The Book: 2007-08 Ragin' Cajuns Basketball

[Jeaux]

Not when its the Star player on League Darlings. Pay back in Mobile on the Deuce. I feel it.

[RaginFan2]

We were in 208. I saw you and yelled....obviously you didnt here us!

Z

Nope! Sorry. At my age, the hearing is starting to go! When did you do the yelling: during the game, at halftime, or after the game?

[NewsCopy]

Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns (8-10, 4-3) continue their toughest stretch of the Sun Belt Conference slate when they travel to Mobile, Ala., to take on this year’s hottest team, the South Alabama Jaguars (15-3, 7-0). South Alabama has yet to lose in the New Year, having won 11 straight games dating back to November... Louisiana has won each of its last three trips and five of its last six to the Mitchell Center on the South Alabama campus...South Alabama has won all seven Sun Belt contests in decisive fashion - five of those wins have come by a margin of nine points or more. Perhaps even more impressive is South Alabama’s 10-0 record at the Mitchell Center this season. The Jaguars have not lost at home since Feb. 28, 2007 vs. Troy... After racing out to a 4-0 start in SBC play, Louisiana has stumbled of late, losing its last three conference contests and three of its last four overall...After trailing WKU by as many as 12 points Saturday night, Louisiana has trailed by 10 or more points in six of its seven Sun Belt Conference games this season. Conversely, the Cajuns have led by 10 or more points in four of their seven league games as well...Saturday, Randell Daigle didn’t have much luck from three-point range as two of his triple attempts rimmed out as he finished with four points, snapping his streak of 15 consecutive games with at least one three-point field goal made...Louisiana shot a season-high 85.7 percent (18-of-21) from the free throw line in Saturday’s 69-66 loss to Western Kentucky. It marked the Cajuns’ best free throw shooting night against a Sun Belt Conference foe since Jan. 28, 2006, when UL shot 88.9 percent (16-of-18) at Middle Tennessee... With his 11-point performance vs. WKU, freshman Travis Bureau has now scored 10 or more points in three Sun Belt Conference games this season. South Alabama Preview. South Alabama used a 12-2 run during a five-minute span of the second half to break open a close game, then hit enough free throws down the stretch to defeat Sun Belt Conference West Division co-leader UALR, 72-65, Saturday night at the Jack Stephens Center. The win was the 11th straight for the Jaguars, who improved to 15-3 overall and 7-0 in league play... Daniel Hayles hit three key three-pointers during the contest to finish with a USA career-high 13 points. Four other players reached double figures for the Jags -- Demetric Bennett had 12, Daon Merritt and Domonic Tilford each added 11, while Brandon Davis had 10. Brandon Patterson led UALR (12-6, 4-3) with 14 points... South Alabama was ahead by two, 51-49, with 9:20 to play after five straight Trojan points, but Hayles hit a three from the right baseline and Tilford knocked down a pair of free throws to stretch the lead back to seven, 56-49, with 8:09 left. After a UALR layup, the Jaguars scored seven in a row to open their biggest advantage of the game, 12 points at 63-51 with 4:21 to play. South Alabama hit nine of 12 freet throws in the final 2:02, keeping no less than six-point spread at all times...South Alabama opened a 23-13 lead midway through the first half, but saw the Trojans storm back with nine straight points to trail just by just one, 23-22 with 5:58 left. UALR took its first lead of the game at the 3:02 mark on a basket by Derrick Bales. Their advantage was four, 30-26, with 1:38 remaining when the Jags came to life. They scored nine straight points on three three-pointers for a 35-30 advantage at the break. Tilford brought USA within one at the 1:26 mark, then Hayles hit treys with 49 and 0.8 seconds left to send the Jags into the locker room with the lead. After the South Alabama game...Louisiana travels to Troy, Ala., to face Sun Belt East Division foe Troy Sunday at 1 p.m. A Win by Louisiana...would snap the Cajuns three-game Sun Belt losing streak, while also snapping South Alabama’s 11-game winning streak. A Loss by Louisiana...would drop the Cajuns to 8-11 overall and extend their Sun Belt losing streak to four games. Double-Digit Turnaround. Saturday, Louisiana trailed Western Kentucky by as many as 12 points, 64-52, with 4:00 left to play. It marked the sixth time in seven Sun Belt Conference games this season that the Cajuns trailed by 10 or more points. Conversely, the Cajuns have led by 10 or more points in four of their seven league games this season. Daigle Kept Quiet From Three. Randell Daigle didn’t have much success from three-point range Saturday night at WKU as two of his triple attempts rimmed out and a third one - which he made - was waved off because of a foul before the shot. Daigle finished the night with four points on 1-of-6 shooting, snapping his streak of 15 consecutive games with at least one three-point field goal made. High-Percentage Shooting. Louisiana shot a season-high 85.7 percent (18-of-21) from the free throw line in Saturday’s 69-66 loss to Western Kentucky. It marked the Cajuns’ best free throw shooting night against a SBC foe since Jan. 28, 2006, when they shot 88.9 percent (16-of-18) at Middle Tennessee. RaginCajuns.com

[CajunKahouna]

And, USA is getting votes for the Top 25.

[CajunProud]

I don't know much about basketball, so I will have to rely on those of you that do know about the game to explain to me what I am seeing at the games.

First, eventhough I don't know about basketball, I do know good athletes when I see them, and we have some fantastic ones on this team.

Second, I see a tremendous amount of improvement from the McNeese game to the WKU game.

I was impressed with the improvement in free throw shooting. We have traditionally been a very poor free throw shooting team ever since I can remember (don't know why that is).

What I don't understand though is this: It seems as though we do not run an offense at all. I continually see one or two guys moving, but most of the guys on the team are standing still. Before the WKU game I was watching Duke and Clemson play, and both teams had constant movement by all 5 players on the court. Why do we not do this? Is it because we run a different type of offense, or is it because the players don't understand? Someone please explain this to me (seriously, I really don't know much about basketball).

I can say that it was very exciting and fun to be at the WKU game (except the end). The atmosphere was great. Just imagine how great it would have been if we were at Blackham. The Cajundome is nice and all, but it is nowhere near the atmosphere of Blackham.

I look forward to hearing from those of you who know and understand the game.

GEAUX CAJUNS.

[Cajun Express]

_ I don't know much about basketball, so I will have to rely on those of you that do know about the game to explain to me what I am seeing at the games.

First, eventhough I don't know about basketball, I do know good athletes when I see them, and we have some fantastic ones on this team.

Second, I see a tremendous amount of improvement from the McNeese game to the WKU game.

I was impressed with the improvement in free throw shooting. We have traditionally been a very poor free throw shooting team ever since I can remember (don't know why that is).

What I don't understand though is this: It seems as though we do not run an offense at all. I continually see one or two guys moving, but most of the guys on the team are standing still. Before the WKU game I was watching Duke and Clemson play, and both teams had constant movement by all 5 players on the court. Why do we not do this? Is it because we run a different type of offense, or is it because the players don't understand? Someone please explain this to me (seriously, I really don't know much about basketball).

I can say that it was very exciting and fun to be at the WKU game (except the end). The atmosphere was great. Just imagine how great it would have been if we were at Blackham. The Cajundome is nice and all, but it is nowhere near the atmosphere of Blackham.

I look forward to hearing from those of you who know and understand the game.

GEAUX CAJUNS. _

Well that is the rub, movement. You can' move simply to move. You need to be moving someplace. Our players are not yet running plays on innate knowledge of the play, they still have to think about it a little. That partial second is all an experienced player needs to counter any movement. I often saw WKU players actually blocking our guys from moving, and they were lost. IOW experience, experience and coaching. Lee needs to have these guys improve, his job depends on it.

[rhineaux]

I was impressed with the improvement in free throw shooting. We have traditionally been a very poor free throw shooting team ever since I can remember (don't know why that is).

I can tell you this much...After the UVU game, RL said that if we were going to have a chance against WKU, we had to eliminate turnovers and we had to make our free throws.

Well, we went from turning it over 16 times against UVU, to 13 against a much better WKU team. I guess that the improvement there is a little better than the 3 fewer TOs would suggest, but still, 13 TOs is too many.

Secondly, we went from shooting 58% (14 of 24) from the line against UVU, to shooting 86% (18 of 21) against WKU. That's a considerable improvement.

These sorts of stats, in my opinion, just prove that the team has the ability. They haven't shot that well from the line in almost 2 years. Now, we know they can do it, the coaches know they can do it, and they know they can do it. so, there's no reason for them not to shoot that well ever again. Maybe they shot better against WKU because it was a bigger game, or because of the perception that more was on the line, and if so, then they'll have to get out of that mindset and quit playing to the level of their opponents, something that will come with time. They'll need to develop the killer instinct to blast away opponents that are not as good as them, which will help create a better overall mindset when taking on better or equally talented opponents.

As for TOs, its kinda the same thing. As they get more comfortable in the offense (as you mentioned, if there is one) and get more comfortable with each other, and start playing to their potential night in and night out, then this stat will improve as well.

I too have noticed the lack of a system on offense. I would like to go back and compare this team to the 04-05 team that ended up playing Louisville, to see if there is simply a lack of set plays being run right now because of youth and inexperience in the system, or if its just that RL doesn't have a very dynamic offensive scheme. Or maybe its just that we don't have the inside presence to run a lot of plays. I'm like you, i don't really know much when it comes to that side of basketball. One thing's for sure is that RL can really teach defense, and it shows with this team only allowing about 65-70 points per game. but, we're only averaging scoring about the same amount of points per game and a more aggressive, dynamic offense will help this team score more points. To start the season, our shooting percentage sucked, and RL may have been keeping the offense simplified in order to give them confidence with their shots.

If he's holding out on inserting too much offense because of youth and inexperience, I could understand that. He's been preaching "baby steps, baby steps" all along with his plan...and there's no reason to think that just because this team went on a little run, that they'd all of a sudden be at a point where he could start fast tracking any part of his plan.

[ulforlife]

we gave up waaayyy too many offensive rebounds. thats why we lost. the kids were just standing under the basket waiting for the ball to fall. if we would have rebounded, we would have won.

[CajunProud]

_ I can tell you this much...After the UVU game, RL said that if we were going to have a chance against WKU, we had to eliminate turnovers and we had to make our free throws.

Well, we went from turning it over 16 times against UVU, to 13 against a much better WKU team. I guess that the improvement there is a little better than the 3 fewer TOs would suggest, but still, 13 TOs is too many.

Secondly, we went from shooting 58% (14 of 24) from the line against UVU, to shooting 86% (18 of 21) against WKU. That's a considerable improvement.

These sorts of stats, in my opinion, just prove that the team has the ability. They haven't shot that well from the line in almost 2 years. Now, we know they can do it, the coaches know they can do it, and they know they can do it. so, there's no reason for them not to shoot that well ever again. Maybe they shot better against WKU because it was a bigger game, or because of the perception that more was on the line, and if so, then they'll have to get out of that mindset and quit playing to the level of their opponents, something that will come with time. They'll need to develop the killer instinct to blast away opponents that are not as good as them, which will help create a better overall mindset when taking on better or equally talented opponents.

As for TOs, its kinda the same thing. As they get more comfortable in the offense (as you mentioned, if there is one) and get more comfortable with each other, and start playing to their potential night in and night out, then this stat will improve as well.

I too have noticed the lack of a system on offense. I would like to go back and compare this team to the 04-05 team that ended up playing Louisville, to see if there is simply a lack of set plays being run right now because of youth and inexperience in the system, or if its just that RL doesn't have a very dynamic offensive scheme. Or maybe its just that we don't have the inside presence to run a lot of plays. I'm like you, i don't really know much when it comes to that side of basketball. One thing's for sure is that RL can really teach defense, and it shows with this team only allowing about 65-70 points per game. but, we're only averaging scoring about the same amount of points per game and a more aggressive, dynamic offense will help this team score more points. To start the season, our shooting percentage sucked, and RL may have been keeping the offense simplified in order to give them confidence with their shots.

If he's holding out on inserting too much offense because of youth and inexperience, I could understand that. He's been preaching "baby steps, baby steps" all along with his plan...and there's no reason to think that just because this team went on a little run, that they'd all of a sudden be at a point where he could start fast tracking any part of his plan. _

Thanks for the response.

I could be wrong, but just from my personal observations over the last sevarl years, it seems as though we have always had great athletes and that athletic talent has overcome any deficiencies we have had in coaching, i.e. installing an offense or running an offense. Like I said previously, I don't know that much about basketball and I could be way off on this, but it is just what I see. This really isn't meant to be a criticism, but more of a learning process for me so that I can enjoy the games more.

[NewsCopy]

Team

Pro's- We have a talented, deep, hard working, young, athletic team who seem to have the character we have been looking for with a sprinkle of experience with Dees and Milsap, along with some big men in our future. I have posted before that whenever Coach Lee was able to get players that could match his intensity (which if you had not noticed is very intense) he would be able to succeed and it seems this group can and has.

Con's- All of these guys are of about the same importance and talent to our team. It seemed at the beginning of the year it was Dees who was out of place and he had a choice to either change or conform. He conformed and his attitude has been one of leadership and experience. But in doing so, along with the emergence of Bureau it has taken minutes away from Gradnigo and Milsap. And now it appears that Gradnigo and Milsap are at a crossroads and have to make the decision on what their attitude will be going forward. Gradnigo struggled the last few games, with the exception of last night, and because of that he will not (nor can we afford) get the minutes he needs to work out of it. I hope that does not discourage the young man because he seems to have a star quality we will need in years to come. Milsap seems to be on his own on offense most times and out of sync with the team which will cause him to get down quicker than normal, and again with others able to fill his position and he will not get the time to work out those issues. All others will be fighting for minutes, and as they grow it will become more difficult for each to accept their role. Bballlegend said that on most teams there are a couple of stars built in with role players such as 3pt-shooters, defense specialist, rebounders, leaders etc… I agree with that and I don’t see this team emerging like that. It will be a group with very similar talent fighting for minutes, which can create animosity amongst a young team (which has already happened to some extent according to reliable sources). I am glad to see the building Coach Lee is doing, but I hope in does not translate into players leaving in the future because I only see it getting worse IF the players cannot handle it. The new additions coming in will just facilitate the potential problem. Of the new comers only Ferguson seems he can be a Brian Hamilton type. Barr and Adeife have had their issues and for Adeife it seemed to be playing time. Barr is average at best right now but with a big body so the 3 of them will have to split more time. Does anyone else see this as a potential problem? Also I truly do not know if the “I rather have too many than not enough” argument is the answer here.

Defense

Pro’s- I think our team has matched Coach Lee’s intensity and scheme here. I think we are very good defensively. I see flashes of Bobby Knight’s defenses, and I think that is a positive. We make other teams look bad, unlike last year.

Con’s- The only con is size on defense but we seem to be overcoming that. The coaches and the players have shown that we will be a defensive force to be reckoned with.

Offense

Pro’s- We have been better outside shooters this year and seem to have shooters for the future. We are very athletic and quick.

Con’s- I don’t know if Coach Lee has worked on offense as much as he needs due to being a defensive team, but we either do not listen or we are not taught how to run an offense. Milsap, Dees, and Gradnigo just do what they want with no patience and that may be because no one else moves when they have the ball. Wallace has stepped up at times but it seems no one wants to give him the ball because they know it will not come back out. He will shoot it! We have no movement or continuity on offense. We run no screens for Dees, Gradnigo, or Bureau like WKU does for Lee, and that’s not to say we do it by design. The players just may not listen or the coaches are just not drawing it up properly. Although Gradnigo may not be the best defensive player, I think you need to get him off offensively by running sets for him. Also with Bureau and Dees. But that leaves Milsap and Gary’s athletic ability out. I have no solution here because I believe in making a couple of people the offensive focus and building around them. But everyone on this team can be the focus. Does anyone know our offensive schemes?

Our out of bounds plays have to be the worst designed or worst executed in the country. We never seem to come out of a time out and execute. Any thoughts or disagreements on this?

Coaching

Pro’s-I still believe in Coach Lee and I like the loyalty he has for the University. I also like that he has gotten character guys to build a program around, and that is what we are all looking for is a “program.” His academic record has been good so far and hasn’t had any off the court problems (knock on wood). I like his passion and I think he genuinely cares for his players, university, and fans.

Con’s- I think sometimes Coach Lee is too intense. I have been to practices and have seen him throw players out of practice. I personally like that way of coaching but I do not think it works anymore (See Bob Knight). The players want to feel security for their effort and I think this team is giving effort and they do not feel secure about their future, due to too many similar talented players on the team. I am torn on his x’s and o’s because I see it on defense but not on offense. Again that may not be him but lack of execution, which ultimately falls on him.

Just my opinion and thoughts. I told you it would be long! I really am interested to see your analysis of my analysis because as we all know it is easy to coach from a message board.

[RaginFan2]

_ _

Very nice post. Well thought-out analysis, with a rational basis. 1 don't have any real disagreement with your assessment.

[BrudaCajun]

It is sad to say nut we do have 4 guys that are 6'5- 6'7 that can all do the same thing with the ball. Although I think one is emerging (Bureau) Gradnigo is some kinda ball player. Time will tell how splitting minutes will affect these guys. But please don't think that I am crying about this "problem".
BTW very nice in-depth analysis