The Book: 2007-08 Ragin' Cajuns Basketball

[Rebel02]

I saw the group of students standing the entire game and thought to myself "Why tonight?" Why have these people been quiet all season long and yet tonight, they will stand and be loud? And then I realized....there were 5 DU fans sitting in the 2nd row of the student section. Had those 5 fans not been there, I bet no one would have been standing in the student section(except for the group that stands behind the goal near the visiting team's bench, of which I am a member).

[Big Buds]

I'm totally stoked about Wednesday Night! Honest to god I've got a strange feeling the Cajuns will make the Conference Tournament and play the roll of MAJOR SPOILER. I said this a few weeks ago but UL will kick some _____ on a neutral court. It's just South Al will most definitely have home court in the semis but we can beat them. I know I'm looking too far ahead it's just with our backs against the wall all year we might be most poised team to make a run. We've won 5 of our last 6 and our shooting is coming back around. It should be a lot of fun; can you imagine an UL vs. WKU final.

[cjr3888]

The problem with a painted up ring leader for the student section is that the A-hole U.P. will try to kick the person out.

[Just1More]

_ I saw the group of students standing the entire game and thought to myself "Why tonight?" Why have these people been quiet all season long and yet tonight, they will stand and be loud? And then I realized....there were 5 DU fans sitting in the 2nd row of the student section. Had those 5 fans not been there, I bet no one would have been standing in the student section(except for the group that stands behind the goal near the visiting team's bench, of which I am a member). _

It doesn't matter how it starts, or by whom. It just needs to continue. When it gets contagious and enough keep it up no matter if a few people come and go, it will become a tradition. All I know is... I'm liking it... I want compliment those who got it going and I want them to know we are all happy for it.

I hope that Rhineaux can get the cheerleaders to follow his board thing. I would think they would be looking for options instead of standing out in front of a bunch of people that aren't following them. On TOs, we get quiet, just as the opposition wants. Instead, we could be holding a Ragin-Cajun thing back and forth and we would pick right back up with the action.

I'm liking it... we are the 6th man... and the 6th man wins you 1 to 4 games you wouldn't normally take per year.

[UL_Cajuns]

Don't count your chickens before they hatch, one game at a time. I learned this a long time ago with Cajun athletics.

[RaginCajun2010]

We might have to try that during a timeout._ Just without the signs. Exactly how it happens at the tigue. Get a group of us to say ragin and another group to say cajuns and just hope it spreads throughout the dome.

[Just1More]

_ Don't count your chickens before they hatch, one game at a time. I learned this a long time ago with Cajun athletics. _

I think we've learned it a 100 times... but we forget.

[NewsCopy]

UL - Sun Belt West Division co-champion Louisiana will host one of first Sun Belt Conference Championship first round games as the Ragin’ Cajuns face the 12th-seeded Troy Trojans Wednesday at 8:05 p.m... Louisiana’s West Division title was its first since the 2002-03 season when the Cajuns won a share of the division crowd with a 12-3 record... Louisiana enters Wednesday’s game having lost its last two games in the Sun Belt Conference Championship. The Cajuns’ last tournament victory was March 5, 2006, against, ironically, Troy - a 62-59 overtime decision...The winner of Wednesday’s Louisiana-Troy game will face the winner of No. 4 Middle Tennessee-No. 13 ULM on Sunday, March 9 at 3 p.m...The Ragin’ Cajuns have won five of the last six games (3-1 at home) and seven of the last 10... Louisiana is now one of three schools in NCAA Division I (347 members) with no players averaging double fi gures in scoring, joining Savannah State and fellow Sun Belt West Division co-leader UALR... Nearly eighty-three (82.8) percent of Louisiana’s offense this season comes from freshman or sophomores - the most of any Division I school in the nation. Of the Cajuns’ 1,891 points this season, only 325 of those come from seniors (Dees, Milson and Barksdale)... On Saturday, Louisiana was whistled for a season-low eight fouls - the lowest of the Robert Lee era. It was also the first time the Cajuns committed less than 10 fouls since being called for nine fouls on Nov. 18, 2003 at Georgia Tech... If the season ended today, newcomers Chris Gradnigo (43.6%) and Randell Daigle (39.0%) would rank in the single-season top 10 for three-point field goal percentage. Troy Preview. Since starting the regular season 8-6, Troy (11-18) has lost 12 of its last 15 games, including an 87-66 loss to Louisiana on Jan. 27, 2008, in Troy, Ala. Nine of the Trojans’ 11 victories this season have come at Trojan Arena, while posting a 2-12 record away from Troy... O’Darien Bassett leads all Trojans with 18.3 points per game, including a 42-point performance against Florida Atlantic on Feb. 27. Bassett has led the Trojans in scoring in 16 of 29 games this season, while posting 20 or more points nine times...Troy has scored 80 or more points 12 times this season, while Louisiana has scored 80 or more just once (against Troy). A Win by Louisiana...would advance the Ragin’ Cajuns to the Quarterfinal Round of the Sun Belt Conference Men’s Basketball Championship at the Mitchell Center in Mobile, Ala. Louisiana would face the winner of No. 4 Middle Tennessee-No. 13 ULM on Sunday, March 9 at 3 p.m. A Loss by Louisiana...would end the Ragin’ Cajuns’ season at 15-15 overall. Louisiana in the Sun Belt Conference Basketball Tournament...Louisiana is 18-11 in the Sun Belt Conference Basketball Tournament since its first season in the league (1991-92)...The Ragin’ Cajuns are 2-2 all-time in four Sun Belt Conference Basketball Tournament games at the CAJUNDOME. Louisiana has not won a SBC Tournament game at the CAJUNDOME since March 1, 1998 - an 81-65 win over Lamar. Cajuns Clinch First Division Crown Since 2002-03...With the Sun Belt Conference West Division championship on the line, Louisiana avenged one of its worst losses last month with a 58-51 victory over the Denver Pioneers Saturday night...Louisiana’s victory guaranteed the Cajuns a share of the Sun Belt West Division title - the Cajuns’ first division title since finishing 12-3 with a share of the West Division title in 2002-03. Gradnigo Steals the Show on Senior Night...In what has been the theme all season long, it was a freshman that stole the show on Senior Night Saturday. Freshman forward Chris Gradnigo scored a game-high 24 points, falling one point shy of his career high. Gradnigo connected on a career-high-tying 9-of-13 shots and 4-of-6 from three-point range. Daigle Does It Again...In a reversal of recent series misfortunes, sophomore Randell Daigle torched North Texas for a career-high-tying 17 points again as the Ragin’ Cajuns kept their hopes for a Sun Belt Conference West Division title alive with a 63-58 victory Thursday night at the CAJUNDOME...In the January meeting between the teams in Denton, Daigle also scored 17 points, including five three-point field goals, but fouled out in the game’s last four minutes...The win snapped Louisiana’s four-game losing streak to North Texas. The Cajuns lost all three series meetings last season. Whistling Victory...On Saturday, Louisiana was whistled for a season-low eight fouls - the lowest of the Robert Lee era. It was also the first the Cajuns committed less than 10 fouls since being called for nine fouls on Nov. 18, 2003 at Georgia Tech. Interestingly Enough...In Thursday night’s game, North Texas had 14 deadball rebounds - the most of any Louisiana opponent this season. The Mean Green went 14-for-31 from the free throw line in Thursday’s loss. Fourteen (14) of those 17 misses were deadball rebounds. Triple Happy...If the season ended today, newcomers Chris Gradnigo (43.6%) and Randell Daigle (39.0%) would rank in the single-season top 10 for three-point field goal percentage. Select Company...Louisiana is now one of three schools in NCAA Division I (347 members) with no players averaging double figures in scoring, joining Savannah State and fellow Sun Belt West Division co-leader UALR. Fountain of Youth...Nearly eighty-three (82.8) percent of Louisiana’s offense this season comes from freshman or sophomores - the most of any Division I school in the nation. Of the Cajuns’ 1,891 points this season, only 325 of those come from seniors (Dees, Milson and Barksdale). RaginCajuns.com

[NewsCopy]

Robert Lee delivered the statement confidently and without wavering. The reason for the message: UL's fourth-year head coach wants people to know the Cajun men's basketball team has dreams beyond winning a share of this season's Sun Belt Conference West Division title. "With the group of guys we have, our goal in the next year or so is to have a legitimate shot to go to the Final Four," Lee said Monday afternoon. "I think we're in the progress stage. I think we're starting to take the necessary steps, but I do feel like the guys we have out on the perimeter, in a year or so, are going to be as talented as anybody else out there. "Now we've got to add a couple more pieces to this puzzle, but that's the goal of our basketball team and basketball program." But the Cajuns (15-14 overall, 11-7 SBC) have a more immediate goal in mind this week: Advance to the quarterfinals of the league's postseason tournament in Mobile, Ala. To do so, No. 5 seed UL needs to beat No. 12 seed Troy (11-18, 4-14) in a game at 8:05 Wednesday night at the Cajundome. The rest of the story Joshua Parrott jparrott@theadvertiser.com

[ULtimateCajun]

I love this confidence! I've heard a lot of negative things said about Coach Lee by some fans but I think he has done a great job with what he inherited. Jesse Evans left Coach Lee with a somewhat dirty program. I think he has cleaned it up, gone after players that fit into his scheme and I can't wait to see the next two seasons. People are going to say he's crazy but you can't look down on him for having confidence in his players.

[RedBug58]

That's the attitude we need in football

[Just1More]

I'm 100% behind this kind of rhetoric. Throw your big ones out there and let em ride. It instills confidence in the team, it says that the program is going to hunt, it tells fans that our bar is as high as it gets... I like it!

Of course, it sets Lee up for even more criticism from the nay-sayers... but what the heck... bring on those chaps and we'll slap sum chapstick, blistex or sum corn-oil or sumpin on dem and be good to go!

It tells prospects that we are not trying to inch our way back in the show, but are storming back. The only people that don't like this kind of swagger are people that don't like our program or don't like Coach Lee.

Me likes it! Now... let's back up that talk!!!