The Book: 2007-08 Ragin' Cajuns Basketball

[NewsCopy]

For the first 5 minutes and 18 seconds last night the University of Louisiana-Lafayette men's basketball team looked as though it couldn't have hit the broad side of Diamond Head with a shot. The Ragin' Cajuns missed their first 11 shots, several of them badly, and trailed Hawai'i 6-0. But was their head coach, Robert Lee, worried? "Heck no," Lee maintained. "We've struggled all season to shoot the basketball. That's the way it has gone for us. To be down only that much, we knew we had a chance." Sadly, he was right, which says as much about the University of Hawai'i as it did about the Ragin' Cajuns, whose meager 30.5 percent shooting percentage was enough to spring a 61-59 upset that plummeted the Rainbow Warriors into the embarrassment of the afternoon consolation round of the 44th Annual Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic. Truth be told, the 'Bows earned their place in the 11 a.m. Friday game against St. John's, a 71-69 loser to Ohio, their first banishment to daytime hours in the tournament in 12 years. The rest of the story Ferd Lewis flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com

[Tripple Threat]

_ Well congrats to you, so did I. It is a good feeling. I have been spending my week in OSHA/SafeGulf/Marine Survival training, if that means anything to anyone. _

I went through safe gulf and the other stuff about 1 year ago. The survival training at UL was a major challenge, since I'm not a strong swimmer. By the way, are you anywhere near St. Patrick?

[CajunRed]

Hey... things could turn on a dime, particularly for such a young team... but what about Coach Lee's abilities now? I'm waiting to see what those who have been bashing him and the team will say this morning.

[CajunRed]

Hey... things could turn on a dime, particularly for such a young team... but what about Coach Lee's abilities now? I'm waiting to see what those who have been bashing him and the team will say this morning.
Edit/Delete Message

[DestinCajun]

Beating Hawaii in anything (even bourre) on the island is tough but to pull of a win like this is very impressive.

Those of you holding a pink slip in your hands, please hold off awhile.

[rhineaux]

Another Opponent's View:

http://starbulletin.com/2007/12/20/sports/story02.html

This is a little more of a story than a column, and did a little better job of properly criticizing Hawaii AND giving the Cajuns their props.

I did notice in this story that the actual crowd was 3583, but the official crowd in the box score was 6099.

It also noted that the Cajuns grabbed 20 Offensive rebounds. That was huge. Millsap alone had 11 rebounds, 5 of them offensive.

[geo_cajun]

This is a great morale booster for a team that needed some confidence. But 0-11, come on milsap, you can do better. It also said we missed our first 10 free throws. We can't keep doing that. But it is a heck of a win, I wish I was there to cheer them on.

[geo_cajun]

yeah, St. Camille.

[DestinCajun]

_ This is a great morale booster for a team that needed some confidence. But 0-11, come on milsap, you can do better. It also said we missed our first 10 free throws. We can't keep doing that. But it is a heck of a win, I wish I was there to cheer them on. _

Two straight wins against quality opponents on their home floors will boost confidence even if the Cajuns had to grind to get both of them.

A tourney win by Jim Furyk pays the same amount as a win by Tiger Woods.

Geaux Cajuns!

[Cajunsmike]

_ This is a great morale booster for a team that needed some confidence. But 0-11, come on milsap, you can do better. It also said we missed our first 10 free throws. We can't keep doing that. But it is a heck of a win, I wish I was there to cheer them on. _

I am sure Elijah is as frustrated as anyone with his shot not falling. Did you notice how the rest of his play was. He held Hawaii's leading scorer to 3 field goals on 13 tries. He also had 11 rebounds and two steals. One of the steals came after he dislocated his finger in the last minute. I am impressed with his hustle plays considering he had a tough night shooting. It is very hard not to let shooting problems affect the rest of your game.

[CajunCherokee]

It also said we missed our first 10 free throws.

It said we missed our first 10 FG, not FT.

[geo_cajun]

It said we missed our first 10 FG, not FT.

oops, I misread it. Thanks

[derf]

Hey... things could turn on a dime, particularly for such a young team... but what about Coach Lee's abilities now? I'm waiting to see what those who have been bashing him and the team will say this morning.

I feel ya man, but let's not get crazy with this. We are still 3 games under .500. Let's get a few more skins on the wall before we call this a turn around. Coach and the guys deserve a lot of pats on the back, but shooting 30% won't do it against many teams. I think they need to get into the mind set of improving the shooting percentage by 5% to 6% every game. And have the bigs work on finishing the easy ones.
JMHO

[Cajunsmike]

I feel ya man, but let's not get crazy with this. We are still 3 games under .500. Let's get a few more skins on the wall before we call this a turn around. Coach and the guys deserve a lot of pats on the back, but shooting 30% won't do it against many teams. I think they need to get into the mind set of improving the shooting percentage by 5% to 6% every game. And have the bigs work on finishing the easy ones.
JMHO

You are perceptive in that our low shooting % is directly related to not getting many easy baskets from the post guys. Those guys are giving good effort, they are just outmanned.

[MiamiCajun32]

_ I feel ya man, but let's not get crazy with this. We are still 3 games under .500. Let's get a few more skins on the wall before we call this a turn around. Coach and the guys deserve a lot of pats on the back, but shooting 30% won't do it against many teams. I think they need to get into the mind set of improving the shooting percentage by 5% to 6% every game. And have the bigs work on finishing the easy ones.
JMHO _

I agree. these are two nice wins in a row, especially from a team that had lots of reasons to throw in the towel. Kudos to Lee for keeping the team together and fighting hard and believing. But there are still major problems that need to be addressed. Also keep in mind that Hawaii came into the game 3-4 so this is not some banner win. Most of the Cajuns teams of the past 40 years or so would have been expected to win a game like this. not so sure why Hawaii is so "stunned" as their media seems to think. After all, what did they expect as a 3-4 team, that any team they play that also has a losing record would just lay down because they had to fly out to Hawaii and play in their tourney?