The Book: 2007-08 Ragin' Cajuns Basketball

[NewsCopy]

Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns struggled offensively in falling 63-44 at Denver on Sunday afternoon. The Cajuns 44 points marks a season low and is the fewest since Dec. 9, 2006, an 80-42 loss at Stephen F. Austin. With the win, Denver (11-12, 7-5) moves into a first place tie with UALR in the Sun Belt West Division. UL (10-13, 6-6) falls into third place, one game better than New Orleans and North Texas. The Cajuns shot 31 percent (10-for-32) in the game’s first 28 minutes en route to a 20-point deficit. DU opened the second half with three straight three-point baskets to extend their 10-point halftime advantage. The Pioneers used a 17-7 run in the first 6:51 of the second stanza to take a 20-point lead, 44-24. Two more triples by the Pioneers gave the hosts a dominating 53-29 lead at the 8:36 mark. The Cajuns fall to 6-3 all-time in Denver. Travis Bureau and La’Ryan Gary led UL with eight points. Point guard Randell Daigle led all players with six assists and did not commit a turnover, but was held scoreless. DU had five players in double figures, led by 12 points from Rob Lewis. Lewis and three other Pioneers had a game-high seven rebounds. The Cajuns defense held the Pioneers to just two points in the first six minutes of the game, but the offense struggled from the beginning, making only one field goal and committing four turnovers. Two from the stripe by Elijah Millsap gave the Cajuns a 4-2 edge at the 15:39 mark. As the Cajuns continued to lack offensive rhythm, Denver slowly built an eight-point lead, 16-8, with 6:56 remaining in the first half. UL started the game 3-for-16 from the floor. After a long jumper by Bureau broke the Cajuns scoring drought, DU used an 11-1 run to take a 27-11 lead with only 1:46 left in the half. The Cajuns ended the half with three consecutive baskets to get their deficit down to 10 points. David Dees scored before Tyren Johnson ended the half with two baskets. The Cajuns five leading scorers on the season, Millsap, Dees, Chris Gradnigo, Bureau and Daigle combined for six points on 2-of-15 shooting in the first half. UL shot just 28 percent as a team in the first half. UL returns home for a Valentine’s Day game against Louisiana-Monroe on Thursday at 7:05pm in the Cajundome. RaginCajuns.com

[zephyr]

_ Robert Lee is not the answer.



They should of fired him like they did Brady the other day.... _

To his credit, he has been able to finally bring in a young, talented team that will delight the fans for at least the next 3-4 years.

Second, I don't think you know how hard it is to coach a team trying to play 12-13 guys while trying to develop chemistry and keep egos in check. He seems to have done that this year.

Lastly, if you knew anything about this team whatsoever, you would probably expect some of the ups and downs associated with such a young and inexperienced team. So obviously, my question is answered and you truly know nothing about them. Have you even seen them this year or do you just complain assume they will fail???

[Jacob81]

Denver beats everyone at home and gets killed on the road.... We'll beat them in the season finally here, probably to win the west....

keep your pants on.

[Mineshaft]

_ To his credit, he has been able to finally bring in a young, talented team that will delight the fans for at least the next 3-4 years.

Second, I don't think you know how hard it is to coach a team trying to play 12-13 guys while trying to develop chemistry and keep egos in check. He seems to have done that this year.

Lastly, if you knew anything about this team whatsoever, you would probably expect some of the ups and downs associated with such a young and inexperienced team. So obviously, my question is answered and you truly know nothing about them. Have you even seen them this year or do you just complain assume they will fail??? _

Ive seen them play. Wether ive seen them play or not shouldnt matter. Lee cant coach and thats a fact...

[RaginFan2]

Ive seen them play. Wether ive seen them play or not shouldnt matter. Lee cant coach and thats a fact...

No, that's your OPINION.

[NewsCopy]

DENVER - The UL Ragin' Cajuns got their first taste of the Princeton-style offense and smothering defense brought to the University of Denver this season by new head coach Joe Scott. It wasn't a tasty meal for the Cajuns. Struggling to make shots against the Pioneers' relentless pressure and unable to solve Denver's back-cutting offense, the Cajuns lost their share of the Sun Belt Conference West Division lead with a 63-44 loss on Sunday at DU's Magness Arena. The rest of the story Pat Rooney Special to the Daily Advertiser

[CajunProud]

_ To his credit, he has been able to finally bring in a young, talented team that will delight the fans for at least the next 3-4 years.

Second, I don't think you know how hard it is to coach a team trying to play 12-13 guys while trying to develop chemistry and keep egos in check. He seems to have done that this year.

Lastly, if you knew anything about this team whatsoever, you would probably expect some of the ups and downs associated with such a young and inexperienced team. So obviously, my question is answered and you truly know nothing about them. Have you even seen them this year or do you just complain assume they will fail??? _

Please don't get me wrong, because by no way am I endorsing "the shaft's" position on Coach Lee, but........Just out of curiosity I went to Denver's web site to look at the men's basketball roster, and they have 8 freshman and sophmores on their 12 man roster. They also have a first year head coach who installed a completely new offense, and yet, they managed to handle us pretty good. Just saying.

I do like Coach Lee and the discipline that he has brought to the program. He seems to be genuinely interested about developing the young men in more areas than just basketball. However, this is a bottom line business and wins are what is looked at especially for a program with as much history as ours. I don't know much about basketball so I can't really comment on his coaching ability, but I will say that if we don't have a winning season next year then a change needs to be made.

[RaginCajunPie]

_ 63-44



Outstanding effort by the Cajuns.... _

_ Robert Lee is not the answer.



They should of fired him like they did Brady the other day....

South Alabama beat Denver 71-33

Denver beat Troy 80-66

Middle Tennesee beat Denver 68-50

UL Monroe beat Middle Tennessee 82-69

North Texas beat UL Monroe 78-57

UNO beat North Texas 83-61

Western Kentucky beat UNO 73-55




FIU beat Troy 74-49

UL beat Troy 87-66

Middle Tennessee beat ULAR 63-46

Western Kentucky beat ULAR 71-47

UL beat Florida Atlantic 71-52

Western Kentucky beat Florida Atlantic 80-62

South Alabama beat Arkansas State 81-58

South Alabama beat UL Monroe 77-59

None of these scores are very pretty. I guess every team that lost one ugly should fire their coach!

[NewsCopy]

Entering the final six-game stretch of the regular season, Louisiana will aim to turn its season around following its most recent setback as the Cajuns host the ULM Warhawks in a Valentine’s Day rivalry game at the CAJUNDOME... Thursday marks the fifth Valentine’s Day game between ULM and Louisiana and the first in Lafayette since 1980. The two schools have split the first four V-Day meetings. ULM won the last contest 72-57 in Monroe (1987)... Louisiana is 8-11 all-time on Valentine’s Day and has won 7 of the last 10... Thursday’s game will serve as Louisiana’s seventh televised contest of the regular season. The Cajuns are 2-4 thus far in television games... Louisiana’s 44 points at Denver on Sunday were a season-low and the fewest since Dec. 9, 2006, when the Cajuns scored just 42 points in a loss at Stephen F. Austin... Denver became the first Sun Belt Conference opponent to hold a 20-point lead against the Cajuns this season. The Pioneers were also the first team to not allow a Cajun to score in double figures...Louisiana is 24-2 all-time against the Warhawks in Lafayette. In fact, ULM has not beaten the Cajuns in Lafayette since 1957 when the Warhawks handed UL a 78-74 overtime defeat at Blackham Coliseum... Thursday’s contest marks ULM’s third-ever visit to the CAJUNDOME. ULM was one of the first schools to face the Cajuns in the new facility during the 1985-86 season. The Warhawks didn’t return to the Hub City until last season - both Cajuns victories at the ‘DOME... Randell Daigle was held scoreless for just the third time this season during Sunday’s loss at Denver. It snapped a streak of 20 straight games with at least one field goal - the longest streak of any Cajun this season. ULM Preview. ULM snapped a three-game Sun Belt Conference losing streak after defeating the New Orleans Privateers 74-68 Saturday. Tony Hooper led all scorers with 25 points, while out-dueling the Sun Belt’s all-time leading scorer Bo McCalebb, who finished with 20...The Warhawks, which enter Thursday night in seventh place at 3-9 in the league, have struggled all year long away from Fant-Ewing Coliseum. ULM is 3-10 this season on the road and hasn’t won in Lafayette since 1957...Unlike the Ragin’ Cajuns, the Warhawks have three players averaging double figures. Hooper leads all ULM scorers with 15.5 points per game, followed by Jordan Payne’s 14.9. Jonas Brown ranks third with 13.5 points per contest...ULM lost its first six conference games to start the Sun Belt slate. Since then, the Warhawks have split their last six SBC games (3-3). After the ULM game...Louisiana embarks on its final two-game road stretch of the regular season, when the Cajuns face the Arkansas State Indians on Saturday in Jonesboro, Ark. Following the A-State game, the Cajuns will travel to New Orleans to play the Privateers on Wed., Feb. 20, in their final road tilt of the regular season. A Win by Louisiana...would give the Cajuns their seventh Sun Belt victory of the season. It would mark the earliest the Cajuns have reached seven SBC victories under head coach Robert Lee. A Loss by Louisiana...would drop the Cajuns below .500 in the conference standings and extend their losing streak to two games. Rocky Mountain Highs...Sunday, eleven (11) different players logged 10 or more minutes on the court. Only the game with Oral Roberts did the Ragin’ Cajuns have more than 11 players play 10-plus minutes (12 players saw action against the Golden Eagles, while only three played more than 20 minutes). ...And Rocky Mountain Lows. With a share of first place in the Sun Belt West Division standings on the line, Louisiana endured one of its worst offensive outings of the season Sunday at Denver. The Cajuns scored a season-low 44 points, while posting a season-low 17 points in the first half against the Pioneers...Sophomore Randell Daigle, who entered the game as the team leader in scoring average in Sun Belt play, was held scoreless in 25 minutes, but did dish out a game-high six assists...Denver became the first Sun Belt Conference opponent to hold a 20-point lead against the Ragin’ Cajuns this season. The Pioneers led by as many as 24 points with 8:38 left in the second half before winning by 19. Bureau’s Career-High 18 Sinks FIU. Freshman forward Travis Bureau posted his best performance as a Ragin’ Cajuns, scoring a career-high 18 points on 5-of-6 shooting from three-point range to help Louisiana sink the FIU Golden Panthers 72-62 Wednesday night in Miami. Bureau’s Block Party. Sunday, freshman Travis Bureau set a career-high with four blocks at Denver - tying for the most by a Cajun this season. In December, Tyren Johnson blocked a career-high four shots in a loss at UCF. Holding Pattern. For the first time this season, the Ragin’ Cajuns failed to have at least one player score in double figures. Denver held UL’s leading scorers to just eight points (Travis Bureau, La’Ryan Gary). ‘V’ is Valentine’s Victory. Thursday marks the fifth Valentine’s Day game between ULM and Louisiana and the first in Lafayette since 1980. The two schools have split the first four V-Day meetings. ULM won the last contest 72-57 in Monroe (1987). UL is 8-11 all-time on Valentine’s Day. Seeing Double. With Louisiana’s 10-point victory at FIU on Wednesday, the Cajuns have led by 10-plus points in nine of their first 12 Sun Belt Conference games this season. Only ULM (Dec. 16) and Western Kentucky (Jan. 19) did not allow Louisiana to hold a double-digit lead. Spread Offense. Louisiana has had eight different players lead the team in scoring this season. The Cajuns have had a different leading scoring in each of the last four games - two sophomores and two juniors...David Dees, Elijah Millsap and Chris Gradnigo have each led the Cajuns in scoring in five games. Dees has tied for the team-lead twice and Gradnigo once. RaginCajuns.com

[NewsCopy]

Before Tuesday's practice, representatives from Chase Bank spoke to members of the UL men's basketball team about the importance of financial responsibility off the court. By the time practice started, Ragin' Cajun coach Robert Lee was asking for more responsibility from his players on the court leading into tonight's game against UL Monroe at the Cajundome. Intensity and consistency topped the list for Lee after Sunday's 66-44 loss at Denver. UL entered the game tied with Denver and Arkansas-Little Rock atop the Sun Belt Conference's West Division, but could not capitalize on the trip. The Cajuns (10-13 overall, 6-6 SBC) finished with a season-low point total after shooting 34.8 percent from the floor in their sixth loss in nine games. They also failed to have a double-digit scorer for the first time this season and fell to third in the West, one game behind Denver and Arkansas-Little Rock. "Unfortunately at Denver we played our worst offensive game of the season," Lee said. "We just could not make a basket. Give Denver credit, they did a good job of defending us and keeping us off-balanced. The rest of the story Joshua Parrott jparrott@theadvertiser.com

[Cajunsmike]

_ _

Note that tonight's game is televised over basic cable in the Lafayette area. It will be on Channel 10 on Cox Cable. I imagine there may be a few folks taping this if they can't get to the game. I say this because I suspect a few regulars will miss in order to have a Valentine's Day meal with their significant other. I wonder if they considered moving the game to Wed. to avoid the Valentine's Day conflict. I guess we didn't as we played on Sunday over the weekend rather than Saturday.

[CajunCherokee]

I saw that FIU beat UALR last night (57-45), so a win tonight will give us a chance to be back on the top of the West.

Also, Denver (0-9 on the road this year) is playing at North Texas (11-2 at home this year).

So we absolutely need a win tonight.