When is Marlin going to start winning the big game!?

[lcitsh]

"When is Marlin going to start winning the big game!? "

When his players realize they can. Some people in this thread talked about the players being mentally tough, and that's the main issue right now. Remember, the main offensive supporters to Payton and Long this season have been Shepherd and Rimmer, with Brown contributing at times. Brown is the only one who helped last night, and Payton & Long shot poorly. I could somewhat blame inexperience as a factor here, when you think about how many of these players are first or second year in the program, but that only holds so much weight as the season progresses. At some point, these players will have to realize, if their mission is March, they still have to go through January and February to get there. I don't think, by March, they mean the CBI or the CIT, so if they want the NIT or NCAA, they better get it together soon.

[Cajunsmike]

In another thread lctish mentioned that we have more people helping Long and Payton in the home games than we do in the home games. That is a great observation and is part of what I mean when I use the "mentally tough" term. Last night, Brown was the only one to step up other than the main two guys. When we won at La. Tech, lots of folks helped out. Guys like Moore, Rimmer, and Shepherd all played well there. I am beginning to wonder if that was a fluke. Note, I would not be surprised if we continue to do well at home. Disappointing road performances is the issue.

[CajunEXPRESS]

Amazing. We got a coach who cannot recruit, and then we got people who blame the kids he recruits for nnot being mentally or physically good enough to play well in hard situations. Those same people laud Marlin for teaching marginal players to be almost NBA players. Come on folks we are heading into year five. Most coaches turn it total around by year three or never do.

[wgwillis]

Look, it is time for us to become a group of realist, Marlin will not win consistently here and will be mediocre at best. Marlin is good at player development, but has not been successful at bringing in top tier Sun Belt talent. I don't want to hear about Long and Peyton, because Elfrid was a crap shoot and Long transferred in.

We need a guy here similar to Hudspeth who can create a level of excitement around basketball. I am sorry but 4 years of mediocre basketball with a limited run of success in an obviously weaker league than what Fletcher or Evans coached in.

I for one am extremely frustrated with what has transpired in basketball over the last decade here. This administration has ____ on the program and fans for a decade. It is not about conference affiliation, but rather a lack of a true demand for excellence from our athletic department across the board.

Marlin will likely be given another year, but I do not think he deserves one.

just when you think Marlin is turning the corner, we take three steps back. what do we make out of Marlin? should we renew his contract again? he may end up being our basketball buscle. his program confuses me. its no doubt that he is not getting the support of past coaches (attendance). what are we to do?

[anhil8tor]

Get people to show up. This team is fun to watch.

[Cajunsmike]

just when you think Marlin is turning the corner, we take three steps back. what do we make out of Marlin? should we renew his contract again? he may end up being our basketball buscle. his program confuses me. its no doubt that he is not getting the support of past coaches (attendance). what are we to do?

I don't know if Coach Marlin will get an extension after this season but I doubt it as he was extended at the beginning of last season. On the other hand, I am fairly certain he won't be replaced at the end of this season as the record is 12 and 6 right now. Last season we were 6 and 12 at this stage. Now, 12 and 6 is really 9 and 6 as three victories were over non D1 teams. Still the comparison indicates we are making progress. Now, the progress may not be to the degree of some's expectations and I respect those views. Long way to go this season and we could still collapse or sky rocket. I suspect it will be somewhere in between. Still, replacing the staff is not close to being on the radar right now of anyone who counts. Therefore focus should be on supporting the team. The coaching staff status is a topic for another day.

[BraveCajun]

When comparing Evan's players to Marlin's recruits one should keep in mind todays APR requirements. Evans recruiting would cost the basketball team scholarships with today's APR requirements. Evans had the benefit of recruiting academic at risk players that marlin does not.

[cajun4life]

When comparing Evan's players to Marlin's recruits one should keep in mind todays APR requirements. Evans recruiting would cost the basketball team scholarships with today's APR requirements. Evans had the benefit of recruiting academic at risk players that marlin does not.

See, that is where everyone is wrong. Had their been APR requirements then, Jessie would have forced them to go to class. They were not dumb kids. They were just allowed to be lazy when it came to academics.

[BraveCajun]

See, that is where everyone is wrong. Had their been APR requirements then, Jessie would have forced them to go to class. They were not dumb kids. They were just allowed to be lazy when it came to academics.

Due to the fact that Evans didn't have to maintain an APR score, he didn't care how his kids performed academically? The man was a COLLEGE coach and he should have cared about his kids' grades. The point I was making that he had the freedom to take risks on kids with very little repercussions if it didn't pan out. We hd countless players not playing in the fall semester due to bad grades.

[CajunRebel]

Exactly! Not enough talent, at least Jessie's teams could go toe to toe with Tennessee, Miss St, and Louisville. Hell Orien Green, Tirus Wade, Michael Southall, Anthony Johnson, Tyren Johnson, Dwayne Mitchel and Brian Hamilton are all still playing professional basketball somewhere.

Name me a player on our roster who would beat anyone of those players out of a starting position besides Peyton. I am not sure Long would start over Hamilton and I know he isn't better than Big Mike.

I am not even throwing in guys like Brad Boyd, Laurie Bridges, Orlando Bulter, Blaine Harmon, Chris Cameron, Antoine Landry, Kenneth Lawrence, Tyrone Foster hell even Emanuel Washington are better than the majority of our roster.

You know Evans' first four years weren't all that special either. And he had a whole lot more to work with than Marlin has. Not saying Marlin is God's gift to Cajun Basketball but I'm happy with what he's done. We're looking at a 20 win season and a top 100 RPI. That's better than we've done in almost 10 years.

[CajunEXPRESS]

I don't know if Coach Marlin will get an extension after this season but I doubt it as he was extended at the beginning of last season. On the other hand, I am fairly certain he won't be replaced at the end of this season as the record is 12 and 6 right now. Last season we were 6 and 12 at this stage. Now, 12 and 6 is really 9 and 6 as three victories were over non D1 teams. Still the comparison indicates we are making progress. Now, the progress may not be to the degree of some's expectations and I respect those views. Long way to go this season and we could still collapse or sky rocket. I suspect it will be somewhere in between. Still, replacing the staff is not close to being on the radar right now of anyone who counts. Therefore focus should be on supporting the team. The coaching staff status is a topic for another day.

I agree with YOU mike, and even more I hope coach Marlin gets another extension, and that extension should have favorable buy outs for LA. Marlin needs all the positive press he can get for recruiting, and always having five full years kills negative comments. Nobody needs to know that years three, four, and five will always have favorable buy outs for LA except Marlin, his agent, Scott, and T-Jo.

Again agreed Mike the best thing a fan can do to help recruiting is go to the games, yell like hell, be obnoxious to the opposing teams and coaches within the allowable nastiness SBC tolerance levels. The next best thing is to join the rebounders club.

If we want great sports we need to be great sports fans. Yesterday Wichita State was on TV, granted they are #5, and had some great number on games in a row over 10K fans.

Guys you want to be in a better conference? We need to, in spite of the GD-, increase our support of RCAF, increase our support in the major sports, football, basketball, baseball, and softball. No matter what the Acadiana, and Lafayette Metro only has about 500K living where we have influence. We need to be big time in every other aspect as we can only grow the population so much a year. Ultimately even an ineffective Farmer can sell great fans.

[douglas]

See, that is where everyone is wrong. Had their been APR requirements then, Jessie would have forced them to go to class. They were not dumb kids. They were just allowed to be lazy when it came to academics.

maybe he should have forced them to go to class so we could have had the same line up in march as we did in november, i dont think there was one season where the entire team came back after semester break b/c of grades, i could be wrong but it seemed like it happend a lot