Women's Basketball: Cold Shooting Hurts Cajuns In Sun Belt Opener

[NewsCopy]

It was a tough Sun Belt Conference opener for the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team as the Cajuns shot a season-low 25 percent from the floor in a 67-41 defeat Tuesday to UALR at the Jack Stephens Center.

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[DaddyCajun]

Women's game ran late, it looks like.

What was the Ladies score? Louisiana got another win?

[ManAboutTown]

What was the Ladies score? Louisiana got another win?

Ladies were beaten soundly. Poor shooting night.

[BeauCajun]

So Sally's 0-1 as a collegiate head coach? She'll have to put in some extra work.

[VObserver]

This loss should not have been unexpected. UALR is one of the best teams in the conference, and we were playing in their house. I was a bit surprised at losing that badly, but not by the loss.

[BeauCajun]

This loss should not have been unexpected. UALR is one of the best teams in the conference, and we were playing in their house. I was a bit surprised at losing that badly, but not by the loss.

The shooting struggles don't surprise me. They should finish somewhere around .500 in league play.

[VObserver]

The shooting struggles don't surprise me. They should finish somewhere around .500 in league play.

Beau, if we finish at .500 in the SBC as currently configured, we need to seriously consider whether Brodhead is WBB's Hud or WBB's Bustle. I am inclined to believe the latter. There are only two teams with RPI's in the top 100, and one other [besides UL] between 101 and 200, and both of those are much closer to 200 than 100.

If Brodhead has made as much progress as others have claimed, we should be no worse than 14-6 in conference, and that includes being swept by the Arkansas teams and 2 road losses, one of which has to be to a bad team.

[MelRock]

I do not think the women's team is there yet, I have not bought into the hype. The pre-conference schedule was very weak, but I like that they won all of those games. Now that being said we are moving in the right direction and the bigs he is bringing in next year will be a huge help and should get us another 6 wins or so and will compete for the conference tittle.

[VObserver]

I hope you are right, Mel; but I have not seen it yet. We are nowhere near as big and athletic as we need to be. Perhaps the bigs coming will help, but of the bigs in this year's class, only Fields has contributed, and she is a rather small big at 5-11.

[MelRock]

I hope I am right as well, I just no you are not going to win a whole lot of games with girls that are 5'3" unless you are shooting near 70%. We have a couple of girls coming in that are 6'2" and 6'3" if I remember correctly, we will need them to contribute immediately next year to start the transition. Our fast shooting guards will be seniors so we will finally have a good balance of youth and leadership on the team, that is one thing Gary has not had. We have been a young team, I will wait to hold judgment on everything until the end of the season.

[VObserver]

While I agree with what you said here, I am concerned that the 2 girls over 6' that came in this year are totally invisible on the court. They have both played, so are not red-shirting, but neither has done much. My worry is that the bigs in next year's class will be similar.

Correction: one of the invisible bigs is 5'11".

[BirdofParadise]

Beau, if we finish at .500 in the SBC as currently configured, we need to seriously consider whether Brodhead is WBB's Hud or WBB's Bustle. I am inclined to believe the latter. There are only two teams with RPI's in the top 100, and one other [besides UL] between 101 and 200, and both of those are much closer to 200 than 100.

If Brodhead has made as much progress as others have claimed, we should be no worse than 14-6 in conference, and that includes being swept by the Arkansas teams and 2 road losses, one of which has to be to a bad team.

Man builds from the ground up. Has one senior. Lost TWO starters for the year before the season started.

And you're ready to flush him if he doesn't go 14-6. I love you dude, but that's just crazy.

[VObserver]

Man builds from the ground up. Has one senior. Lost TWO starters for the year before the season started.

And you're ready to flush him if he doesn't go 14-6. I love you dude, but that's just crazy.

It is women's basketball, BOP. That is a game that can be won with 2-3 quality players and 4 girls who don't hurt you. And 3 years should be long enough to find 3 pretty good players and 4 average ones.

It is a conference so watered down that 200 is considered a GOOD RPI. No Middle with an RPI in the 40's. No WKU with one in the 70's or 80's. No FIU or UNT in the 90-120 range. If we can't win 14 conference games against teams with RPIs that range from 209 to 340, then we are not making much progress.

Bird, I am not talking about running a guy who can't win 14 in the 2005 Sun Belt with 8 teams in the top 150 RPI. I'm talking about being skeptical about the progress we have made if we can't win 14 in the 2014 SBC with 2 teams in the top 150 RPI.

[VObserver]

SBC RPI at end of 2013-2014 Season

stAte: 115
UALR: 149
TxSt: 192
App: 236
Troy: 252
GaSt: 258
UL: 272
ULM: 277
GaSo: 296
USA: 318
UTA: 337

My prior post should have said RPI's from 192-337.

[CajunEXPRESS]

That is pretty much the SBC women or men.