The Book: 2007-08 Ragin' Cajuns Basketball

[RaginCajunPie]

Can someone who was there please report on what they saw? The stats looked good, but stats don't tell you everything. What was the chemistry like? Any stand-outs?

[CajunDreDog]

Does someone have a picture of our new court?

[J-Town Cajun]

My thoughts on the game tonight:

The good: This team seems to have some chemistry, they are hustling on defense, and are extremely deep on numbers. We will have multiple options on offense to score and we are very athletic.

The not so good: We are still average at the point gaurd. We have no big man and very little presence inside. We don't seem to have identity on offense yet.

Most improved: 1. Tyren Johnson- much improved over last season. Last year he seemed unsure and weak. He seems to be more confident and stronger. 2. Willie Lago now has a decent outside shoot.

Pleasant surprise: 1. Chris Gradnigo looked much better tonight than the midnight madness scrimmage. He can play in the half court and create his own shoot. He scored 15 pts. tonight. 2. Brandon Dison can play some defense. He plays a little high, would like to see drop his behind a little, but will be our best perimerter defender. Dison can also rebound and he hit a couple mid range jumpers. Reminds me of Laurie Bridges.

Disappointment: Corey Bloom did not play as much as I expected and did not contribute much. I do expect him to play alot this season and be our biggest 3 pt. threat.

Injured: Maurice Barksdale and Randell Daigle both did not play but are expected to be back next week.

Redshirt: Most likely Travis Bureau (3 pt. and slam dunk champ), Stephan Dees, Sutton Yanosky, and some new local kid. Although much improved and will play this season, I believeTyren Johnson needs a redshirt year. Tyren has alot of potential and will be someone who will get better every year in the program.

Future Stars: Chris Gradnigo and La'Ryan Gary.

5 best players: 1. Dees 2. Millsap 3. Gary 4. Gradnigo 5. Dison

[ULtimateCajun]

Pros: We were defending as soon as the opponent got the ball. We made free throws. The new court looks good. We got new Nike Uni's. The Dome Foam.

Cons: Didn't get to see Barksdale or Travis Bureau play. We didn't seem to guard the three ball very well but LC was shooting lights out. We are young. The spicy peanuts burned me up.

[fiz]

I thought I saw nike logos. What does that mean for the rest of the sports?

[NewsCopy]

UL's basketball team will have more athleticism and more weapons than last year's 9-21 squad. That was obvious Tuesday at the Cajundome. Whether the Ragin' Cajuns can defend anyone is still undetermined. The Cajuns used advantages in depth, quickness and firepower to eventually take a 95-81 victory over Louisiana College in the squad's annual exhibition contest. But Cajun head coach Robert Lee was less than happy with his team's defensive effort. The NAIA Wildcats hit 11 3-pointers and shot over 61 percent as a team. That shooting kept LC within 10 points in the final four minutes. The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[RaisingCajun08]

The not so good: We are still average at the point gaurd. We have no big man and very little presence inside. We don't seem to have identity on offense yet.

Does anyone else think that Randell Daige can be our true point guard? He handled the ball very well during Midnight Madness.

[ULtimateCajun]

_ I thought I saw nike logos. What does that mean for the rest of the sports? _

I don't know what it means for the rest of the sports becuase they have all pretty much been wearing different uni sponsors anyway: Mens basketball was wearing a brand that I had never heard of last year, Womens soccer and Volleyball wear Nike (I'm pretty sure), There were rumors of the Football team getting Adidas last year after the Houston win but they are still wearing Russel Athletic this season. I figure if Nike would be providing uni's for the entire sports program we would have heard something. So there's your fashion update (I hate that I know so much about uniforms)

[ULtimateCajun]

_ Does anyone else think that Randell Daige can be our true point guard? He handled the ball very well during Midnight Madness. _

I think once Barksdale is healthy (which he should be by next week, we will have a better half court offense. I heard Lee say he is the Sr. leader of this team.

[CrazyCajun]

I think this team will surprise alot of people this year. We are deep in talent and that will go a long way in the sunbelt. I think we will be able to tire teams out in the sunbelt. We can definately get up and down the floor. I see us having having trouble with no post presents but wilson and wallace should be able to handle that most of the time. Tennessee is a damn good team who we are built similar to. They are almost all guards and it seems to work for them. If we play good defense we have enough players to keep the intensity. It seemed we will be able to shoot free throws alot better than last year. I think dison will be our defensive specialist. Gary and milsap will be the most exciting to watch in my opinion. I was glad to see that Lee seems to have his "anger" under control. When things went wrong he seemed to coach the guys last night instead of screaming with frustration and that will go a long way. Overall i think we will have a much better year than expected.

[CajunCanaille]

I have to say I enjoyed the young and entergetic team we put on the court last night. The positives of the night would have to be Gradnigo being better than he looked in the scrimage and LaRyan Gary, who kinda reminds me of Brian Hamilton w/ a little more offense. I think Gary will be a beast for years to come. I agree that we looked somewhat weak at the point but like it was previously said, when Barksdale comesback he should be able to improve that area. Also, Daigles contribution will be a plus so I wouldn't say that's a negative just yet. Also, our increase in the overall size should create more rebounding opportunities for the team. I can see Milsap and Wallace getting a few boards but I think Gary, Gadnigo, Johnson and other tall new comers will contribute in that area. Oh yeah...and our new floor looked damn good and the bear tasted great!!!

Some of the negatives I say were, for one, our youth. We are going to make bad mistakes b/c of our lack of collegiate experience. We are young and you kinda have to asume that will happen. Our inside game will be a little week but at the same time, Milson and Wallace looked much improved. It's hard to imagine our rebounding stats going up without Adam James (just joking). I also, once again, am going to stress that David Dees needs to shoot more. He sometimes perfers to give the ball away when he has an open 3. I don't understand that b/c he's suck a good shooter. He's not the pointguard so he shouldn't be distributing the ball like one. Take the open shot!! Another negative would be that attendence was a little week but it's only and exhibition and hopefully that's the reason. Oh and our mascot still looks stupid....He had a football jersey on for a basketball game!!!

[ULtimateCajun]

I also noticed that our banners for NCAA Tourney and Sunbelt Champs were empty (becuase of Orien and Tiras) I didn't really like that too much. Also behind the American Flag there are the flags of all the sunbelt schools hanging vertical and for some reason Monroe's flag is in the middle haning Horizontal. Just a few things I noticed last night.