UL Softball Ready to be Taken Seriously

[ljr3721]

I want him to sit down with the seniors and explain... again... how he thought the #14 seed was "about right". I will allow them to have their bats with them, and I will jump in just before he loses his life. Scott is a good guy, but he needs to be educated.

Once again, this has been completely taken out of context. What Scott said was that the Cajuns were seeded about where he expected them to be, based on the criteria that the committee uses. He did not comment on whether he thought the criteria were fair. I'm sure he has an opinion on that, and I'm willing to bet his opinion is the same as yours.

[Turbine]

To earn it we will have to play a lot more high profile teams and win a lot. Nothing else will get you a fair seeding, and that is the best way to win a WCWS, and if seeding is not important as some seem to think why would they bother seeding?

Playing more high profile teams won't get you an RPI ranking higher than the #1 spot they got this year.

Percentage points better yes, but you can't top #1

[CajunRed]

Once again, this has been completely taken out of context. What Scott said was that the Cajuns were seeded about where he expected them to be, based on the criteria that the committee uses. He did not comment on whether he thought the criteria were fair. I'm sure he has an opinion on that, and I'm willing to bet his opinion is the same as yours.

But I even disagree with that qualification...which is that they got it about right "based on the criteria the committee uses." One point someone has made has to do with the fact that some other teams had more wins against top 50 RPI teams...but one of those teams, which had 7 such wins, had to play 23 games to get there! That means they had 16 losses against these teams...and Farmer thinks they got it about right?

You kidding me?

[Just1More]

Once again, this has been completely taken out of context. What Scott said was that the Cajuns were seeded about where he expected them to be, based on the criteria that the committee uses. He did not comment on whether he thought the criteria were fair. I'm sure he has an opinion on that, and I'm willing to bet his opinion is the same as yours.

Excellent to find that out and I apologize to Scott for misunderstanding. Now, being that he was being interviewed locally, I would like to hear him, as the UL AD, not the committee chairman, give his opinion on the correctness of the seeding process.

I do believe our leadership has to choose their public words carefully, but being that I am an advocate for a much more aggressive UL athletic mission, I am very quick, as are many other current supporters, to be less tolerant of quiet and ambiguous leadership.

[CajunEXPRESS]

Playing more high profile teams won't get you an RPI ranking higher than the #1 spot they got this year.

Percentage points better yes, but you can't top #1

I believe that they use whatever they want to keep the BCS on top, and you have to remove all the false baggage you can. We did not have enough games against top ten programs, lost to ULM.

I did not mention RPI, as it is now only one element they use. Again you have to eliminate every excuse they come up with. No dout additonal wins against Az, Tulsa, and NC that were rained out may have moved the Cajuns into a more proper seeding but that did not happen.

Our RPI was only number one non confernce rank, and I believe number 12 overall. Foote calls them a double and triple penalty for not being in a power conference. I concur.

[jllanclos]

We just need to play LSU home and home each year. Minimal expense involved and the RPI boost would help both teams. Of course LSU has all the money it needs and Coach Torino would never do anything that might help the Cajuns.

LSU's not interested, are they? Not sure they'd be thrilled to go 1-5 or 0-6 against us, not that softball matters anyway, right?

The last thing LSU wants to do is help us with our RPI and national seeding. I'm just guessing, of course.

[Turbine]

Our RPI was only number one non confernce rank, and I believe number 12 overall. Foote calls them a double and triple penalty for not being in a power conference. I concur.

I wonder if UL's CRPI is about where the overall RPI has been in recent years? Mid 30s

Once you lock in a #1 non conference (a conference in itself) RPI how can a second half schedule make you a worse team?

[Just1More]

I believe that they use whatever they want to keep the BCS on top, and you have to remove all the false baggage you can. We did not have enough games against top ten programs, lost to ULM.

I did not mention RPI, as it is now only one element they use. Again you have to eliminate every excuse they come up with. No dout additonal wins against Az, Tulsa, and NC that were rained out may have moved the Cajuns into a more proper seeding but that did not happen.

Our RPI was only number one non confernce rank, and I believe number 12 overall. Foote calls them a double and triple penalty for not being in a power conference. I concur.

I do agree there may be little we can do to change the overall bias of the selection process. Scheduling is so critical with UL softball right now, it isn't even funny. And, unfortunately, unlike other super conferences, we cannot take a single moment off and lose to an SBC opponent. We cannot schedule OOC habitually weak RPI opponents, no way/no how. Again, we probably have little at our disposal for reducing the double and triple bias in the process.

Backing off of the softball parascope for a moment... UL athletics altogether has to step up their game in order to slowly change perceptions. Our leadership has to be 100% committed to the process that everyone else is part of... the chase for the golden athlletic status. If they continue to listen to those that built the original "let's just verbally cut those schools down for not focusing on academics only" we are doomed to smallness... and more reduction... for the rest of our existence.

[jllanclos]

I do agree there may be little we can do to change the overall bias of the selection process. Scheduling is so critical with UL softball right now, it isn't even funny. And, unfortunately, unlike other super conferences, we cannot take a single moment off and lose to an SBC opponent. We cannot schedule OOC habitually weak RPI opponents, no way/no how. Again, we probably have little at our disposal for reducing the double and triple bias in the process.

Backing off of the softball parascope for a moment... UL athletics altogether has to step up their game in order to slowly change perceptions. Our leadership has to be 100% committed to the process that everyone else is part of... the chase for the golden athlletic status. If they continue to listen to those that built the original "let's just verbally cut those schools down for not focusing on academics only" we are doomed to smallness... and more reduction... for the rest of our existence.

Putting aside softball for a moment, unfortunately the perception of our programs nationally is pretty close to reality. We're not near the best in the nation at anything. It's time we restored our focus. Do we want to be the best in the nation? Why would we shoot for less than that? Anything that follows besides "we won't settle for less than that" is an excuse. We are capable of better, and Mike and Stefni prove that every day. It starts with a mindset and a determination that we will have one of the best football programs in the nation, men's basketball programs in the nation, women's basketball programs in the nation, baseball programs in the nation, and on down the line.

If we're not in it to win it, what's the point? Let's be excellent and stop settling for "ordinary."

Didn't coach Robe go into his interview to become the coach here and say, "Here's what I need you to provide me so we can win the national championship?" Where's that mindset? Without that, we're all wasting our time. Coach Hud has that mindset. Mike and Stefni do? Who else? You? Me?

Let's be excellent. Let's be extraordinary. Let's move beyond the excuses! WHO'S WITH ME????????? LOL

[Just1More]

Let's be excellent. Let's be extraordinary. Let's move beyond the excuses! WHO'S WITH ME????????? LOL

I'm sure glad you added the LOL. Campaign speech material aside, we have a lot of work to do in order to get better. "National Championships" are only a portion of the goals out there that you have a chance to reach if you put all of the components in place to be your best.

And remember what Ricky Bobby's dad finally told him about the misunderstanding that guided Ricky's life... "if you ain't first, you're last". Ricky's dad (a man of immense wisdom) retorted, "That doesn't make any sense at all, you can be second, third, fourth... hell you can even be fifth."

We need to quit talking about results and just focus on a mission of massive improvement.