This reminds me of the football team in 2010 falling apart in the second half. Could it be a conditioning problem?!? Just asking
Stats
Cajuns ASU
fg 48.3% 46.2% (Normally, a good enough % to win a game; if you defend and rebound!)
3fg 26.7% 37.5% (We were 4/7 in 1st half...0/8 in 2nd)
ft 73.7% 72.2% (We actually made one more than them 14 to 13...very unusual on the road!)
Reb 31 41 (Where we lost the game...they had more (20) off reb than our def reb (18) ouch!
steals 5 5
T/0 14 13
any road split is good, take this as positve, we lost by 5 on the road, IMO means we can beat them at home and probably on neutral site... The CONF tourney will be a crap shoot, whoever can put 3 or 4 win streak together will go dancing...
In Marlin's first year, it took half the season for the players to finally buy into his system, and you saw what happened when they did (11-game winning streak to end the regular season, share of Sun Belt West title).
The Cajuns added seven newcomers going into his second year and appear to still be getting comfortable after injuries sidelined key players J.J. Thomas and Josh Brown for early stretches and the loss of Odayne Clarke resulted in a lack of inside depth. Inconsistent production from basically every player (especially the JC transfers) hasn't helped either.
Marlin has a track record of being successful in junior college and at Sam Houston. It would be smart to give him a chance to rebuild the program, which wasn't in great shape when he took the job. There's still a chance to win the West with as crazy as the division has been, although I believe the third year will be the key.
Splits on the road are good. But when u lose one at home u have to make up for it somewhere. Last night was our chance. WKU did us a huge favor by beating UALR which would have put us in a tie for first.
Unfortunately, the second half of our schedule does not get any easier with two vs. Denver and the university of Tony Mitchell
Considering all the talent we lost last year and all the new faces, it's very impressive that we've done this well. And I agree we're setting ourselves up to be very competitive next year. I just hope he's here long enough to build the foundation of this program. If he left after this year, it could really hurt us.
Finishing near the basket has been an issue most of the season. Still Cajuns shot a high enough % in the first half that they should have had the game put away at that stage. The poor rebounding is what did them in just like in the USA game. Lots of things have to be more consistent in order for the team to finish strong but rebounding is the key of all of those.
Marlin's 2nd team at Sam Houston won the SLC. They had quite a few guys returning from Year 1 in Year 2. In Year 3, they took a step back after having to rebuild. In Year 4, they began a streak where they were consistently near the top of the league. I don't know if that means anything as far as our program and the future but there likely is some type of correlation.
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