The Book: 2006-2007 Ragin' Cajuns Basketball

[BrockMeaux]

This might sound weird, but to me, this year is about next year. I think we have some good players on this team that are very green and we are going to lose our fair share of games this year. I've accepted that. We have Chris Gradnigo coming, and the possibility that LaRyan Gary and Damon Forest are elligible and ready to play next season. Add the pure talent of those guys to the core we have now with Lago, Wallace, and Johnson (hopefully Millsap becomes elligible sometime this year through the clearinghouse) and we're going to be a very deep, talented team. While the present may look grim, the future looks bright.

[CajunKahouna]

This program has been in steady decline since Robert Lee took over. You might not like what I just said, but I just don't think Robert Lee is the Coach you need to get the good players to UL.

Dead on target IMHO! Sad, but true. The truth hurts. Ok, enough said!

[lxa656]

Dead on target IMHO! Sad, but true. The truth hurts. Ok, enough said!

What are you talking about??? Do you not remember his first year? I think it was something like 20+ wins, a conference championship and an NCAA bid. And arguably the team that played the eventual bracket winner the toughest! They win that game against Louisville if it was anywhere but where it was!

"oh, but what about last year?" What about last year? Jesse hardly recruited any High School players, so Coach Lee had to get what he could to fill holes. Not to mention the recruits from the previous year WERENT EVEN HIS RECRUITS, they were Cyprien's!! ANd they were the ones that were awful. We all love Dwayne Mitchell, but he did not have the skills to be the main focus of the team like he was last season.

Now the General goes out and gets some of the better recruits around the state, cleans house of the problems on the team and is now in building mode. And you wanna say that he has a team declining???????

Teams dont win Championships by bringing in transfers! How many transfers do you hear about Duke, UNC, Kentucky, etc.? Look at George Mason, they had 4 of the 5 starters were 4 year seniors!

[CajunKahouna]

What are you talking about??? Do you not remember his first year? I think it was something like 20+ wins, a conference championship and an NCAA bid. .................!

My point (almost) exactly! Thanks.

[CajunRebel]

What are you talking about??? Do you not remember his first year? I think it was something like 20+ wins, a conference championship and an NCAA bid. And arguably the team that played the eventual bracket winner the toughest! They win that game against Louisville if it was anywhere but where it was!

"oh, but what about last year?" What about last year? Jesse hardly recruited any High School players, so Coach Lee had to get what he could to fill holes. Not to mention the recruits from the previous year WERENT EVEN HIS RECRUITS, they were Cyprien's!! ANd they were the ones that were awful. We all love Dwayne Mitchell, but he did not have the skills to be the main focus of the team like he was last season.

Now the General goes out and gets some of the better recruits around the state, cleans house of the problems on the team and is now in building mode. And you wanna say that he has a team declining???????

Teams dont win Championships by bringing in transfers! How many transfers do you hear about Duke, UNC, Kentucky, etc.? Look at George Mason, they had 4 of the 5 starters were 4 year seniors!

I'm sick of people giving Lee all the credit for our great recruits during Evans' years and then placing the blame on Cyprien when the recruits are no good.

Yes, sometimes rebuilding years are unavoidable, but this is no rebuilding year. This is much worse than that. When 80% of your team does not return that's not a rebuilding, that's a tearing down. Lee told us he wouldn't recruit trouble players, only a good group with a foundation to grow on but 5 players are inelegible. And you all complained when Evans had 2 players inelegible. And four years from now, after all 9 of our seniors graduate, are we going to have to rebuild again?

I'm not ready to get rid of coach Lee yet, but after this year if this batch of recruits don't show an immense amount of athleticism, talent, and effort, I think it will be time to look for someone new.

[rhineaux]

I'm sick of people giving Lee all the credit for our great recruits during Evans' years and then placing the blame on Cyprien when the recruits are no good.

Yes, sometimes rebuilding years are unavoidable, but this is no rebuilding year. This is much worse than that. When 80% of your team does not return that's not a rebuilding, that's a tearing down. And four years from now, after all 9 of our seniors graduate, are we going to have to rebuild again?

I'm not ready to get rid of coach Lee yet, but after this year if this batch of recruits don't show an immense amount of athleticism and talent, I think it will be time to look for someone new.

some of you can't see the forest through the trees and are just _____ing just to _____ because that is what you do. That's fine if you think the sky is falling, but if you are gonna do that, then make arguments, and not statements why.

don't fool yourselves. what was happening when Evans was here was rebuilding. Especially those last couple years. All of those transfers, especially with their academic status' always took so long to come around. Then once they did, they were leaving or graduating or whatever.

What happened in the off-season with removing the problems from the team is tearing down. This is rebuilding. The act of getting out there every night with a couple "veterans" along with several young, raw players is rebuilding. And, we won't have 9 seniors graduate at the same time. I think that being we have half (give or take) of them ineligible right now is not that bad. their departures will be staggered. Next year's class will include true freshman Gradnigo, and maybe a couple others. The year after that, a couple more high quality freshmen. the current freshmen will be juniors then and these couple years of "growing pains" will make them a very tight, cohesive group and their leadership will weigh heavy on influincing the incoming players.

[Zeebart21]

My point (almost) exactly! Thanks.

only if you disregard everything else in his post.

Z.

[Ewhite]

some of you can't see the forest through the trees and are just _____ing just to _____ because that is what you do. That's fine if you think the sky is falling, but if you are gonna do that, then make arguments, and not statements why.

don't fool yourselves. what was happening when Evans was here was rebuilding. Especially those last couple years. All of those transfers, especially with their academic status' always took so long to come around. Then once they did, they were leaving or graduating or whatever.

What happened in the off-season with removing the problems from the team is tearing down. This is rebuilding. The act of getting out there every night with a couple "veterans" along with several young, raw players is rebuilding. And, we won't have 9 seniors graduate at the same time. I think that being we have half (give or take) of them ineligible right now is not that bad. their departures will be staggered. Next year's class will include true freshman Gradnigo, and maybe a couple others. The year after that, a couple more high quality freshmen. the current freshmen will be juniors then and these couple years of "growing pains" will make them a very tight, cohesive group and their leadership will weigh heavy on influincing the incoming players.

I agree 110%, to others that are griping at this time of the season I will not stand you guys if the season goes as you predict.

[BrockMeaux]

some of you can't see the forest through the trees and are just _____ing just to _____ because that is what you do. That's fine if you think the sky is falling, but if you are gonna do that, then make arguments, and not statements why.

don't fool yourselves. what was happening when Evans was here was rebuilding. Especially those last couple years. All of those transfers, especially with their academic status' always took so long to come around. Then once they did, they were leaving or graduating or whatever.

What happened in the off-season with removing the problems from the team is tearing down. This is rebuilding. The act of getting out there every night with a couple "veterans" along with several young, raw players is rebuilding. And, we won't have 9 seniors graduate at the same time. I think that being we have half (give or take) of them ineligible right now is not that bad. their departures will be staggered. Next year's class will include true freshman Gradnigo, and maybe a couple others. The year after that, a couple more high quality freshmen. the current freshmen will be juniors then and these couple years of "growing pains" will make them a very tight, cohesive group and their leadership will weigh heavy on influincing the incoming players.

Amen. Good post.

[lxa656]

I'm sick of people giving Lee all the credit for our great recruits during Evans' years and then placing the blame on Cyprien when the recruits are no good.

Yes, sometimes rebuilding years are unavoidable, but this is no rebuilding year. This is much worse than that. When 80% of your team does not return that's not a rebuilding, that's a tearing down. Lee told us he wouldn't recruit trouble players, only a good group with a foundation to grow on but 5 players are inelegible. And you all complained when Evans had 2 players inelegible. And four years from now, after all 9 of our seniors graduate, are we going to have to rebuild again?

I'm not ready to get rid of coach Lee yet, but after this year if this batch of recruits don't show an immense amount of athleticism, talent, and effort, I think it will be time to look for someone new.

In every sport, not all of your recruits make it, football, baseball, etc. The fact that the General is starting from scratch and getting 8/9 fresmen recruits is a step in the right direction. If only 4 of them make it, then so be it...but that is 4 players playing in our system for 4/5 years! Then next season the General will get 4 or 5 more high schoolers and half of them wont make it, then the next year, etc. Do you see a pattern? We dont need to have 1 class play for 4 years then start over.

Coach Lee has already shown us what happens if you dont live up to standards...bye! Realistically, all the Cajuns will need from this point on is 2 or 3 players from each class to make. Then before we know, every year we will be playing players that have been in the system and are familiar with it! THis is how a program builds.

[CajunRebel]

some of you can't see the forest through the trees and are just _____ing just to _____ because that is what you do. That's fine if you think the sky is falling, but if you are gonna do that, then make arguments, and not statements why.

don't fool yourselves. what was happening when Evans was here was rebuilding. Especially those last couple years. All of those transfers, especially with their academic status' always took so long to come around. Then once they did, they were leaving or graduating or whatever.

What happened in the off-season with removing the problems from the team is tearing down. This is rebuilding. The act of getting out there every night with a couple "veterans" along with several young, raw players is rebuilding. And, we won't have 9 seniors graduate at the same time. I think that being we have half (give or take) of them ineligible right now is not that bad. their departures will be staggered. Next year's class will include true freshman Gradnigo, and maybe a couple others. The year after that, a couple more high quality freshmen. the current freshmen will be juniors then and these couple years of "growing pains" will make them a very tight, cohesive group and their leadership will weigh heavy on influincing the incoming players.

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.

[RustyR]

How many tournament games did we win in that time?