Louisiana Hosts UALR On Thursday To Continue League Play

[NewsCopy]

Rejuvenated following three consecutive league wins over ULM and at both UT Arlington and Texas State, the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns (15-9, 6-5) return home to play four of its next five games. _The stretch starts against UALR on Thursday, Feb. 13 beginning at 7:05 p.m. in the Cajundome. _The Cajuns begin the week in fifth place in the Sun Belt, percentage points out of fourth, which would receive a first round bye in the SBC Championship.

The rest of the story

UL-SI

[CajunEXPRESS]

With the ASU win over WKU last night, UL getting UALR, ASU, South, and Troy at home, then WKU along with GaSt on the road the Cajuns can probably finish second. It is on them, win out and get a bye. WKU will play at GaSt probable loss. If as most likely we lose one or more games we will finish somewhere in the middle.

[MelRock]

At this point I would rather finish fourth and face GA State in a semi match up. Of course I think a 2nd place finish would be more beneficial, I am talking strictly from a 3 vs 4 sead. GA State does not play defense and WKU usually is peaking at tournament time.

[Cajunsmike]

With the ASU win over WKU last night, UL getting UALR, ASU, South, and Troy at home, then WKU along with GaSt on the road the Cajuns can probably finish second. It is on them, win out and get a bye. WKU will play at GaSt probable loss. If as most likely we lose one or more games we will finish somewhere in the middle.

For the Cajuns to continue the recent winning ways, they will need to have somebody besides the main two guys contribute offensively. Against ULM it was Mbamalu, at UTA Register stepped up, and at Texas State, Rimmer went back to his early season production. I don't know who it will be on Thursday but someone has to step up. As good as we thought the Ga. State and WKU teams played against us, recall we were not able to get a third guy going. Plenty of open looks were missed in those two games. Anytime we do get a third guy hitting from the perimeter we have a great chance to win. Fail to get a third double figure scorer and it is almost certainly a loss. That is what concerns me in the ability to put a win streak together as we have not had one individual be the consistent guy we can count on. That is exaggerated by the lack of an athletic inside player to compliment Long. Note, that does not mean we can't win most of our remaining games. If we do get one consistent third scorer I look for it to be Rimmer. He needs to be aggressive even if he misses a shot or two.

[CajunEXPRESS]

Hey, I am just trying to support the team, and Coach Bob Marlin in his quest for excellence. CajunMike says winning on the road is the hardest thing in basketball. If Coach Marlin has turn the corner, my SIGN would be to at least win the four home games. and somehow come up with a couple of road upsets. Twenty-one wins sounds so much better than something in the upper teens.

[Cajunsmike]

As CajunExpress says our opponents in our next four home games will have a tough time going against us as we should have confidence due to the recent road trip. Only caution I was throwing out there was that some of our success this year has been due to one guy or another besides the main two guys having a good game from the perimeter. That is not something you can count on happening every game regardless of where the game is played. If we had more than one legitimate inside player it would not be as much of an issue.

[CajunEXPRESS]

So our loses on the road to MoanROW and bottom feeder USA does or does not fit road problems we just weak. The Arkansas loses were also signs we just weak. We need to win these games if we are progressing, if not we are simply waiting for the start of next year.

I am trying to give Marlin some credit, but you seem to tell me most of the gain is merely a serendipitous event.

[Cajunsmike]

So our loses on the road to MoanROW and bottom feeder USA does or does not fit road problems we just weak. The Arkansas loses were also signs we just weak. We need to win these games if we are progressing, if not we are simply waiting for the start of next year.

I am trying to give Marlin some credit, but you seem to tell me most of the gain is merely a serendipitous event.

Coach Marlin deserves credit for the progress shown to date over a season ago. In some ways it is quite significant but at this stage I doubt the team is complete enough to make a serious post season run. Not enough consistent support from anyone beyond the big two to give me that confidence. If we had another consistent rebounder who could also score a little inside things would be different. For now the extra help has to come from the perimeter and that is something you can not rely on-it comes and goes from game to game at random. Now in no way does that mean we should just play out the string and look forward to next year. Maybe somebody will develop to be the consistent third guy. Experience gained in thesee tough games should serve us well in the tournament and into next season.

[CrazyCajun]

Coach Marlin deserves credit for the progress shown to date over a season ago. In some ways it is quite significant but at this stage I doubt the team is complete enough to make a serious post season run. Not enough consistent support from anyone beyond the big two to give me that confidence. If we had another consistent rebounder who could also score a little inside things would be different. For now the extra help has to come from the perimeter and that is something you can not rely on-it comes and goes from game to game at random. Now in no way does that mean we should just play out the string and look forward to next year. Maybe somebody will develop to be the consistent third guy. Experience gained in thesee tough games should serve us well in the tournament and into next season.

I agree with the majority of this except I don't find it unreasonable to expect significant contribution from 1 other guy every single night, whether it be Rimmer, Bryant, register and until recently Shepard. I could understand if we only had 1 of those, but expecting someone...anyone to step up every night shouldn't be too much to ask. Hopefully by this point marlin pushes that home. Who is it gonna be tonight? We need somebody to step up, who is gonna be?

[Cajunsmike]

It is not unreasonable to expect a major third contributor in every game. We have had that in most games but in many of the games we have lost, no one has been the third guy. It is not for lack of effort. Some nights the perimeter shots just don't fall and that happened against Ga. State and WKU. You would think the more capable guys you have the odds would be good to find at least one who is on that night. Injuries to Mbamalu and Shepherd have contributed to the inconsistency. Youth of Register has been another factor. Going forward however those things cannot be focused on. CrazyCajun is right in that one of Coach Marlin's motivational techniques should be asking who will take advantage of the opportunity and step up on a game to game basis.

[CajunEXPRESS]

Mike I think in the WKU and Ga State game it really was not a third scorer, it was simply bad play overall in the last five minutes of the half and the first five minutes of the second half. Actually awful play, I think WKU at one point outscored us 25-1, that is not a missing third player of value, that is just playing bad. I would expect an awful team to score at least eight points in a bad run but one?

[Cajunsmike]

Mike I think in the WKU and Ga State game it really was not a third scorer, it was simply bad play overall in the last five minutes of the half and the first five minutes of the second half. Actually awful play, I think WKU at one point outscored us 25-1, that is not a missing third player of value, that is just playing bad. I would expect an awful team to score at least eight points in a bad run but one?

One of the reasons the run went against us strongly in the WKU game was because lots of open shots were missed by the role players in that span. Granted, that was not all that went wrong as the overall play was awful in that stretch. However, the guys missed plenty when they had good looks during that big run.