UL vs Oakland

[Boomer]

Payton still can't shoot free throws, but he made two jumpers I remember. One a three when we needed it, and another about a twelve footer. I saw none of those last season, not one. The only shots he made last season were layups that I recall.

The game was played at half court pace in the first half, and Oakland took our lunch. In the second half we pressed and ran, and good things happened.

The crowd? The team got the crowd the prior seasons team deserved, and helped to create. It is their team now, they will create big crowds if they do not play too many Sunday games, and continue to be a fast paced team, not a half court team.

----It is really hard to believe that the 3 EP hit was the first of his career---My strategy against the Cajuns--get the ball in low to Long' man---foul Long out of the game---We need to have all the guys with any inside ability step up and guard the opponent's #5 ----I can see Marlin's way coming out in this team---left over baggage and an assistant coach ruined last year!!!

[CajunAmos]

Crowd was terrible. Team really turned it on in the second half. I like how wronkoski plays. When Long fouls out we'll have trouble. Team is small. Team plays hard and has a few shooters. Tenacious D.

Hopefully we can put a few wins together and get bigger crowds.

I do have to say that the Cajuns push in the second half was with Long on the bench in foul trouble. I thought the smaller guys battled on the boards, and only wound up being out-rebounded by two. The positive was 17 assists to 14 turnovers. Last year, 20+ turnovers a game was the norm.

[Cajunsmike]

Nice game.

Also...great to see no pouting when players are being substituted for. That got very old last year.

Team did play together last night as they were more interested in what they did as a group vs what they did individually. Evidence of that was what we saw during timeouts. The entire team was focused on the message the coaches were trying to deliver. That included the players who did not see much action. Also encouraging is how young the team is and the potential they have to improve. In the first half, over half the points were scored by freshman. I seem to recall that when we signed guys like Moore and Shepherd people were saying things like, they probably can't help us much as they did not have high recruiting rankings. Both helped us quite a bit last night. Moving on, next game is at Texas Southern on Friday. They are picked to win the SWAC. Every road game is an adventure, it will be especially so with such a young team. In other words, they may have more talent than the opponent and not win due to not knowing how to handle the road experience.

[cajun4life]

Any word on Soto?

[MelRock]

Any word on Soto?

Still waiting on the NCAA to clear him. He was cleared to be on scholarship and practice with the team. I will ask Marlin for an update at lunch today.

[Cajunsmike]

Still waiting on the NCAA to clear him. He was cleared to be on scholarship and practice with the team. I will ask Marlin for an update at lunch today.

I could not attend today's luncheon as I am working out of town this week. Did Coach Marlin address the Soto situation at the gathering. Personally I would not be surprised if they redshirt him regardless of when a ruling comes as he and Wronkowski appear to have similar roles. Anything else interesting shared at the meeting. I bet he gave a preview of Texas Southern and Boise as they are on our weekend road trip. I wonder how confident he is in our chances. He probably did not address that as the road is always tough regardless of the opponent. I researched Texas Southern and discovered they don't have a lot of size. That will be one of the few opponents we play this year with that aspect. They do have a lot of quick guards and are picked to win the SWAC by ESPN Magazine.

[CajunDreDog]

I could not attend today's luncheon as I am working out of town this week. Did Coach Marlin address

Here is today's media luncheon

[MelRock]

I could not attend today's luncheon as I am working out of town this week. Did Coach Marlin address the Soto situation at the gathering. Personally I would not be surprised if they redshirt him regardless of when a ruling comes as he and Wronkowski appear to have similar roles. Anything else interesting shared at the meeting.

I made a mistake the Rebounders Luncheon is today not yesterday. I will ask him today.

Geaux Cajuns!!!

[BirdofParadise]

My sources tell me Soto is not expected to be cleared to play this year.

[Zeebart21]

terrific news.. thanks...

[MelRock]

Coach said today they received some documentation last night for Josh and it was sent to the NCAA today. He said that the chances of him playing this year are 50/50.
Geaux Cajuns!

[CharlieK]

My sources tell me Soto is not expected to be cleared to play this year.

I wish I had sources. Sigh.