Final: Louisiana (83) at UALR (79)

[Policarp]

Anyone saw McNeese whipped Mississipi State last night? Might not be so bad of a loss.

Nice road win for MSU@LC over MSU-Starkville. Any UL loss to MSU@LC is a bad loss.....just is.

[Cajunsmike]

I'll be at the game.
I have respect for Shields, I do. I'm not going to launch into a post about excuse making, especially after a win, but I have a hard time saying UALR is a good road win. I understand what it means in conference and all that jazz.. I know the game, I've been following for a long time. But seriously.. Just 10-12 years ago, would that Cajuns program say "good road win at UALR". Revisionist history, and ancient history at the point to where we've fallen now, but I just want the expectations and standards raised around here. I miss the days of ranked teams coming to Lafayette or us playing and BEATING (or coming up just short) ranked teams on the road and us coming on here and saying "man, tough road game. Just missed it. OR Hell of a road win! lets go sweep the conference and prepare for the conference tourney".

I understand wanting to bring the standards back from the past. We all want that. However, I have been following this program since the 70's. I recall many people involved with the team believing UALR was a good road win since the days of Marty Fletcher. I am also an engineer and most of us interpret things literally. When you say they are a perennial cellar dwellar that means they finish in last place quite often. Reality is they rarely finish in the 2nd portion of the standings. When people say things which are not accurate, I try to point them to the facts.

[pathfinder]

BirdofParadise, was reading game write up from UALR site and started looking at roster. Did Robert Lee leave the staff?

[Cajunsmike]

Nice road win for MSU@LC over MSU-Starkville. Any UL loss to MSU@LC is a bad loss.....just is.

I was at the McNeese game and will be the first to tell you it was a disappointing performance. The players and coaches agree with that as they have told me so. Had we had Wright, we may have won. That is not an excuse however. Players who were there needed to step up. At NW State we were poor defensively and that is because Long barely played and we had no rim protector. Again, not an excuse as the guards did a poor job of keeping the Demons from penetrating. Last night, we had Wright, Long did not get in as much foul trouble, we made free throws and were tough defensively down the stretch. All of those things need to happen for us to win on the road. Let's see if some consistency starts to show up. If it does, maybe we get off to a good conference start.

[CajunEXPRESS]

All the things you mention happen every night in the NCAA. the good teams & coaches overcome more often than not. These reasons are all valid, but. hardly unique.

Bob Marlin has a reason for every loss. He loses too often. That is the only objective thing I know.

Last night was a solid win against a weak team. The fact we have a dismal record there and at Lake Chuck says far more about us than them

[BirdofParadise]

I'm thinking the teams just got back around 3am.

I saw the Louisiana branded Hotard bus pulling out of campus prime about that time.

That was the women. Men got back at 6.

[BirdofParadise]

Not Jay, but I believe the guy you are speaking of was Solomon Bozeman

Nicely done, Dave. Am I going to see you Monday night??

[BirdofParadise]

BirdofParadise, was reading game write up from UALR site and started looking at roster. Did Robert Lee leave the staff?

Yes he did. Robert wanted to get off the road to spend more time with his son who was struggling with some issues. Saw a picture of them together the other day. It looks like they're doing well.

[BirdofParadise]

All the things you mention happen every night in the NCAA. the good teams & coaches overcome more often than not. These reasons are all valid, but. hardly unique.

Bob Marlin has a reason for every loss. He loses too often. That is the only objective thing I know.

Last night was a solid win against a weak team. The fact we have a dismal record there and at Lake Chuck says far more about us than them

We will see just how weak that UALR team is at the end of the season.

Your disdain for Coach Marlin is well documented.

[Cajunsmike]

All the things you mention happen every night in the NCAA. the good teams & coaches overcome more often than not. These reasons are all valid, but. hardly unique.

Bob Marlin has a reason for every loss. He loses too often. That is the only objective thing I know.

Last night was a solid win against a weak team. The fact we have a dismal record there and at Lake Chuck says far more about us than them

The things I mentioned were not things Bob Marlin said in regards to what happened at McNeese and NW State. They were things observed by Cajunsmike as to what contributed to the losses. I agree that the team should have been able to overcome those challenges and it was disappointing they were not able to do so. We will see if what happened last night was a sign of progress to come. The fact that the two freshman were big contributors to that victory is the most encouraging thing about it.

[Cajunsmike]

Yes he did. Robert wanted to get off the road to spend more time with his son who was struggling with some issues. Saw a picture of them together the other day. It looks like they're doing well.

Where is Coach Lee at today.

[Cajunsmike]

We will see just how weak that UALR team is at the end of the season.

Your disdain for Coach Marlin is well documented.

I don't think Cajun Express has disdain for Coach Marlin. He has said he does not advocate a change. He simply believes the program should be further along in Year 5 than it is now. He has also said the play of the two freshman does encourage him some. Personally, my main frustration is the road struggles in non conference games. Last year was the only year we won any road non conference games. I have trouble explaining why that is. Generally, the team improves as the year goes along and I attribute that to the staff being able to help players improve and the fact the familiarity within a league leads to more road victories. Jay, can you explain our non conference road struggles? I know how tough this is for every team. But for a team to go winless in non conference road games in 4 of 5 seasons is something that is unusual. Who knows, maybe this is just a quirk and the odds will turn in our favor in that regard in future seasons.