The Book: 2006-2007 Ragin' Cajuns Basketball

[JamesTheJeweler]

When it comes down to it, other than bop and gone golfing, most of us are just ranting and raving and are not experts by any means.... I never said that Cajuns had NBA talent consistently in the past. To the contrary, the Cajuns have had very very few nba players, much less so than many other programs of far less distinction. However, I do think that Lee needed the nba talent he did have his first year to win 20+ games.

It is Lee's third year. Results are very bad. There really is no excuse. I hope he can turn it around next year, just like any fan does. But I doubt this can happen. If the team had poor talent this year, then I blame that on Lee for heading up recruiting the past two years. If the team had talent but they were too inexperienced, then I feel that this excuse does not wash in today's college basketball environment where freshmen and sophmores win national championships and certainly should be able to compete, at least compete, in a very weak sunbelt.

Team will have more talent next year and more experience, but I think that will only make it harder to give excuses of poor play. I am predicting about 13-15 for next season.

Bobby, Marty, and Jesse did not need nba talent to win, but Lee apparently needs such talent, along with very very good role players. Lee had that his first year and since then it has been very poor play.

There is simply no excuse for 7-12 in sunbelt and getting blown out by 40 by a mediocre southland team.

3rd year. 9-21. No more excuses and explanations of how great things will be in future.... At least for me, it is falling on deaf ears. Anything less than a return to 20+ wins the next two seasons and I will be hoping that Lee's contract is not renewed. Going through two dissaster years just to get back to where we were before is a problem. But if we don't get back to where we were before after these two embarassing seasons, then it is pretty much over as far as long term winning tradition goes. I am concerned that a .500 record next year and then a 16-12 type record afterwards will keep Lee here for another 5 year guaranteed contract.

This has thus far been a bad experiment of a brand new head coach figuring out how to win at D1 level.

Lee is apparently a great guy, driven and a very competitive guy. That is all fine and well, but we are all in result oriented businesses, especially at the highest level of our professions. Being a head basketball coach of a D1 program is the pinnacle of coaching, a place that most very good coaches cannot even sniff much less accomplish. No one gets a free pass.

whether one agrees or disagrees whether lee is a good coach/recruiter doesn't change the fact of how misinformed you are. you obviously don't live here and it shows. i wish you could see how ridiculous you sound. its painful!

[rhineaux]

However, I do think that Lee needed the nba talent he did have his first year to win 20+ games.
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NBA talent? One of those players is on an NBA roster right now, and he doesn't even start. But what does NBA talent get you? If he were here now,we'd be losing APR points becasue he wasn't very smart. One afternoon, upstairs at Bourgeois, while he was recovering from an injury, I had to program the computer on the recumbant bike for him. You know, the one that says, in big red letters, ENTER YOUR AGE, ENTER YOUR WEIGHT, ETC...and has a keypad to the side so you can enter such info. Would be good to have tons of guys like that on the team.

It is Lee's third year. Results are very bad. There really is no excuse. I hope he can turn it around next year, just like any fan does. But I doubt this can happen. If the team had poor talent this year, then I blame that on Lee for heading up recruiting the past two years. If the team had talent but they were too inexperienced, then I feel that this excuse does not wash in today's college basketball environment where freshmen and sophmores win national championships and certainly should be able to compete, at least compete, in a very weak sunbelt..

You have no proof that he can't turn it around. If its his fault for recruiting, then explain to me why he has five seniors leaving from the Evans era. And, the freshman and sophomore reference is stupid. it contains no logic. why you think that UL should be able to recruit freshmen and sophomores of the caliber to lead their respective teams to national championships, I have no idea. (and please give me one example, other than Florida, when a team has won a Nat'l Championship with all freshmen and sophomores). Besides, even if they come here, and are that great, they would only be here a year or two at the most.

Team will have more talent next year and more experience, but I think that will only make it harder to give excuses of poor play. I am predicting about 13-15 for next season.

Bobby, Marty, and Jesse did not need nba talent to win, but Lee apparently needs such talent, along with very very good role players. Lee had that his first year and since then it has been very poor play.

Lee's "nba talent" was the same talent that Jesse had his final year. Their best seasons only took them to the first round of the NCAAs and no further. In fact, Jesse's second to last year, he did the same thing with all of his "NBA talent". Making it to the tournament is great, but Jesse only did it a few times. He got us to the NIT twice, but lost both of those games as well. Do you see the trend here? All first round losses in every postseason appearance.


I'm not even gonna begin to break down the rest of whatever you say. The truth is that you ramble on about this and that. But even if you did go to games and see this team on a regular basis, all of your arguments are unfounded. They are statements with no proof. You say Lee needs "nba talent" but jesse had the same players and he got jsut as far and failed just as hard. You say its Lee's fault for recruiting crappy players, but he hasn't been able to get a full recruiting class in here yet. not one of all players he wanted. i don't think he wanted any of the players he had last year. he had the cyprien debachle and did what he could. but even though, who do you think was out there getting guys like Southall and Mitchell and Greene to come in?

I am not trying to give Lee a free pass either, but i am not gonna come on this board, only after losses, and make the same unfounded statements every time. Like i said yesterday, and like i told you several months ago, we understand you don't like the coach, but we don't need your sorry ass copy and pasting the same long winded posts every f-ing time the team loses.

[MiamiCajun32]

NBA talent? One of those players is on an NBA roster right now, and he doesn't even start. But what does NBA talent get you? If he were here now,we'd be losing APR points becasue he wasn't very smart. One afternoon, upstairs at Bourgeois, while he was recovering from an injury, I had to program the computer on the recumbant bike for him. You know, the one that says, in big red letters, ENTER YOUR AGE, ENTER YOUR WEIGHT, ETC...and has a keypad to the side so you can enter such info. Would be good to have tons of guys like that on the team.



You have no proof that he can't turn it around. If its his fault for recruiting, then explain to me why he has five seniors leaving from the Evans era. And, the freshman and sophomore reference is stupid. it contains no logic. why you think that UL should be able to recruit freshmen and sophomores of the caliber to lead their respective teams to national championships, I have no idea. (and please give me one example, other than Florida, when a team has won a Nat'l Championship with all freshmen and sophomores). Besides, even if they come here, and are that great, they would only be here a year or two at the most.



Lee's "nba talent" was the same talent that Jesse had his final year. Their best seasons only took them to the first round of the NCAAs and no further. In fact, Jesse's second to last year, he did the same thing with all of his "NBA talent". Making it to the tournament is great, but Jesse only did it a few times. He got us to the NIT twice, but lost both of those games as well. Do you see the trend here? All first round losses in every postseason appearance.


I'm not even gonna begin to break down the rest of whatever you say. The truth is that you ramble on about this and that. But even if you did go to games and see this team on a regular basis, all of your arguments are unfounded. They are statements with no proof. You say Lee needs "nba talent" but jesse had the same players and he got jsut as far and failed just as hard. You say its Lee's fault for recruiting crappy players, but he hasn't been able to get a full recruiting class in here yet. not one of all players he wanted. i don't think he wanted any of the players he had last year. he had the cyprien debachle and did what he could. but even though, who do you think was out there getting guys like Southall and Mitchell and Greene to come in?

I am not trying to give Lee a free pass either, but i am not gonna come on this board, only after losses, and make the same unfounded statements every time. Like i said yesterday, and like i told you several months ago, we understand you don't like the coach, but we don't need your sorry ass copy and pasting the same long winded posts every f-ing time the team loses.

I make one statement and then am attacked. Then I respond.

I think we can agree that 9-21 is very very bad, especially in weakened sunbelt. Why it happened or how to improve it is not really so relevant to what it is. The facts. And it is Lee's third year. No more excuses....

Yes, it would have been great if Evans won first round NIT or NCAA games but can live with those "failures". Going 9-21 is not going to get you to the first round. Young teams can win the sunbelt just like they can win any other conference. I was not saying the Cajuns should compete for a national title. They should compete for at least the upper half of the sunbelt.

9-21, third year, 2nd year to recruit players for your system.... That gets a failing grade...

Winning in Cajun basketball is no longer demanded by the powers that be though so just get ready for .500 type seasons. That is what we are all shooting for, right? When this team gells, with some new players next year, then Cajuns should be at about .500. How could you expect more? Now the expectation is simply to make the conference tourney....

Mid major type schools with very good long-term winning traditions have fallen apart suddenly for the long term in the past. Just look at Lamar and UNO. UL is in danger of just being another mid major program that sometimes has good years and sometimes bad years. I thought Cajuns basketball was more than that, putting at least an over .500 team on the floor for the vast vast majority of the past 40 years or so.

[RCAJUN90]

This reminds me of our football debacle. The only difference is that we have a rich tradition in basketball. Someone mentioned on here that the Marty Fletcher era didn't start out so well. We are stuck with Lee like Bustle for better or for worse for a while. No use going after each others throats. We are all Cajun fans want to see the same thing. I hope the optimists are right and this is just a bad year and next year the Cajuns win the Belt in both football and basketball. Now it is time to think about baseball and football for next season.

[Cajun Express]

This reminds me of our football debacle. The only difference is that we have a rich tradition in basketball. Someone mentioned on here that the Marty Fletcher era didn't start out so well. We are stuck with Lee like Bustle for better or for worse for a while. No use going after each others throats. We are all Cajun fans want to see the same thing. I hope the optimists are right and this is just a bad year and next year the Cajuns win the Belt in both football and basketball. Now it is time to think about baseball and football for next season.

Marty started off OK, not good, not bad but gradually built his program to being pretty good. He lost ground after he had been here nearly ten years, and was unable to recover enough to see his talented group of freshman bloom in Jesse's first year.

[derf]

I think that many "fans" simply can't see the forrest for the trees. the simple facts of it are that Coach is doing the right thing. In a day and age where the NCAA is reducing scholarships for programs which do not graduate their players, Lee is bringing in True freshman players and making sure they go to class and graduate. He is fixing the program from the floor up. The way that Jesse and Marty ran the program got us wins but would cost us scholarships in todays college sports world. As far as recruiting talent, you have to take a step back and look at the big picture. Yes, freshman and sophmores are leading programs to national championships. However, thoes players are few and far between and are being recruited by colleges which have recruiting budgets as large as our whole athletic budget. ( not exactly, but you get the point) And if you look at the top 20 prep players in the state (last year) and where they are attending school, you will see that we got the lion's share. So let us really think about the team this year. We didn't match up very well at any position and our starting 5 was never really set and it included players that would have not really touched the court previously. Not a knock on the guys or staff, just the truth. The future of the team has brightness. We have the 07 freshman of the year. Dees will be back. We will have more depth at most positions. We will have one of the youngest teams in conference most of which will then have 1 more year in the class, gym and on the court than they had this year (which only grows as the years go on). And not to mention that we have one of the best (if only on paper) players that we have ever signed coming in. WE WILL BE OK.
I guess what I am trying to say is that the sky is not falling. Our early success gave us too much hope for the season as a whole. But the great thing about hitting the bottom is that yhe only way to go from there is up. We have to go through our growing pains. In the mean time, lets go cheer on our other athletes and prep for next year.

[RaginEsquire06]

How many times do I have to tell you five new people will be coming on board next year as basically freshman. Recruiting is not a big issue for awhile. You obviously never sent BOP your email so as he can give you more info about what is really going on with the program.

Why even entertain this guy? Nothing positive from him this year...not even an acknowledgement that we boast the SunBelt freshman of the year. So negative...not what we need to hear right now!

[BirdofParadise]

I make one statement and then am attacked. Then I respond.

I think we can agree that 9-21 is very very bad, especially in weakened sunbelt. Why it happened or how to improve it is not really so relevant to what it is. The facts. And it is Lee's third year. No more excuses....

Yes, it would have been great if Evans won first round NIT or NCAA games but can live with those "failures". Going 9-21 is not going to get you to the first round. Young teams can win the sunbelt just like they can win any other conference. I was not saying the Cajuns should compete for a national title. They should compete for at least the upper half of the sunbelt.

9-21, third year, 2nd year to recruit players for your system.... That gets a failing grade...

Winning in Cajun basketball is no longer demanded by the powers that be though so just get ready for .500 type seasons. That is what we are all shooting for, right? When this team gells, with some new players next year, then Cajuns should be at about .500. How could you expect more? Now the expectation is simply to make the conference tourney....

Mid major type schools with very good long-term winning traditions have fallen apart suddenly for the long term in the past. Just look at Lamar and UNO. UL is in danger of just being another mid major program that sometimes has good years and sometimes bad years. I thought Cajuns basketball was more than that, putting at least an over .500 team on the floor for the vast vast majority of the past 40 years or so.

When I first read your posts, I sent you a private message offering to email you with information that might better help you understand the background of this situation and the goals for the future and the plan to get there.

You didn't respond.

Then I sent you an email through this forum offering the same thing.

You said you didn't get it.

I gave you my email address through this board. You have been encouraged to use that email address by myself and others.

You have chosen not to respond.

Having opinions is great. Having informed opinions is better.

I have come to the conclusion that you really don't want to know anything that would make you a better informed poster...and I assume that's because you really enjoy the rants you put on this board.

But the sad part is, you really believe in what you type.

And, that's YOUR fault.

When I come to Miami for baseball, lunch is on me if you'd like.

[Cajunsmike]

Lee believed Cajuns were sweet 16 type team before last season, so kudos to him for improving the schedule dramatically. That is one thing he has done very right. Why not play very good non-conference teams? I wish Evans arranged more of that. Lee believed from the get go that Cajuns would continue with great winning tradition in each of his years at the helm and he wanted to face the best teams, to keep Cajuns in contention re rpi and such. This team played very well in

Youth, inexperience, players not following system each game, difficult non-conference schedule, cupboard bare after Lee's first season, last season's very heavy transfer experiment not working out due to all of them being bad apples by coincidence, new way of recruiting hs players needing a few years to pan out, etc., etc....

The excuses are more frustrating than the losses. Lee should just own up for his failures thus far and explain how he is going to improve as he goes forward. The head coach is the one who is supposed to take responsibility and not lay blame on every one but himself for 20+ losses.

I only hope that all this losing has taught Lee how to be a successful D1 head coach. Perhaps things will change next year. Let's hope so.... If they don't, let's just try and look at facts and not blame everyone but Lee.

first few games against top notch competition but that is because of all the rustiness of teams. Other teams improve greatly as season progresses, but Cajuns never did. Nevada's coach said he would not want to play the Cajuns later in the year because he could see talent that was inexperienced, but had huge upside for later this season. Cajuns just stumbled and bumbled along....

It is not easy to win less than 10 games overall and play in sunbelt conference. Have to be a very very bad team to do this....
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Coach Lee has said how he is going to improve the team. By helping the talented players he brought in last year earn eligibility and by bringing in more talent. By the way, the Cajuns were not poorly prepared the other night as you claim. That was a game in which the opposition which has the best talent in the leauge played to their potential. They wer helped by the officiating which allowed an NBA style game. Their talent really shone in that game and they will win the tourney if they play that way. I saw some highlights and Kendrick Davis hit 3's with guys all over him. Also, you have not given me a fact based assessment to back up your 13 and 15 prediction. That won't happen as we play either 29 or 30 games.

[Cajunsmike]

I make one statement and then am attacked. Then I respond.

I think we can agree that 9-21 is very very bad, especially in weakened sunbelt. Why it happened or how to improve it is not really so relevant to what it is. The facts. And it is Lee's third year. No more excuses....

Yes, it would have been great if Evans won first round NIT or NCAA games but can live with those "failures". Going 9-21 is not going to get you to the first round. Young teams can win the sunbelt just like they can win any other conference. I was not saying the Cajuns should compete for a national title. They should compete for at least the upper half of the sunbelt.

9-21, third year, 2nd year to recruit players for your system.... That gets a failing grade...

Winning in Cajun basketball is no longer demanded by the powers that be though so just get ready for .500 type seasons. That is what we are all shooting for, right? When this team gells, with some new players next year, then Cajuns should be at about .500. How could you expect more? Now the expectation is simply to make the conference tourney....

Mid major type schools with very good long-term winning traditions have fallen apart suddenly for the long term in the past. Just look at Lamar and UNO. UL is in danger of just being another mid major program that sometimes has good years and sometimes bad years. I thought Cajuns basketball was more than that, putting at least an over .500 team on the floor for the vast vast majority of the past 40 years or so.

Coach Lee expects winning will be demanded in the future. He has said if another season like this one occurs, someone else will have the job.