The Book: Lady Cajuns 2006-07 basketball

[NewsCopy]

LSU senior associate athletic director Judy Southard, chairman of the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee, said late Monday night that UL's women's squad got into the NCAA Tournament on its own merits. "There were several things in their favor," Southard said on a teleconference following the Monday evening bracket announcement. "This was a team that was in the mix, the large mix of teams that were being discussed as we moved through the bracket. Not to say that the were one of the last teams in, but they along with several other teams took a great deal of debate as we moved through the selection process." Southard, in her first year as chairman of the committee, cited numbers that helped the Cajuns' cause. "The committee took note of the fact that they had 25 wins and 16 conference victories, but also had four wins in the top 100," she said. "They were 8-2 in their last 10 games. I think that another thing that was very telling of them was that they went outside of conference, they scheduled up and they did a great job of making a very strong showing against some very good teams." The rest of the story UL Notebook Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

The excitement of their selection to the NCAA Women's Basketball Championships met reality Tuesday for UL's squad. Eighteen hours after the Cajuns got word that they were heading to Austin, Texas, and a meeting with Marquette in the NCAA's first round, UL was back on the practice floor and preparing for its first postseason game. "We have to stay in our same routine," said junior guard Onna Charles. "It's a great feeling, but we know we have to get prepared for this." The 11th-seeded Cajuns will face the sixth-seeded Golden Eagles at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Frank Erwin Center on the University of Texas campus, giving the UL squad three days of workouts prior to their Thursday trip. It also gives head coach J. Kelley Hall time to round up films on the Eagles, who tied for second in the Big East Conference and earned its highest seed in school history. "By dark tomorrow," Hall said, "we'll have a lot of film to look at. I know they can rebound, they have a point guard that's tough in transition and they play match-up defense a lot like we do. I know we've created some havoc with the match-up, so we know that we have no chance if we don't have good shot selection." The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[El Sidonio]

I agree with you whole-heartedly Angelle. Here's my response to the article in the advertiser about tickets going on sale, and only having a certain amount of tickets available and why they aren't ordering more.

BTW, if you wanna go, and all 20 tickets that we reserved for our allotment are sold out, do a little bit of extra work (I know, i know, it's hard) and go to the erwin center website and buy them there.

Anyhoo, here's my comment I posted on the advertiser website:

"While I completely understand that people have lives and things they must attend to, let me say this about the attendance situation:

We would all agree that people in south Louisiana are always lookin to pass a good time and find something to do. The cheaper the cost, the better. Well, for a team that has gone from the bottom of the barrel to the 2nd best in the state, the Lady Cajuns basketball team is the best value around. I thought that maybe the third winning season in a row and 2nd Sun Belt Conference West division championship would change things, but it hasn't changed it enough. When E.K. Long gym (where the girls play) holds 1500 and we can't even pack that, then something's wrong.

Shame on all of you, Acadiana, for not supporting one of the best coaches (if not the best) that we've ever had. And shame on you for not supporting these girls who have worked their butts off to bring respectability and notoriety to this university and program. Sure, if we keep attendance rising at the rate it has, it'll be at 1500 per game in about 20 years, but it'd be really nice if we could sell out a measly 1500 capacity gym next season. Is it really too much to ask? I think not.

It looks like it's gonna take a trip to the sweet 16 or final 4 to wake up all the people in Lafayette. If that's what it takes, it's ashame, but I hope it happens so that our women's program can finally get the support it deserves. Because when you have a coach as good as ours that is doing as much as he is, and you can't even show up to regular season games so that attendance is above 500!!!!, that's when you get him to seriously start considering higher paying job offers that come as a result of his success.

Now, off my soapbox. I wish the ladies the best of luck. You've got what it takes, and we'll be there to support y'all.

God Bless

GEAUX UL LADY CAJUNS BASKETBALL!!!!!!!!!!"

[El Sidonio]

In case anybody is disheartened by the meager 20 ticket allotment we received, or whatever it is, I'm bumping this back to the top. I had to spend all of 2 minutes creating an account, and I bought my tickets in a matter of another minute or two. Please y'all, I barely have the money to go and I'm goin. Go out and support our ladies. Wake up early Sat. morning, drive 6 hours to go to the game,a nd you'll still have enough time to drive back afterwards and be back in time to get to bed at a decent hour, or go out and celebrate.

God Bless

GEAUX UL LADY CAJUNS BASKETBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cjr3888]

Does anyone know of any bars in New Orleans that will be showing the women's game saturday? I'll be there all weekend and do not feel like watching it in a hotel room alone.

[CajunCherokee]

I think it is on ESPN...

[cajun4ever]

Does anyone know of any bars in New Orleans that will be showing the women's game saturday? I'll be there all weekend and do not feel like watching it in a hotel room alone.

It's on ESPNU according to espn.com. Direct TV 609. At 2:00, CBS has a men's game on and ESPN has a women's game on. Every other channel is either golf or Nascar so I think if you find any sports bar with more than a couple TV's you should be able to see the game

[CajunCherokee]

In case anybody is disheartened by the meager 20 ticket allotment we received, or whatever it is, I'm bumping this back to the top. I had to spend all of 2 minutes creating an account, and I bought my tickets in a matter of another minute or two. Please y'all, I barely have the money to go and I'm goin. Go out and support our ladies. Wake up early Sat. morning, drive 6 hours to go to the game,a nd you'll still have enough time to drive back afterwards and be back in time to get to bed at a decent hour, or go out and celebrate.

God Bless

GEAUX UL LADY CAJUNS BASKETBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sid, I think I'm gonna make the trip. If you buy them online (which I plan on), is there a specific section that I should keep in mind so that I can sit by Cajun fans? I would really love to be with the fellow fans...

[El Sidonio]

My tickets are in section 24, row 2, seats 4,5 (with potentially one more friend joining us). This is what was randomly selected by the computer when I said I needed two seats. I honestly have no idea where these seats are in relation to where the "UL" section is. But, I'll be hooting and hollering anyways.

God Bless

GEAUX UL LADY CAJUNS BASKETBALL!!!!!!!!!!!

[CajunAmos]

First time in Womens team history.