Is Bob Marlin's seat even starting to warm up?

[oldalum]

6 game winning streak
GA Southern 7-12 RPI 282
GA State 12-6 RPI 133
South AL 8-12 RPI 229
Troy 6-15 RPI 318
Texas State 9-8 RPI 264
UT Arlington 13-6 RPI 116

Wins earlier in the season:
Mississippi College (Exhibition)
Louisiana College (Exhibition)
Loyola (Exhibition)
McNeese 3-12 RPI 296
UNO 7-12 RPI 297
Springhill (Exhibition)
Appalachian St. 6-15 RPI 245

However we will be playing much better competition in the upcoming games and the top teams in the league (other than the Cajuns) did pretty well in non-conference this year.

Other than UALR (RPI 58) there is not a top 100 RPI team in this sorry league, so what "better competition" are we going to play? UALR will come into the Dome on February 13 and beat the Cajuns by double digits.

We also lead this league in attendance. I recognize that is somewhat due to the league itself. However, I bet we would also be well into the top half of CUSA attendance most years with what we are drawing now.

We only lead the league in attendance because nobody in the SUN BELT draws a crowd.

I wish people would stop dreaming about going into CUSA and comparing ourselves to CUSA teams. It's not going to happen folks. They don't want us and they look down upon us.

Sulk or don't sulk. I just wish some of our fans would stop going out of their way to sell this team short. If you want to complain about a loss that's cool, but at least have the decency to pat them on the back when they take care of business.

Hey, look at my post where I put it in HUGE LETTERS and in RED. I gave them credit, but I'm not going to all of a sudden start talking about how good we are. The truth is that we have not beaten a top 100 team this season. If you want to be the second or third best team in one of the worst conferences in America that's fine with me. I would like to see us be competitive with the teams in the top 60.

Go back to the beginning of this thread and people were talking NCAA tournament and a first round win. Now they are celebrating wins against teams with RPI rankings over 200.

Old Alum IMO is not sulking, or wallowing in anything. He is just evaluating who we are getting all giddy about.

Amen CajunEXPRESS, somebody gets it!

[CajunEXPRESS]

They were 8-14 from three.

But that's the fewest attempts they've had all season. They average 31 att per game.

I love basketball at the pace we saw tonight.

It's raining when you sink almost all of your early attempts. Makes the opposition call an early time out. No doubt as long as we have Long and Washington not in foul trouble we will continue to be big focused most nights.

[California Cajun]

Old Alum, this old alum really thinks everybody gets it. They have asked why certain things aren't done to upgrade the program and realize that the time and opportunities aren't right at this time. They are also impatient for more meaningful success, but at the same time are trying to enjoy the ride. Probably most of the vocal members on this board are RCAF members that are doing their best to help upgrade things. I would imagine the coach is frustrated with things inherent here that are holding him back.

[Cajunsmike]

6 game winning streak
GA Southern 7-12 RPI 282
GA State 12-6 RPI 133
South AL 8-12 RPI 229
Troy 6-15 RPI 318
Texas State 9-8 RPI 264
UT Arlington 13-6 RPI 116

Wins earlier in the season:
Mississippi College (Exhibition)
Louisiana College (Exhibition)
Loyola (Exhibition)
McNeese 3-12 RPI 296
UNO 7-12 RPI 297
Springhill (Exhibition)
Appalachian St. 6-15 RPI 245



Other than UALR (RPI 58) there is not a top 100 RPI team in this sorry league, so what "better competition" are we going to play? UALR will come into the Dome on February 13 and beat the Cajuns by double digits.



We only lead the league in attendance because nobody in the SUN BELT draws a crowd.

I wish people would stop dreaming about going into CUSA and comparing ourselves to CUSA teams. It's not going to happen folks. They don't want us and they look down upon us.



Hey, look at my post where I put it in HUGE LETTERS and in RED. I gave them credit, but I'm not going to all of a sudden start talking about how good we are. The truth is that we have not beaten a top 100 team this season. If you want to be the second or third best team in one of the worst conferences in America that's fine with me. I would like to see us be competitive with the teams in the top 60.

Go back to the beginning of this thread and people were talking NCAA tournament and a first round win. Now they are celebrating wins against teams with RPI rankings over 200.



Amen CajunEXPRESS, somebody gets it!

You can't judge teams strictly by RPI. That whole system is meant to help the big schools as 50 percent of it is judged by your opponents-opponents. Therefore, ACC schools get a lift because so much of it is their schedule and opponents schedule. That team we beat yesterday beat Ohio State on the road earlier this year. Besides, the team cannot control who they play at this stage. All they can do is play to the best of their potential. Why should we dog them now? Should we complain we are winning games in the teens vs by 30 points. That is not realistic. Would you prefer the team lose games so as we can make a coaching change? Believe it or not, I understand that viewpoint if you think we cannot reach our potential without doing so. However that approach is not fair to the kids who are fine young men generally and doing their best. If you think that, that means you want a guy like Bryce Washington to fail. Deep down, I really don't think you want that to occur.

As far as the attendance goes, we would be near the top of CUSA as well. I don't think CUSA looks down upon us. They simply fear our potential. I mean that for all sports. I do agree we are unlikely to be invited there anytime soon however. Goal is to win the conference tournament and the success they are having now will help improve those odds by giving them the highest seed possible.

[Ragin4U]

I'm not sure anyone is giddy. I'm just enjoying winning some games and watching enjoyable basketball. I get zero enjoyment from analyzing how bad an opponent is or how shoddy our conference is. I am just enjoying it right now. Like Jay says I. LOVE. COLLEGE. BASKETBALL.
Geaux Cajuns

[oldalum]

My whole point is, and has been, that I want new leadership. Bob Marlin is a very nice man but I want a new leader for our basketball team. Coach Marlin has been paid well enough that he should have significant savings and can afford to move to a new position where I would wish him well.

I went back and collected quotes from people (other than myself). I really think that the vast majority of the people who post here are also ready for a change.

1) At least 20 wins
2) Second
3) No. NIT is acceptable.
4) At least one win
5) At least two wins

20 is always a nice place to get to on the measuring stick. I really don't care about a specific number as long as they finish 1st or 2nd in the conference and get the double bye.

I would love to see at least one win but a first round loss that is competitive against a quality team where the game is still in doubt in the final minute is nothing to sneeze at.

His seat should be Hot as Hell, but hey it's UL. Our coaches, baseball and softball aside, throw up some smoke and mirrors and get raises. They always generate tons of hype and NEVER live up.

Bob Marlin has done barely anything with EP and Long. You guys simply need to accept he's an overpaid mediocre coach.

Marlin is +/- 3 games of .500 basketball. He is making over 400k a year. He sucks.

I think most people are expecting 25 wins or it was a disappointment. The money donors are so far up Bobby Big Fish's rear end he is safe as long as he wants to coach here. We will continue to be barely above a 150 rpi program.

maybe with an NAIA schedule we can get to 25 wins.

Twenty win season in this conference is an absolute joke. Nothing less than 25 should even be considered palatable.

There were three games I thought would be absolute losses. Miami, UCLA, and Pepperdine. Splitting ULM,LTUR, and Bama. Clearly I was overly optimistic.

This is the Marlin I've come to count on.

… We have had more talent than them, just not the coaching.

I was one of Marlins biggest supporters after he cleaned house to do it right but it has become very obvious he is not the answer.

Guys, when you have the right coach you never find yourself making excuses for them. That covers any sport. Marlin supporters have been making excuses since year 1. He is not a good coach for this program. We honestly need to move in a different direction.

Same here. I thought he was on track to bigger things, but was wrong. We're still stuck in first gear.

NCAA Tourney win or bust.

I have not been a Marlin apologist, but I was not one bashing him either. At this point in our season, though, with this many losses already, I might start. The program has made very little progress, if any, under him. Very disappointing.

Well boys he was recently given a bump in pay and a new contract! He will be here for the duration. Thanks TJoe. Thanks Farmer.

Z

I agree Scott Farmer's seat needs to be HOT! I have been underwhelmed by his talents and vision for our future. We need a real AD.

I said this when Farmer gave him the raise! He did nothing to deserve that type of raise. He flirted with SMU and a few others and played Farmer into giving him a raise.
From J.J. and Laron, to Elfrid to Sean Long, this guy has not done anything spectacular outside of the Sun Belt Conference

We're so ordinary in a bottom tier conference. Nothing else needs to be said.

Bobby Big Fish just ain't cutting it.

With this crap schedule we should win 25 games. If it's not the NCAA or NIT the. We shouldn't participate.

Bob Marlin has been barely better than Eobert Lee. We are in a lower tier basketball league and we should expect 25 wins every year and never accept any season sub .500.

We barely beat a team that was DIII just 2 years ago. This is pathetic basketball. Marlin isnt going anywhere. Thanks T-Joe. Thanks Farmer.

If you arent embarrassed, you arent living in the real world.

Z

The problem Boomer is your blind loyalty to mediocre UL coaches actually hurts the programs. They just languish in mediocrity losing the non antique fans. Death, sickness, and job opportunities take the rest. Hope you enjoy a base attendance we used to tease UNO about.

Just keep on pretending we're only one player away.

So, expecting to win 1 or 2 games on that kind of road trip with an NBA talent on the roster is asking too much? Pepperdine was RPI #149 guys. They destroyed us.

Had we showed well against those teams, pulled out a couple of wins, and dominated this SBC, like many expected to do.. We could absolutely earn an at large bid.

Our program has fallen even further than I thought.

…Give me a break, we are going on a decade of poor to mediocre basketball. If that's ok with you then so be it. It's not good enough for me.

Some of us realize how far we have fallen years ago. Welcome to the club.

Is .500 basketball good enough to keep your job for a 7th year?

We took the same players from last year, added depth and got worse.

You're giving Marlin credit for pay-to-play tournaments? Of course you are.

…We're in a rut as a program. Six years of excuses.

We are pathetic. The reason you play OOC games is to increase your RPI, especially in a ____ ty conference like this. Gotta love the koolaid drinkers, though.

Z

[CajunEXPRESS]

nm

[Just1More]

You can't judge teams strictly by RPI. That whole system is meant to help the big schools as 50 percent of it is judged by your opponents-opponents. Therefore, ACC schools get a lift because so much of it is their schedule and opponents schedule. That team we beat yesterday beat Ohio State on the road earlier this year. Besides, the team cannot control who they play at this stage. All they can do is play to the best of their potential. Why should we dog them now? Should we complain we are winning games in the teens vs by 30 points. That is not realistic. Would you prefer the team lose games so as we can make a coaching change? Believe it or not, I understand that viewpoint if you think we cannot reach our potential without doing so. However that approach is not fair to the kids who are fine young men generally and doing their best. If you think that, that means you want a guy like Bryce Washington to fail. Deep down, I really don't think you want that to occur.

As far as the attendance goes, we would be near the top of CUSA as well. I don't think CUSA looks down upon us. They simply fear our potential. I mean that for all sports. I do agree we are unlikely to be invited there anytime soon however. Goal is to win the conference tournament and the success they are having now will help improve those odds by giving them the highest seed possible.

You are one of the few to have a credible discussion with oldalum about his current view on Cajuns MBB. I commend you for both seeing another fan's perspective, but respectfully explaining some alternative views of the same facts.

[CRAWFISH61]

Old alum's problem is that he wants us to be USL, Authement and Blanco at the university playing in the Gulf Coast league so he can sit around with his LSU buddy's and talk about how great the Tigers are and what a joke USL is. I know a few Old Alum's and they love the past when we knew our place.

[Cajunsmike]

My whole point is, and has been, that I want new leadership. Bob Marlin is a very nice man but I want a new leader for our basketball team. Coach Marlin has been paid well enough that he should have significant savings and can afford to move to a new position where I would wish him well.

I went back and collected quotes from people (other than myself). I really think that the vast majority of the people who post here are also ready for a change.

I understand wanting a change if you believe that is needed to reach our potential. However if the team has a winning D1 record this year, the soonest that will happen is March of 2018. A few folks agreeing with your view on RP will not change that as administration is not even thinking about such a thing now. Therefore it serves no purpose to focus on this now. You did not answer my questions. Why should we bash the kids now as they cannot change the schedule or the conference. Would we or would we not be in the top third of CUSA basketball attendance? Finally, do you prefer the team lose games so as a coaching change is made. Do you want quality young men like Bryce Washington, Jonathon Stove, Steven Wronkowski, and Kasey Shepherd to deal with failure. The only way you will get a change is for that to happen.

[CajunRebel]

Hey, look at my post where I put it in HUGE LETTERS and in RED. I gave them credit, but I'm not going to all of a sudden start talking about how good we are. The truth is that we have not beaten a top 100 team this season. If you want to be the second or third best team in one of the worst conferences in America that's fine with me. I would like to see us be competitive with the teams in the top 60.

Go back to the beginning of this thread and people were talking NCAA tournament and a first round win. Now they are celebrating wins against teams with RPI rankings over 200.

Look, you can go back in this thread and you won't find me taking issue with anyone who thinks we haven't played to our potential these past 5 years. What I take issue with is the way you are constantly choosing to sell our team short. You even do it in this post. We are NOT the 3rd or 4th best team in the conference. We are CLEARLY the 1st or 2nd best team in the conference. And you say we've only beat teams with RPIs over 200. We just beat a team with an RPI of 116 by 15 points and a team with an RPI of 133 by 33 points. Even though the RPI might not say it, this is obviously a top 100 team.

Given the reality of college basketball and the reality of playing in the Sun Belt in 2016 I never expected this team to have a top 60 RPI. If you did you were fooling yourself. Little Rock has only lost two games, beat a bunch of solid basketball teams, and even they can't crack the top 60. I'd love for that reality to be different, but we can only go off what we have to work with. When your conference isn't top 10, when your basketball budget is probably not even top 300, when only 4,000 fans show up for a big Saturday game, when you don't have top 60 prestige, when you don't live in a basketball hotbed, etc. it doesn't matter who your coach is.

You can say I'm making excuses for Coach Marlin all you want. But the fact is that it takes way more than a good basketball coach to have a consistent top 60 program. John Brady had a consistent top 60 team at LSU and a consistent top 200 program at Arkansas State. Do you see what I mean?

[Cajunsmike]

Look, you can go back in this thread and you won't find me taking issue with anyone who thinks we haven't played to our potential these past 5 years. What I take issue with is the way you are constantly choosing to sell our team short. You even do it in this post. We are NOT the 3rd or 4th best team in the conference. We are CLEARLY the 1st or 2nd best team in the conference. And you say we've only beat teams with RPIs over 200. We just beat a team with an RPI of 116 by 15 points and a team with an RPI of 133 by 33 points. Even though the RPI might not say it, this is obviously a top 100 team.

Given the reality of college basketball and the reality of playing in the Sun Belt in 2016 I never expected this team to have a top 60 RPI. If you did you were fooling yourself. Little Rock has only lost two games, beat a bunch of solid basketball teams, and even they can't crack the top 60. I'd love for that reality to be different, but we can only go off what we have to work with. When your conference isn't top 10, when your basketball budget is probably not even top 300, when only 4,000 fans show up for a big Saturday game, when you don't have top 60 prestige, when you don't live in a basketball hotbed, etc. it doesn't matter who your coach is.

You can say I'm making excuses for Coach Marlin all you want. But the fact is that it takes way more than a good basketball coach to have a consistent top 60 program. John Brady had a consistent top 60 team at LSU and a consistent top 200 program at Arkansas State. Do you see what I mean?

I would have liked more than 4000 to be there yesterday. However very few southern mid majors would have drawn more than that on a beautiful afternoon which also coincided with a major social event for their area. Also, a number of big games were on the tube yesterday including one involving the only TV school in our state.