UL vs Lamar

[ManAboutTown]

Ok, I'm sorry guys.. I've held this in until now, and I can't continue my day until I voice my opinion. I don't think that my opinion is the alpha and omega, but I would consider myself an educated basketball fan, being a former player, and still am an avid student of an ever changing sport. Here goes:

Robert Lee is NOT a keeper. I've said this since the end of the 06 season. Good coaches make correct decision at key moments in game, DESPITE personnel or circumstances (i.e. every mid major coach that has taken his team past the first round of the dance - that is pure coaching people. The talent on those teams don't stand a chance against the big boys in the NCAA). Lee has proven time and time again to over (or under) think his way into loses. If anyone watched the La Tech game, he completely fell apart down the stretch. Bad substitutions, bad offensive scheme, and the most important thing: The defensive emphasis is COMPLETELY gone from the UL program. Evan instilled it with the full-court pressure, and tenacious half court D; and it proved to be effective. Lee recruits scorers and athletes. We have no shutdown defenders (which is why Guyton and Dawkins go for 30 against us in consecutive games). If you look at the stats, you'll see a few turnovers, and thats all fine, but the fact is we have big guys who occasionally put their arms in the air, and get tipped balls and force bad passes. Thats not consistent and it will not carry a struggling offense.

A jump shooting team WILL NOT be a winning team. Even the greatest basketball mind of our generation can't produce a Champion with jump shooters (Coach K). It would also be helpful if we could make a jump shot, which would somewhat justify the bricks we're throwing up. The mind boggling thing is they threw the ball into the middle a few times in the first half, and Jeremy Barr was effective! But the minute they got down, the jump shooting insued. You can make the case that its lack of basketball IQ, youth, or coaching; either way, its bad.

Rebounding.. what more can I say that we all don't recognize already. It's non-existent. Probably a by-product of lack of effort on that end of the floor.

Free throw shooting - reinforces why we should not even attempt to be a jump shooting team. Terrible.

Ryan McCoy... is still a long ways away. He did some nice things, and looked a little bit more comfortable; but he threw up a few circus shots that happen to go in (something that is not reliable of course) and he looks for his shot before he looks to involve other players. He can not run a team at this point, and should not be at the point. I understand that he probably is there by default, because lets face it, Willie is just not a D1 ball player. I love the guy, but he's awful.

La'Ryan Gary is so undisciplined, and plays almost exclusively on emotion. Immaturity all around really. If this is the guy we're going to rely on, we're in big trouble. It's ashame that a guy with so much talent can't get it together. I played with him about 6 years back , and it was the same tune. We can only hope that he'll grow up this year.

You can make the argument that we're missing players, and we're injured and all that garbage. The fact is we have the talent on the floor to be 2-0. This team has much deeper issues than injuries and missing players. It's got no character, no tenacity, no drive, and most importantly no leadership (Coaches or players).

I'll be at every game this year, hoping to be proven wrong. After all the hype, its hard to watch right now.

[MetryCajun]

_ Bureau, Gradnigo, Gary, Johnson, Barr, Dison, Daigle, and they say the 2 transfers are good also...Talent is far from the problem on this team. This talent is not being used correctly is the biggest problem. _

Some of the other guys you mention are good athletes, but they lack in a very important skill......shooting.

[MetryCajun]

FooFoo,
You described the situation perfectly. I would add that College BB is dominated by guard play. Right now we are lacking in backcourt leadership.

[CajunFreak]

_ FooFoo,
You described the situation perfectly. I would add that College BB is dominated by guard play. Right now we are lacking in backcourt leadership. _

No doubt about it!!! Guards/Team Defense-Rebounding. Also it would be refreshing if we would actually run any offensive sets that involve motion and screening. 4 Out / 1 In is great if you have stud individual players (Top 20 Talent) but basketball was and still is intended to be a team game. If you don’t have the horses then it just becomes 1on1 while everyone else stands and watches.

If we can get healthy and stop trying to rely on individuals to create offense we do have the talent to make some noise. The key to any improvement though does hinge on Daigle getting healthy and running the point. If this does not happen we are done! Lago and McCoy are anything but GOOD!

[BeauCajun]

_ Call it an "excuse" or whatever but not having Daigle, Gradnigo, Wallace and Dison at 100% is a tough row to hoe. Then McCoy, who was apparantly having a decent outing, left in the second half with a twisted ankle . It's like blaming the Texans' loss at the Alamo because they couldn't shoot straight. _

It was nice to see Wallace in pre-game warm ups. His shot looked good and I wander if the plans are still on for a redshirt.

[UL_Cajuns]

Let us all remember how he became our head coach.

Hopefully Lee can prove us all wrong and make the NCAA.

[Just1More]

Bummer...

[zephyr]

_ Ok, I'm sorry guys.. I've held this in until now, and I can't continue my day until I voice my opinion. I don't think that my opinion is the alpha and omega, but I would consider myself an educated basketball fan, being a former player, and still am an avid student of an ever changing sport. Here goes:

Robert Lee is NOT a keeper. I've said this since the end of the 06 season. Good coaches make correct decision at key moments in game, DESPITE personnel or circumstances (i.e. every mid major coach that has taken his team past the first round of the dance - that is pure coaching people. The talent on those teams don't stand a chance against the big boys in the NCAA). Lee has proven time and time again to over (or under) think his way into loses. If anyone watched the La Tech game, he completely fell apart down the stretch. Bad substitutions, bad offensive scheme, and the most important thing: The defensive emphasis is COMPLETELY gone from the UL program. Evan instilled it with the full-court pressure, and tenacious half court D; and it proved to be effective. Lee recruits scorers and athletes. We have no shutdown defenders (which is why Guyton and Dawkins go for 30 against us in consecutive games). If you look at the stats, you'll see a few turnovers, and thats all fine, but the fact is we have big guys who occasionally put their arms in the air, and get tipped balls and force bad passes. Thats not consistent and it will not carry a struggling offense.

A jump shooting team WILL NOT be a winning team. Even the greatest basketball mind of our generation can't produce a Champion with jump shooters (Coach K). It would also be helpful if we could make a jump shot, which would somewhat justify the bricks we're throwing up. The mind boggling thing is they threw the ball into the middle a few times in the first half, and Jeremy Barr was effective! But the minute they got down, the jump shooting insued. You can make the case that its lack of basketball IQ, youth, or coaching; either way, its bad.

Rebounding.. what more can I say that we all don't recognize already. It's non-existent. Probably a by-product of lack of effort on that end of the floor.

Free throw shooting - reinforces why we should not even attempt to be a jump shooting team. Terrible.

Ryan McCoy... is still a long ways away. He did some nice things, and looked a little bit more comfortable; but he threw up a few circus shots that happen to go in (something that is not reliable of course) and he looks for his shot before he looks to involve other players. He can not run a team at this point, and should not be at the point. I understand that he probably is there by default, because lets face it, Willie is just not a D1 ball player. I love the guy, but he's awful.

La'Ryan Gary is so undisciplined, and plays almost exclusively on emotion. Immaturity all around really. If this is the guy we're going to rely on, we're in big trouble. It's ashame that a guy with so much talent can't get it together. I played with him about 6 years back , and it was the same tune. We can only hope that he'll grow up this year.

You can make the argument that we're missing players, and we're injured and all that garbage. The fact is we have the talent on the floor to be 2-0. This team has much deeper issues than injuries and missing players. It's got no character, no tenacity, no drive, and most importantly no leadership (Coaches or players).

I'll be at every game this year, hoping to be proven wrong. After all the hype, its hard to watch right now. _

Agree with a lot said. I also share in your frustration and even though we are missing our two best players, we shouldn't have played as bad as we have. To contradict a bit of what you said though, I will start with McCoy. First, I do agree that he is getting more comfortable and I think a lot has had to do with the fact that he's been out of competition for over a year and working his way back in. Second, I believe that he does look to pass before shoot. His shots that he took in the lane were all around 10 feet and in because the D was waiting to jump the pass to the wing because they didn't want Bureau and Bloom to drop 3's all night. Bureau only had 2 points at half.

Gary, to me, is the most improved player on our team. I find he plays within himself and is not undisciplined at all. However, some of the plays he made last night are out of necessity. Lee implements NO set offense whatsoever. There is no movement and no rhythm to what he does. Gary started pressing a bit because he knew this team needed an offensive spark and he made some mistakes. I blame more of that on the scheme set forth by the coaches. He plays hard, can play numerous positions and does all the dirty work.
Gary has slowly become my favorite player.

Evans did nothing really to bring a defensive style to this program. Sure, he brought in some fullcourt pressure stuff but that does no good when teams are dribbling right through it and scoring layups. I think Lee has brought more of a defensive scheme but he just doesn't seem to be able to draw anything that works on offense.

Agree with everything else, especially about Barr. He has been working much more on the blocks widening his base to make it easier to get the entry passes in. He is creating some good mismatches and I like what I see from him.

While it is extremely disappointing with this team, remember, this is a team that has the ability to reel off 8-10 wins in a row at some point. They got hot last year heading into the Hawaii tourney and played well after that. We lost to McNeese last year and a bad LA college team pushed us. We have to get healthy, we have to establish a leader which we don't have, and we have to just start playing better.

[ShowDog]

_ What a spectacle.

The team looks like they don't know what the hell they're doing. If all else fails then put up a 3, and if they're not "on", then they're going to lose. They seem to have troubles working the ball on the inside. I don't know what the problem is, but it had better be fixed soon. _

Duh,,,you think it might be coach Lee???

[ManAboutTown]

Gary, to me, is the most improved player on our team. I find he plays within himself and is not undisciplined at all. However, some of the plays he made last night are out of necessity. Lee implements NO set offense whatsoever. There is no movement and no rhythm to what he does. Gary started pressing a bit because he knew this team needed an offensive spark and he made some mistakes. I blame more of that on the scheme set forth by the coaches. He plays hard, can play numerous positions and does all the dirty work.
Gary has slowly become my favorite player.

It's a fair assessment. Considering the lack off offensive productivity from the rest of the team (because of Lee's "philosophy"), I think its relevant to point out La'Ryan pressing at times in that game. He truly is valuable, for a plethora of reasons. He is also my favorite player.. I've forgiven him for the elbow shots to the chops.. :P

About Evans, and the pressure D. IMO, pressure ANYTHING breeds passion in the arena of competition. Playing with urgency and making it a point to shut down the opposition as a team just brings a player alive; from personal experience. I saw that 8 years ago.. I haven't seen it since.