Mad for Midnight Madness!!

[CajunCanaille]

It's finally here. The most exciting sport in UL Athletics.....UL BASKETBALL. I can't wait for tonight. Can't wait to see what type of athletes we will be putting on the floor. I know we will be young this year but we should be pretty good. Not quite sure we have the team to be "Dancin" in March but we should compete for the SBC title. It's always good to see basketball in Blackham. Hope there's a crowd there tonight!

[rhineaux]

_ It's finally here. The most exciting sport in UL Athletics.....UL BASKETBALL. I can't wait for tonight. Can't wait to see what type of athletes we will be putting on the floor. I know we will be young this year but we should be pretty good. Not quite sure we have the team to be "Dancin" in March but we should compete for the SBC title. It's always good to see basketball in Blackham. Hope there's a crowd there tonight! _

The out of towners will expect a full report tomorrow...

[CajunCanaille]

Will do.

[ulforlife]

_ It's finally here. The most exciting sport in UL Athletics.....UL BASKETBALL. I can't wait for tonight. Can't wait to see what type of athletes we will be putting on the floor. I know we will be young this year but we should be pretty good. Not quite sure we have the team to be "Dancin" in March but we should compete for the SBC title. It's always good to see basketball in Blackham. Hope there's a crowd there tonight! _

Yeeeah! Im gonna be there!

[Cajunsmike]

It's finally here. The most exciting sport in UL Athletics.....UL BASKETBALL. I can't wait for tonight. Can't wait to see what type of athletes we will be putting on the floor. I know we will be young this year but we should be pretty good. Not quite sure we have the team to be "Dancin" in March but we should compete for the SBC title. It's always good to see basketball in Blackham. Hope there's a crowd there tonight!

I am hoping to go to this tonight. I am looking forward to seeing all the guys who sat out last year for the first time. I don't know about a report for tomorrow. After all it is at midnight and that is way past my bedtime.

[rhineaux]

of course, my request was more to imply my eagerness to hear about how it goes as opposed to a demand.

[CajunCanaille]

Just getting in from Midnight Madness and I have to say it was damn good to see the basketball team again. I want to first start off by saying that the new Women's BB coach is a very entertaining guy. He and Coach Lee gave good entertainment before the competitions began.

From what I gathered from tonight is that we are still a young team and at the same time have the potential to be a very exciting team. I'm not gonna sit here and be unrealistic about what we can do this year but I do think that we will get to see a team that will be growing into something special. I think they will be much improved from last year (which isn't hard to do) but we should be very good next year. We seem to be a tall and athletic team. You can't tell too much about the abilities of all the players from tonight due to the fact that they were out there having fun and trying to put on a show. I wish they would have taken the 20 minute scrimage a little more serious but at least they were out there having a good time. The chemistry of the team seemed very good.

Hopefully we have a good season ahead of us. This should be a much improved and exciting team that we will be able to watch. Hopefully we can pack the dome and show our appreciation and support.

[Cajunfever]

I agree with you on the scrimmage. I wish they would of taken it more seriously.

I think this team will be fun to watch. I loved Coach Lee's speach before introducing the players. He talked about this team playing for 40 minutes, leaving everything on the court, you will see full court pressure all game long, also about how he wants the fans to be very proud of this team. He talked about how he wants to be a national contender not just a sunbelt contender. He also said he wants the fans to be more involved during games, he wants the fans standing and cheering during the games.

Some of the players that impressed me were as follows:

David Dees--Dees jumping ability is outstanding. He is also the leader of this team.
Milsap--He will be an outstanding player for the next 3 years.
Gary--great athletic ability
Bloom---Our best shooter. Was the only player during the scrimmage to consistantly hit the three.
Daigle--knows how to play the point. Also good shooter
Lago--has improved his outside shooting
Gradnigo--Did not show much during the scrimmage. Bigger than I thought he would be.
Dyson--great in between game--can drive and shoot the mid range jumper. Also very good defensive player
Barksdale--looks like he is a little lighter--still had trouble bringing the ball up
Forest--good leaping ability. Did not show his shooting skills last night.
Johnson--did not show much last night
Bureau--the biggest suprise for me. He has a huge upside.
Wallace--Has a good inside game. We need to give him the ball more.
Milson--needs to get more rebounds
Yanosky--can not dance

One other observation, while the team did not take the scrimmage seriously, they were passing the ball (sometimes they passed the ball too much on fast breaks). This is a good sign that they will play together and not be selfish.

[Cajunsmike]

Much more athletic ability in this squad than last year. Looks like everyone has hit the weights this summer. LaRyan Gary is especially a good looking athlete. Star of the night was freshman Travis Bureau who won both the 3 point and dunk contest. In addition he did well running the floor during the scrimmage. Randall Daigle also looked good shooting the three while Elijah Milsap and Gary were impressive in the dunk contest. Scrimmage held used a 20 minute running clock. Black beat Red 37 to 36 in which newcomers and returnees were evenly split. Not much defense was played here when guys drove to the basket but it appeared that was by design to prevent injury. Another new guy who impressed in the scrimmage was Brandon Dison. He seemed to always be around the ball. Our other freshman, Chris Gradigno seems to be a laid back guy who will probably do better in a half court situation than in a pickup type game. Coach Lee spoke to the crowd and his main message was to tell your friends that Ragin Cajun basketball is back. I am sure he believes that but we all know he is somewhat of an optimist. Talent wise, we are there. We are even younger than last year with this squad however. Note that the women also participated in this event. Coach Rogers has lots of energy and dances fairly well. He even did a split which got the crowd of over 1000 enthused. Congratulations to the Union Program Council for putting this on as lots of students were present. What were the impressions of others who may have attended?

cajunsmike

[J-Town Cajun]

I have to agree with most everything CajunFever said.

We will be very young with only Dees, Barksdale, and Milson being the only upper classmen on the team. A .500 record this year is likely. I think this years team will be very exciting as we will press, run, shoot the 3, and have fast break dunks. We are very athletic.

The future is very bright, we have 10 Soph.'s and 3 Freshmen on the team. Five Soph.'s will have a chance to earn an extra year of eligibiliy. La'Ryan Gary will be the best athlete we have had in a long time excluding Dwayne Mitchell. We got a verbal commitment from a guy named James Barr who was a 4 star basketball player coming out of high school 2 years ago and signed with Tim Floyd at USC. He played as a Frosh. then was let go, he now plays at a JUCO. This guy is 6'9" and weighs 260 lbs. If he signs he will be with the next 2 years when all these guys are Jr.'s and Sr.'s.

My breakdown of each player

Tyren Johnson- still very erratic and not strong enough to play down low.

Randell Daigle- nice to see a true point who can shoot. Impressive in the 3 pt. shootout

Elijah Millsap- expect much of the same from last year SBC frosh. of the year

Brandon Dison- looks to be a slasher who can play D. Similar to Laurie Bridges.

Core Bloom- very good range who can create his own shot.

Willie Lago- shooting is a little better but still not a shooter. does have quickness

Sutton Yanosky- very small. should redshirt

Chris Gradnigo- Coach Lee said this may be the best signing since Kevin Brooks. Big body 6'7" and 215 lbs. with a frame to put on more. Seems to have a body where weight could be an issue. He did not show much last night but was in the 3 pt. shootout and comes here with alot of hype.

Damon Forest- smallest guy in the slam dunk contest at 6'3". Shows good leaping ability but may have a hard time cracking this line up, I look for a redshirt.

David Dees- leader of this team. Shows alot of confidence and athletic ability. Should lead the team in scoring.

Travis Bureau- by far the biggest surprise last night. He won both the 3 pt. shootout and slam dunk contest, also look decent in the scrimmage. I am not sure if Lee plans on playing this kid or redshirting him, but he will contribute at some time in the future. Maybe a diamond in the ruff.

LaRyan Gary- best athlete on the team. Big good looking body and looks to be strong. I don't think this kid is done growing and should become a really good player. He had by far the best looking dunk last night. He had 5 guys huddle up out in front of the rim and jumped over all 5 guys and dunked the ball. When he was setting up Coach Lee almost freaked out because no one thought he could pull it off. I was think along the same lines as Coach Lee ,thinking this is too risky and could be an injury waiting to happen. Gary talked Lee into it and pulled it off.

Stephen Dees- looks a little better than last year, but will have a hard time getting minutes

Maurice Barksdale- a little thinner, did not play great but the scrimmage was very unorganized for a point gaurd to do his thing. He did hit a 3 in the scrimmage and competed in the 3 pt. shootout. Has a funky looking shoot to where he must be open but he is capable of hitting.

Abry Milson- role player again. Did have a dunk.

Courtney Wallace- For a big man he moves o.k. with some touch. He has alot of pressure on him this season. He is our only true offensive threat down low and will be asked to cover the other teams big man along with Milson.

I see an 11 man rotation consisting of
Point Gaurd- Barksdale, Daigle, Lago
Shooting Gaurd- Dees, Bloom,
Big Gaurd/Small Forward- Millsap, Dison
Forward- Gary, Gradnigo
Power Forward- Wallace, Milson

That leaves 4 to 5 guys redshirting: Johnson, Yanosky, Forest, Bureau, Dees. I think a team can dress 12 so one of these guys will dress most likely Forest or Bureau. Lee could go with just 2 point guards and red shirt Lago.

[Big Buds]

Could not make it, honestly it was to late w/ the kids and all but I love to read what you had to say. I knew the team would be young my only question was how athletic they would look and how the would shoot the long ball. Coach Lee will get this team ready for the defensive side of the game, I'm just so ready for North Alabama.

[Cajunsmike]

Forrest won't redshirt as he sat out last year in order to get academically eligible. Redshirting won't get him another year. Lago won't redshirt either as we need to have a point who played last year. Also, Barksdale hit two threes in the scrimmage. By the way, you can dress out 15.