Ragin' Cajuns look for more inside play

[NewsCopy]

  As someone who shoots the basketball as well as any player in the Sun Belt Conference, Chris Gradnigo loves having the freedom to take a shot whenever he is open.

The sophomore guard/forward is one of three current Cajuns given the green light to put up a shot if they think they can make it. UL coach Robert Lee said sophomore guard/forward Travis Bureau and junior guard Randell Daigle enjoy similar liberty on the offensive end.

In UL's 79-71 overtime loss Thursday to Arkansas-Little Rock, Gradnigo led the way with a season-high 20 points. And while the Cajuns made 11 3-pointers in the loss, they took 29 of their 61 shots - nearly 48 percent - from behind the arc.

The rest of the story

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • January 17, 2009

[du42]

I don't get it, is Barr missing games because of an infection or personal reason, he was behind the bench for UALR, now Roberson is suspended, same ole story with this program, since Lee took over, there has been "Chemistry problems". after having season tickets for the last 15 years, this is probably the worst its been.......

[Just1More]

I think we should stand around like wax statues on offense... while one lone Cajun dribbles in and out of traffic before jacking up an off-balance tre. It is the antithesis of the Princeton offense... it's called the "Leesdone offense". No close one here... UAB will lap us.

[CajunCanaille]

_ I don't get it, is Barr missing games because of an infection or personal reason, he was behind the bench for UALR, now Roberson is suspended, same ole story with this program, since Lee took over, there has been "Chemistry problems". after having season tickets for the last 15 years, this is probably the worst its been....... _

I like the players on this team. I just feel that they have no leader and are poorly coached. How about instead of looking for more inside play, we look for a new coach. Maybe he can get something out of these big men that we already have. Barr is too be to not be effective!

[du42]

after reading this article, 3 of the five players on the floor have a green light to shoot when they want, if that is the case, how are they going to run any kind of offense other than freestyle which is what we are seeing now, that is terrible........

[LSUConnMan]

I'm sorry, but anyone that says "Cajuns look for more inside play" either completely lacks a basic understanding of basketball, or is the eternal optimist who claims one's financial problems aren't the result of over spending, but merely due to under-earning.

This team has one player over 6'9", and has only 3 players over 6'7". Any third grader could validly prognosticate that they aren't going to be very successful inside.

If everyone on this team plays at 110%, all while God is coaching them, they'll still lose more than they win. This team's biggest problem is they decided to pursue a style of play that has only proven successful with teams that rotate guards taller taller than UL's forwards.

This team needs to "look for" more possessions from speeding up the tempo or creating turnovers....and more importantly, less players that are only concerned with finding a spot to take a nap when the ball isn't in their hand.

[NewsCopy]

  As always seems to be the case, the first half of college basketball season has flown by.

Some teams and individuals have played as expected.

Others exceeded expectations.

A few others have fallen short of all the preseason press.

Fortunately, Professor Parrott does not assign letter grades for his mid-term exam. In this case, the short-answer format will do.

Now here's a look at some of the good, the bad and the ugly happenings through the first three months of the season for UL, the Sun Belt Conference and the national picture. And, of course, the midseason Parrott Awards. All stats and records were as of this weekend.

The rest of the story

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • January 18, 2009

[Hammer58]

_ Good points!!! Really good points!!! U need a leader, someone like myself, a natural born leader... Some one the team can trust and depend on... _

Don't forget to mention your humility.

[J-Town Cajun]

I will give them a grade: D

The good
1. This season is far from over with with the conference tourney champ getting an automatic bid, the cajuns still have a chance.
2. From what I have seen there has not been many teams more talanted than us or any team deeper than us.
3. We have multiple players that can be a go to scorer with Gradnigo, Bureau, and Daigle. Maybe Roberson if he comes back with his head on straight.
4. The West is still winnable.
5. Everyone got eligible.

The Bad
1. Last year we win the West and have nearly everyone back and a year older plus 5 transfers with experience, so we should have been better right. Not so.
2. No mid-night madness.
3. As I stated before the season we had too many players this season and this would create chemistry problems.
4. We did not get to redshirt one player. We should have redshirtd Lego, Wallace, and maybe even Johnson.
5. Lego, Wallace, or Johnson has not gotten any better since last season.
6. The transfers have not lived up to the hype. Barr is big but plays below the rim and is slow. Adeife is ok but very limited on offense and is horrible at the FT line. Roberson is a very talented player but currently not with the team, he was once a commitment to Louisville, then played at both Houston and UNLV. Batiste has been a pleasent surprise, although not a great offensive player he does hustle, plays defense, rebounds, and is somewhat athletic.
7. We have lost way too many games at home with bad loses to Lamar, Sam Houston, La Tech, and UALR.
8. We have 5 losses where we had double digit leads in the second half and blew it with our horrible half court offense and poor coaching.
9. Our half court offense is bad. I am no basketball coach but when I watch for the most part of this season we seem to stand around with no movement, set no picks, work no high low, nor work the ball in or out, but we dribble on the outside until we get a remote chance to fire a 3.
10. As long and tall as we are we do not rebound very good.
11. I am still not sold on McCoy. He has done some things very well such as his assist to turnover ratio and his 3 pt. %, but he seems to have a poor attitude and is his FT's in the clutch has been awful.
12. I thought losing Millsap would be a plus but Roberson has picked up right were he left off. Ball hog, attitude problem, and plays out of control at times.

The Ugly
1. Our record at 5-10. I don't count Louisiana College. We should be 11-4 with loses to LSU, Tenn, Alabama, and North Texas.
2. The players don't seem to respect the Coach. Often during timeouts players are not paying attention to the coach. The McCoy incident and now Roberson.
3. Coach Lee who I like as a person and is doing some things I like such as players getting and staying eligible and our last APR report was perfect. He is just not getting it done on the court. Our offense is horrible.
4. The attendence is dropping.
5. I feel we are wasting a very talented group of guys. We still have next year but this team was built over the last 3 seasons to be good for 2 years, well this season is not looking good.
6. Free throws continue to be a struggle for this program.
7. With the depth of this team I said we should be playing 40 minutes of ragin hell rotating 12-13 guys in and out playing run and gun, tough defense, and try like hell to not get into a half court offense. I don't mind the 3 when we can't push the ball up court to the basket, but run some kind of offense to get a shooter open.

[Tripple Threat]

_ Don't forget to mention your humility. _

[Zeebart21]

_ Whats yur problem, you like hating on me for some reason... I wish i knew who u were... INstead you hide behind - HAMERR 58... HOlla hater when you wanna stop hating.. _

hu⋅mil⋅i⋅ty
–noun

the quality or condition of being humble; modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance, rank, etc.

Z

[Hammer58]

_ Whats yur problem, you like hating on me for some reason... I wish i knew who u were... INstead you hide behind - HAMERR 58... HOlla hater when you wanna stop hating.. _

Looked it up in the dictonary, eh? As for who I am you sure haven't been paying much attention on this board. I've identified myself a number of times here. Do some research and you'll find everything you need to know about me. I can also be found in Rm 2164 in the white house on Johnston.

My problem, besides the ebonics, is your relentless ego and campaigning for the men's head coaching position when it wasn't (and isn't vacant). Frankly your resume doesn't look any different than that of Errol Rogers. Now you may actually be a better X's and O's guy than either Coach Lee or Rogers. But there is more than that to being a head coach at the D1A level. Given the way you present yourself on this board and the thoughts you previously expressed regarding "thug" players, I wouldn't want you on staff as an assistant right now much less as the head coach.

The good thing about immaturity is most people grow out of it. Do that and you might make a fine coach one day, maybe even one here at UL that we could be proud of.