The Book: 2006-2007 Ragin' Cajuns Basketball

[RCAJUN90]

This young thing has to stop. 90% of college basketball teams are young. Did I expect this team to be good? NO. But I also did not expect to see this program close to its all time low.

I just hope that we don’t fall so low that it takes 15 years to rebound

I'm a fair weather basketball fan no doubt about it. I will watch bad football but not bad basketball. For you guys that love the game and have watched this team closely, is this our worst start ever?

[Tripple Threat]

I hope Coach Lee is emphasizing this info to the players. If he's looking for motivation, this is it...

"CajunBlog: Road could be where Cajuns’ hoop season ends
Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

Four weeks remain before the play-in games for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, and it would take a minor miracle for UL’s men to avoid a road trip for that game. Given the Cajuns’ road struggles, amplified in Saturday’s loss at Middle Tennessee, that’s not a good thing.
The Cajun men lost their 12th straight road game Saturday and did it in ugly fashion, losing to 71-59 to a Middle Tennessee team that hadn’t won at home this year and one that had a losing overall record.


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The loss puts UL at 3-9 in league play, and that ranks the Cajuns 12th out of 13 league teams ahead of only Denver (2-9), and finishing that low is tantamount to a road sentence in the new alignment for the conference tournament.

The winner of each division and the second-place team with the best league record draw byes in the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament, and the fourth through eighth teams in the combined standings host the ninth through 13th teams at campus sites in the first-round game. Those five winners advance to the Cajundome to join the three bye teams in the March 4 quarterfinals.

For UL to get to the magic eighth spot and get a first-round home game, the Cajuns will have to turn around a 3-5 January and win at least four and maybe even five of their six remaining conference games.

That’s doable, with three home games and road contests at the two teams — Denver and Florida International — that currently sit at the bottom of the division standings. But after road losses at Florida Atlantic and Middle last week, it’ll take a big turnaround.

If that doesn’t happen, given what’s taken place on the road this year, it’s very likely the Cajuns won’t make a tournament appearance on its own home court"

[Turbine]

I may be totally off in my assesment but this is what I see this year.

In games that UL is supposed to have no chance in, they are very competitive.

in games that UL is supposed to win easily, we seem to lose.

Now assuming for just a second there is an ounce of truth to what I percieve . . .

Are they playing loose and just having fun in the games we are supposed to lose?Are they more focused in games without expectations?

Are they playing uptight and thinking too much in games we are supposed to win? Are they relaxing too much in the expected to win games?

I suspect the answer is yes to the first questions of each type game.

I also ask the questions in part becasue it seems that as soon as the game gets down to the wire and it becomes obvious the cajuns are in it, something goes wrong. This tells me it is mental not lack of talent.

Like I said I may be totally off in the big picture.

jmo

[Tripple Threat]

I may be totally off in my assesment but this is what I see this year.

In games that UL is supposed to have no chance in, they are very competitive.

in games that UL is supposed to win easily, we seem to lose.

Now assuming for just a second there is an ounce of truth to what I percieve . . .

Are they playing loose and just having fun in the games we are supposed to lose?Are they more focused in games without expectations?

Are they playing uptight and thinking too much in games we are supposed to win? Are they relaxing too much in the expected to win games?

I suspect the answer is yes to the first questions of each type game.

I also ask the questions in part becasue it seems that as soon as the game gets down to the wire and it becomes obvious the cajuns are in it, something goes wrong. This tells me it is mental not lack of talent.

Like I said I may be totally off in the big picture.

jmo

I think you're right on...They have won a little more this month and if the coaches motivate them like they should, they should continue to progress. If the team doesn't start to finish some of these games, then the players minds are not in the game. I'm with you Turbine, they have the skill and talent to win some of these games. Crunch time is here for the S.B. tournament...I believe now is the time to see what the coaches can do; the players have had plenty of game time experience.

[MiamiCajun32]

This team hasn't got blown out in many games. If you've really watched this team over the year they've lost a lot of close games. This team has shown that it can hang and play not only with sunbelt teams, but SEC teams and other good teams from other conferences. Don't get me wrong, losing to McNeese and Stephen F. Austin did sting alot. But you can see the talent in this young team. This team has the potential to next year be 17-5 at this point instead of 5-17. This is not as bad of a season as the record indicates. Just looking at the record makes this season look horrible but you can see the potential for next year. I'm not ready to give up on Lee. I'll admit even I have had doubts about some of his game decisions. But for the most part he has coached his team into a position to win in almost every game. But stupid turnovers and just plain freshman mistakes have cost us to come up short in all of those games. Do you realize how many games this year we could have won if we had only shot better from the free throw line? These kids need more practice and better fundamentals and the record will take care of itself. This season is really not as bleak as some people think.

And the stands are not empty. They aren't as crowded as they have been in past years, but for our 5-17 record, there is still a good chunk of people attending those games. And those are the people who (like me) can see past this year's record and are just waiting for this team to turn the corner. The potential is there, I guarantee you that.

Cajuns have in just two years gone from a mid major powerhouse to one of the worst teams in D1 nationwide, a team that has no chance of competing for even .500 record in the lowly sunbelt (conference in basketball has become a lot worse in recent years). Sure, there is potential for improvement in the next year or two - perhaps a .500 sunbelt record.

What has happened to Cajuns basketball? Lee has to go.... He is in over his head and results are results. Can't change the facts. Many many losses just don't add up to only this being a young team. A rebuilding year for Cajuns should be at least .500 in sunbelt, especially if the youngsters are as talented as we all like to think. It is either a recruiting problem or a coaching problem or both. Rebuilding years just don't equal 5 win seasons, especially in the lowly of lowlies sunbelt.

[MiamiCajun32]

I hope Coach Lee is emphasizing this info to the players. If he's looking for motivation, this is it...

"CajunBlog: Road could be where Cajuns’ hoop season ends
Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

Four weeks remain before the play-in games for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, and it would take a minor miracle for UL’s men to avoid a road trip for that game. Given the Cajuns’ road struggles, amplified in Saturday’s loss at Middle Tennessee, that’s not a good thing.
The Cajun men lost their 12th straight road game Saturday and did it in ugly fashion, losing to 71-59 to a Middle Tennessee team that hadn’t won at home this year and one that had a losing overall record.


ADVERTISEMENT

The loss puts UL at 3-9 in league play, and that ranks the Cajuns 12th out of 13 league teams ahead of only Denver (2-9), and finishing that low is tantamount to a road sentence in the new alignment for the conference tournament.

The winner of each division and the second-place team with the best league record draw byes in the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament, and the fourth through eighth teams in the combined standings host the ninth through 13th teams at campus sites in the first-round game. Those five winners advance to the Cajundome to join the three bye teams in the March 4 quarterfinals.

For UL to get to the magic eighth spot and get a first-round home game, the Cajuns will have to turn around a 3-5 January and win at least four and maybe even five of their six remaining conference games.

That’s doable, with three home games and road contests at the two teams — Denver and Florida International — that currently sit at the bottom of the division standings. But after road losses at Florida Atlantic and Middle last week, it’ll take a big turnaround.

If that doesn’t happen, given what’s taken place on the road this year, it’s very likely the Cajuns won’t make a tournament appearance on its own home court"

The chances of Cajuns making an appearance at the conference tourney they are hosting are about 5%.

[MiamiCajun32]

This young thing has to stop. 90% of college basketball teams are young. Did I expect this team to be good? NO. But I also did not expect to see this program close to its all time low.

I just hope that we don’t fall so low that it takes 15 years to rebound

You hit the nail on the head. This season is a lost cause and a total embarassment, sure. But the real concern is whether the program will be in an unfixable in the short-term state once Lee can finally be shown the door. Arguably the best basketball program in the sunbelt (perhaps Western Kentucky would argue) has been reduced to one of the worst 10 teams in D1, with a coach that apparently can't be let go, due to financial reasons and an idiot that gave him a five year contract (he had no head coaching experience and zero job offers or head coaching marketability, so therefore no leverage in the contract negotiations).

IMHO, the most impressive thing about Cajuns basketball has been consistent winning over a 35 year period in D1. Sure, there has not been the runs to sweet sixteen that some other "mid majors" have accomplished and that has been very frustrating, especially when some teams were capable. But very few D1 teams can claim the high % of winning seasons over the past 35 years that the Cajuns can claim. The winning tradition is now unfortunatley in danger of going down the toilet. It is hard work for one coach to accomplish so much in just a few years. If past UL coaches tried to be this bad they probably could not have pulled it off....

[Kal]

Cajuns have in just two years gone from a mid major powerhouse .

I don't think that the Cajuns were on par with Gonzaga. Also we don't have Orien, Dwayne, or Hamilton anymore. You can't say UL was a midmajor powerhouse in the beginning of one paragraph and then bash the sunbelt conference as a weak conference. You just blew up your own theory. According to your last statement, UL couldn't have been a midmajor powerhouse, because the SBC is the lowest of the low conferences, then the Cajuns couldn't have been too good after all. They must've just been an SBC Powerhouse. There's a big difference.

[MiamiCajun32]

I don't think that the Cajuns were on par with Gonzaga. Also we don't have Orien, Dwayne, or Hamilton anymore. You can't say UL was a midmajor powerhouse in the beginning of one paragraph and then bash the sunbelt conference as a weak conference. You just blew up your own theory. According to your last statement, UL couldn't have been a midmajor powerhouse, because the SBC is the lowest of the low conferences, then the Cajuns couldn't have been too good after all. They must've just been an SBC Powerhouse. There's a big difference.

Excuse me, I thought being considered in top 10 or top 20 of mid major teams in most years qualifies as powerhouse. But if your definition of "powerhouse" means only the best 1 or 2 teams in a particular category, then sure, by no means have the Cajuns been Gonzaga.

I assume you are about 20, based on your arguments. You may not be aware that since the Cajuns have been D1 they have been in much much much more competitive conferences than the sunbelt today. Southland when Cajuns were in it in 70s and 80s was far and away better than Sunbelt today (Lamar, La Tech, McNeese, Cajuns were all very competitive and ranked from time to time). American South was far and away better than today's sunbelt (UNO, Cajuns, La Tech were ranked here and there). Finally, the sunbelt of 10 years ago and even 5 years ago was far and away better than the lowly sunbelt of today (Western Kentucky and Cajuns were both playing at top 25 level from time to time, WKU was ranked a lot, and the Ark teams were better, plus Sunbelt was worthy 2 bid league).

So, yes, in my opinion the Sunbelt has dropped to one of the worst conferences in basketball in D1 in recent years. So, yes, the Cajuns, even in a rebuilding year and with young (but supposedly talented recruits) should be competitive (and no, competitive does not mean losing a lot, sometimes close games and sometimes blow outs, as I mean competitive in sunbelt won loss record, not 2nd to last place).

The bs propoganda is that the program is turning the corner and fixing problems of recent years (when we were in NCAAs) by having this first great high school recruiting class and rebuilding. It is so much bs because you can't yell about how great your plan is, with first step of great hs recruiting class, when you can't even play .500 ball in sunbelt with those young players. Lee is a big talker. Last year he knew his team was sweet sixteen material (this is what he foolishly proclaimed). Last year he also was yelling and screaming about all the talented transfers, especially Cooke. But then he got rid of those guys (either forced them out, or was not enough of a leader to coach them to be more responsible - Evans could do this for at least 50% of the transfers he brought in whereas Lee's result was nearly 0%). Then Lee proclaimed this new style of 4 year recruiting to be the way to fix all the so called problems that were in the program before he took over.

Now the team is one of the worst in D1. But Lee will go on and on about how great of a recruiter he is and how great the future is. Again, he is a talker and some fans have bought his dribble hook line and sinker.....

[Zeebart21]

Look, ya'll get it out of your system....Coach Lee isnt going anywhere.

Z.