maybe Evans idea was to bring in those special players, build up the team's "name and popularity" and then use that as a recruiting tool, but I can't believe that.

I'm sorry, because you are a pessimistic thinker does not mean you are a rational thinker.

[Oldman]

We are in a ton of trouble this year. This cajun team may have heart and determination, but they just don't have the talent needed to play D-1 basketball. Usually our Cajun squad is ranked as one of the top teams in Louisiana right behind the other school in Baton Rouge, but this year is very different. This team may be ranked lower than say Northside or even St. Thomas More. All jokes aside, this team has a great "group" of guys, but the majority of them wouldn't touch the floor for about 5 below average sun belt teams. Sad days are ahead for this team. Recruiting is the KEY......if you don't recruit well your team doesn't compete at all!! The guys we brought in this year will be very competitive in the years to come, but some of the previous years recruits wouldn't even get free lunch from my university if I were the head coach. I know you need to fill spots but this team should only be going up........not down like our beloved football squad, but that's another story. Hey, great idea.........why doesn't Michael Desormeaux come play basketball, I mean he may not be the best basketball player but it seems like he's the solution to all of our problems on the football field. Here's the quote of the year...."don't fix whats broke, replace it!"

Good thing for dome foam and hot nuts huh???

I truely LOVE cajun basketball and can't wait until we return to that dominant 20 win team again!

IT'S CALL PATIENCE MY GOOD MAN AND AS LONG AS COACH IS DOING IT THE RIGHT WAY AND I THINK HE IS I CAN LIVE WITH THAT BUILD THE FOUNDATION ....TOO BAD WE LIVE IN AN INSTANT SOCIETY.