\My end of season Basketball report

[J-Town Cajun]

Before the season my best expectation was a .500 record or slightly better and we achieved that. The low point of the year was losing to McNeese and at that time we had a 0-6 record against Divison 1 competition. Since that time the Cajuns played respectable basketball going 14-8. I want to give my regular season report.

Best coaching move: 1. getting all players eligible before the season started 2. keeping the team together after the horrible start 3. removing the redshirt from Bureau. 4. not redshirting Johnson

Worse coaching move: 1. not playing Bureau early 2. not redshirting Lago 3. Dison should have played more this season 4. not pressing more 5. our inbounds play sucks 6. halfcourt execution is poor

Team MVP: Logical and statistical choice would be Millsap but mine is Daigle

Best offensive player: Chris Gradnigo

Best defensive player: Tyren Johnson

Best all round player: E. Millsap

Best Freshman: C. Gradnigo

Best Surpise: T. Bureau

Most improved player: Tyren Johnson

Best Departing Player: David Dees

Biggest Disappointment: David Dees

Best game: @ Troy

Worse game: Denver

Biggest win: @ N.O.

Biggest lost: Mcneese


Interesting stats:

5 players avg. 7.3 pts./gm or better

83% of the scoring has come from freshman and sophomores

Leading scorer Millsap at 9.3

Leading rebounder Millsap at 5.3

Best 3 pt. shooter: Gradnigo @ 44% then Daigle @ 39% then Bureau @35%

Leading assist man: Daigle @ 2.6

Leader in steals: Millsap @ 43 for the season

Leader in blocks: Johnson @ 30

Assist/Turnover: Daigle @ 1.5

8 different players had 14 or more points in a game and 7 of those players return next season:
Millsap 26
Gradnigo 25
Dees 21
Bureau 18
Daigle 17 twice
Gary 17
Johnson 15
Wallace 14


Defensive stats:
Turnover margin: + 1.2/gm
Steal margin: +1.5/gm
Blocks: +1.3/gm

5 players shoot 71% or better from the charity strip
Daigle 81%
Gradnigo 76%
Gary 73%
Dison 71%
Bureau 71%

Minutes played: Daigle 23.6/gm

[Hatch]

If he finishes at 43% Gradnigo will have the 4th best 3point % for a season in team history

[Big Buds]

Great break down J-town; I could not agree w/ you more on the good/bad coaching calls. My only disagreement is that in my opinion Dison is our best defender.

GEAUX CAJUNS!!!!!

[J-Town Cajun]

_ Great break down J-town; I could not agree w/ you more on the good/bad coaching calls. My only disagreement is that in my opinion Dison is our best defender.

GEAUX CAJUNS!!!!! _

I wanted to say Dison also and he is our best perimeter defender and can shut down an opponents best shooter. But Johnson played tremendous defense, and can play out on a defender and play inside. Johnson by far led the team in blocks and was second in steals. Oddly enough Dison was not in the top 5 in steals but create havoc.

[Big Buds]

Good point; I never knew Johnson was second in steals my opinion might be wrong.

[J-Town Cajun]

I am not just looking at stats but watching Johnson on defense he causes alot of pressure on the offense getting in their face, tip balls, blocks, steals, contesting shots, and rebounds. Johnson is by far the most improved player from last year and will continue to get better. His confidence has grown this year and has alot more potential.

[Big Buds]

You know, a few years back I remember Big Dave saying Johnson had the most upside of all the Cajun incoming freshmen. Coach Lee mentioned how he wishes he could have red shirted him last year but just couldn't. If I can remember Big Dave or Coach Lee compared Johnson to Tyrus Thomas and how they are both late bloomers with similar styles.

[J-Town Cajun]

_ You know, a few years back I remember Big Dave saying Johnson had the most upside of all the Cajun incoming freshmen. Coach Lee mentioned how he wishes he could have red shirted him last year but just couldn't. If I can remember Big Dave or Coach Lee compared Johnson to Tyrus Thomas and how they are both late bloomers with similar styles. _

Last year I saw potential but that was all. Last year he was kind of weak, fumbled the ball alot, and had no confidence. I too wish he would have redshirted last year because it was a waste on a bad team. Before this season started I said he and Lago should have redshirted, I was right about Lago but Johnson proved me wrong. I still say I would like to see him here 5 years because he is someone who will get better every year because he is getting bigger, stronger, developing a shoot, and gaining confidence. We will have alot of forwards next season so we could redshirt him next season but as fast as he is developing it may be hard to keep him off the court next season.
He is kind of similar to Tyrus Thomas but not near the leaping ability or height.

[Cajunsmike]

Good analysis and I agree with most of your comments. I will say that redshirting Lago was probably not practical considering the diabetic issue Daigle has. Remember the UALR game, he barely played and probably should not have. As far as the half court offense goes, that was my concern going into the season and you are right in that it did struggle. However, I am optimistic this is improving. I say this because of the emphasis on having Gradnigo, Daigle, and Bureau taking most of the shots. Gradnigo has improved his game recently due to having confidence he will not be taken out if he takes a bad shot or misses one he should make. Too often earlier in the year, he would pass up too many shots. I wonder if the emphasis on these guys (basically all freshman) becoming the main scorers was difficult for other guys to buy into for awhile. I do understand your point about Dison playing more. However if he did, one of the others just mentioned would have had less minutes. He also suffered from the injury bug at times. Overall good analysis and I enjoyed reading your post. What is your projection for the future of the program?

[J-Town Cajun]

Just got back from the Troy game and we just got flat out coached. Troy ran a basic high school type offense (spread) and we stayed in man and was unable to stay in front of the dribble and he either had a lay up or dished it out to an open man. Gradnigo, Daigle, and Gary played a very good game but Lee and the defense lost this one.

As for as next season my expectations is anything less than a NIT would be a disappointment and I say this because with the returning players and the influx of transfers. We should be able to play with anyone and I am not being a homer. This team will be very deep and with any kind of coaching, disipline, and players learning their roles (such as Millisap being a role player "6th man") this team will be very good. I expect at least 20 wins with a similar scheldule. Even without any transfers this team is good for 18 or more wins but with the addition of some big men and one very talented wing player I don't see many weaknesses other than coaching adjustments and planning.

I see La'Ryan Gary becoming a really good player and Tyren Johnson to continue to improve. Courtney Wallace will most likely redshirt. To be successful Daigle and Gradnigo will need to shoot the 3 again like they did the second half of the season.

Next season prediction: Some where between NIT and Sweet 16

[Clutch0364]

_ Just got back from the Troy game and we just got flat out coached. Troy ran a basic high school type offense (spread) and we stayed in man and was unable to stay in front of the dribble and he either had a lay up or dished it out to an open man. Gradnigo, Daigle, and Gary played a very good game but Lee and the defense lost this one.

As for as next season my expectations is anything less than a NIT would be a disappointment and I say this because with the returning players and the influx of transfers. We should be able to play with anyone and I am not being a homer. This team will be very deep and with any kind of coaching, disipline, and players learning their roles (such as Millisap being a role player "6th man") this team will be very good. I expect at least 20 wins with a similar scheldule. Even without any transfers this team is good for 18 or more wins but with the addition of some big men and one very talented wing player I don't see many weaknesses other than coaching adjustments and planning.

I see La'Ryan Gary becoming a really good player and Tyren Johnson to continue to improve. Courtney Wallace will most likely redshirt. To be successful Daigle and Gradnigo will need to shoot the 3 again like they did the second half of the season.

Next season prediction: Some where between NIT and Sweet 16 _

Milsap is a good player but he needs to learn to play under control and stop forcing things. Everytime he touches the ball he feels he must get inside and force it up.

[J-Town Cajun]

_ Milsap is a good player but he needs to learn to play under control and stop forcing things. Everytime he touches the ball he feels he must get inside and force it up. _

I agree. He should become a player who plays at a very high intensity on defense and work on rebounds on both ends. I do not like his offensive game in the half court and often he plays out of control in the open court. Still he is a very good player because he plays good defense, creates turnovers, can run the court, and rebounds the ball very good for a gaurd.

[MiamiCajun32]

With Lee as coach, no chance of NIT. Talented enough to get hot and win the sunbelt tourney and go to NCAA, but no chance at 20 win type season that could get NIT. Will always be very inconsistent under Lee.

Team should be much improved next year, but wins and losses will not get much better in my opinion. I predict about 16-12 next season, with it being more likely to lose in first round of sunbelt tourney than win the thing.

Talented enough and experienced enough next year to be 23-7 type team and be on verge of NCAA at-large even (at least bubble), but no chance of that happening under Lee in my opinion. There will be about 7 or 8 losses next year that will make no sense, just like the Troy loss makes no sense.

[CajunCanaille]

_ _

Good breakdown but I am going to disagree on a few.

I think our MVP should either be Gradnigo or Daigle. Both improved down the stretch while Millsap developed bad ball controll and turned the ball over a lot. Sure Millsap had one game where he scored 26 but also notice he wasn't in our top shooting percentage. Gradnigo was tremednous down the stretch and showed much improvement in attitude, hustle and overall play. Daigle would more than likely miss b/c he too turned the ball over a little bit.

I also disagree w/ your Defensive player. I would have to give that award to Dison. With the exception of last night, he would shut down whatever player he was guardingincluding Bo McCalub. Second, I would give it to Millsap. He also did a good job in guarding the top opposing player.

I would have to say the worse game would have to be last night vs. Troy. We beat them by 20 in their house and they came here and beat us in ours. The second game would be UAB. We had a chance to beat a good team at home and blew it in the end. That would have been a great win. I understand McNeese b/c they are an in state school and it sucks to lose to them.

I couldn't agree with your more that I apreciate Dees and all he did but at the same time, he is also the teams biggest disappointment this season. I also think Millsap is a big disappointment b/c I was expecting him to get 20 a game.

I want to give another award. I want to give Gary the Hustle Award! This guy is a non stop hustler. He goes balls out for any and all plays. I like him and expect him to contribute a lot.

[raginben06]

One of my biggest concerns for next season is Gradnigo. Although he may have the best offensive output I find him to be extremely lazy on the defensive end. He's just way to lazy of a player for me.

I know he's young, but he needs to get rid of that attitude and grow up. This isn't high school anymore!!

Gary and Daigle are the MVPs of years to come!!