The Book: Lady Cajuns 2006-07 basketball

[RaginDave]

Totally Deserved!

Wonderful opportunity.

Wahooo!!!

I am flabergasted. This is great news and to be an 11 seed is huge.

Geaux Cajuns kick some arse in the tourney ladies!!!!

[Turbine]

Here is the Dayton Bracket

[CajunDreDog]

I am flabergasted.

I'm speechless! I don't know what to say, I'm just finding this out. I didn't even think to watch the selection show thinking that we might make it!

[Sonsissymia]

I'm speechless! I don't know what to say, I'm just finding this out. I didn't even think to watch the selection show thinking that we might make it!

what a wonderful thing to happen. way to go Halls! way to go ladies!

[Turbine]

Marquette is good here is their RealTime RPI

RPI: 14
SOS: 22

Record: 25-6

Play ball

[CajunAmos]

I wonder if we should say thanks to the Western Kentucky AD, who accoring to BOP sits on the selection commitee? BOP felt that if a second Sun Belt team made the dance, it would be Western Kentucky. They didn't make the dance last year with a 19 (I think) RPI, or this year (about a 38 RPI), but we made it with a 60?

[NOCajun]

From the Sun Belt Conference website:

http://www.sunbeltsports.org/ViewArt...&ATCLID=825301

Sun Belt Sends Two to Women’s NCAA Tournament
Courtesy: Sun Belt Conference
Release: 03/12/2007

NEW ORLEANS – For the first time since 2001 the Sun Belt will send two teams to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament as Middle Tennessee and University of Louisiana were both selected to the tournament’s Dayton Regional.

#17 Middle Tennessee earned the No. 5 seed in the Dayton Regional and will play No. 12 seed Gonzaga Saturday, March 17 in Palo Alto, California.

Middle Tennessee earned the Sun Belt’s automatic bid for the fourth consecutive season after defeating UL in the league’s tournament championship last week.

MT currently boasts the nation’s longest winning streak as the Blue Raiders have won 26 consecutive games.

MT advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2004 and 2005, earning first round wins over North Carolina and North Carolina State respectively.

Joining the Blue Raiders in the Dayton Regional is Sun Belt Western Division Champ University of Louisiana. The Cajuns draw the No. 11 seed in the region and will face No. 6 seed Marquette Saturday, March 17 in Austin, Texas.

In 2006-07, Louisiana Là recorded the best season in program history en route to the Cajuns first ever post-season appearance. A school-record tying 13 road victories paved the way for a 23-7 regular season and a second Sun Belt West Championship in the last three seasons.

Schools have posted 63 Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament wins as members of the Sun Belt Conference - including a National Championship and seven Final Four appearances.<<<

[EVCajun12]

http://www.ncaasports.com/basketball/womens/schedules

Frank Erwin Center (16,755)
Austin, Texas
Host: University of Texas at Austin
Ticket Info:
Price: $53 Adult, $43 Youth
Phone: 800/982-2386 or 512/471-3333
Web site: www.texasboxoffice.com
E-mail: ticket.questions@athletics.utexas.edu

sure UL will have some tickets available through us here. Not sure tickets are that much either.

Game is at 1:30cst

[SlappyCajun]

Here is the Dayton Bracket

Wow. If the cajuns happen to get by the Golden Eagles then they go on to face the Paris sisters of OKLAHOMA!

[EVCajun12]

Marquette:

The Golden Eagles are enjoying the best season in school history with a record 25 wins. Big East coach of the year Terri Mitchell guided Marquette to a third-place finish in the conference after being picked eighth in the preseason poll.

The highlights so far include a school-record 14-game winning streak and a sellout crowd at the Al McGuire Center for a matchup with UConn, which the Huskies narrowly won 52-48.

Marquette features the inside-outside combo of 6-foot-2 senior Christina Quaye and 5-9 sophomore point guard Krystal Ellis. Quaye (16.3 ppg, 6.2 rpg) is strong and mobile with more than 1,500 points and 700 rebounds in her career. Ellis leads the team in scoring (18.2 ppg), assists (3.6) and steals (2.2). She's at her best breaking down defenses with her dribble penetration.

Senior forwards Jasmine McCullough and Efeuko Osagie-Landry bring experience and hustle to the frontline. Osagie-Landry's husband is Marcus Landry, who is playing in the men's NCAA Tournament with Wisconsin. Marquette has great depth with forwards Marissa Thrower, Danielle Kamm and Kelly Lam all logging quality minutes.

The defining moment of the season for Marquette happened in early February with back to back low-scoring losses to Rutgers and UConn. After a brief pity party, the Golden Eagles refocused and reenergized their running game. Marquette prefers a faster tempo and Mitchell likes to see a minimum of 10 fastbreak baskets a game.

The Golden Eagles play a stingy 2-3 zone that is long and wide. They have been outrebounded only a handful of times all season.

[EVCajun12]

With Middle Tennessee ahead of them in the league race, there's no shame in being the second-best team in the Sun Belt Conference.

The Ragin' Cajuns, in fact, have finished as the league's runner-up the past two seasons. But this time, the selection committee extended a rare at-large invitation to a mid-major, so Louisiana-Lafayette is dancing for the first time and enters the NCAA Tournament with a 25-8 record.

Yolanda Jones leads Louisiana-Lafayette, averaging a double-double of 17.9 points and 10.4 rebounds. The 6-foot-1 senior power forward, who shoots 47 percent from the field, led the Ragin' Cajuns in scoring in all but 10 games, including two 30-point performances. While Jones also posts a team-high 67 steals, she has almost twice as many turnovers (104) than assists (59).

Junior center Sonora Edwards (10.2 ppg, 8.1 rpg) and junior shooting guard Onna Charles (11.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg) are the only other Ragin' Cajuns in double figures. Edwards leads La.-Lafayette with 48 percent shooting from the field. Charles is the team's 3-point threat, hitting 56 treys on the season.

Senior point guard Jeanenne Colbert is the ballhandler of the bunch, dishing out 4.5 assists per game.

Defense is a strength. The Ragin' Cajuns average eight steals while holding opponents to 58 points per game. Plus, foes shoot just 29 percent from 3-point range and 35 percent from the field. That stalwart defense and a plus-10 rebounding margin help make up for La.-Lafayette's 17.5 turnovers per game, 63 percent accuracy at the foul line and 32 percent shooting from beyond the arc.

Against fellow NCAA Tournament teams, Louisiana-Lafayette went 0-3, including two losses to Middle Tennessee by a combined 37 points, though the second loss was by 10. The Ragin' Cajuns also got pummeled by LSU, 65-31, back on Nov. 16.
-- Melanie Jackson

[EVCajun12]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/ncaatourney07/bracket