Cajuns land new hoops commitment

[VObserver]

I am expecting big things out of Bryce next year. This year allot of his minutes were taken by Shawn and even Devonte, but that won't be the case next year. I really like Wright, Washington, Stove, Bartley IV and possibly Davis/Miller as the other forward.

PG Wright SR
G Stove JR
G Bartley IV JR
F Washington JR
F Davis/Miller FR

That starting 5 will have a lot of experience, with Washington, Stove and Wright logging tons of minutes for the Cajuns over the past 2-3 years and as Jay Walker already stated about Bartley, you don't play 67 games in 2 years at BYU as a Freshman and Sophomore unless you are pretty darn good. I know that his numbers do not jump out at you in college, but remember in Prep school this kid averaged 19.7 points, 6.7 assists, 8.5 rebounds, 3.3 steals and 1 block per game for a team that went 52-13. He also averaged 14.2 points and 6.2 rebounds at Christian Life and we have him for 2 years.

His production at UL will be better than his production at BYU, specifically because he will be playing most of his games vs lesser competition. I think we will see 8-10 points per game and 3-5 rebounds per game as well as a few assists. I think he is going to be one of our more solid starters. He is a big strong Guard at 6-3 200 lbs. I am excited to see him on the court for the Cajuns. With this lineup we may be a little small, but should be very fast and you will have at least 4 guys on the court that can handle the ball.

Washington surprises the heck out of me with his ball handling skills. Wright/Bartley and Stove can all handle the ball extremely well.

Dave, I think Davis is more of a 3 than a 4, but I like your lineup. All it lacks is a quality outside shooter besides Wright. I hope Plaisance develops enough to give us some quality minutes replacing Washington or Miller when they need a rest or have foul trouble.

We are very solid at the 3 with Stove, Bartley and Davis.

If Evans is the shooter we think he can be, he will be solid as the backup to Wright.

Register needs to shoot as well in games as he does in practice.

If I were coaching this group, I would start the same guys you named, and play tough defense and be very physical and disciplined offensively. I would also harp on floor spacing, passing and movement away from the ball.

Oh... and we would run the pick and roll in practice until our guys could do it in their sleep. Shawn could have been a 25 PPG player if we had even one guard who could run the pick and roll. So could Bryce next year. He does a great job of pinning his defender on his hip on the roll; we just never passed him the ball. Our guards were too busy dribbling to look for the open man.

[RaginDave]

Dave, I think Davis is more of a 3 than a 4, but I like your lineup. All it lacks is a quality outside shooter besides Wright. I hope Plaisance develops enough to give us some quality minutes replacing Washington or Miller when they need a rest or have foul trouble.

We are very solid at the 3 with Stove, Bartley and Davis.

If Evans is the shooter we think he can be, he will be solid as the backup to Wright.

Register needs to shoot as well in games as he does in practice.

If I were coaching this group, I would start the same guys you named, and play tough defense and be very physical and disciplined offensively. I would also harp on floor spacing, passing and movement away from the ball.

Oh... and we would run the pick and roll in practice until our guys could do it in their sleep. Shawn could have been a 25 PPG player if we had even one guard who could run the pick and roll. So could Bryce next year. He does a great job of pinning his defender on his hip on the roll; we just never passed him the ball. Our guards were too busy dribbling to look for the open man.

you might be right VO, the unknowns are Davis and Miller. I have not seen Davis play but hear good things about him. I think we go small and fast with this lineup. Stove continues to impress me and I love Bryce, he might be my favorite player on the team. Wright is streaky as hell, but when he plays well, we win. Bartley is going to be a surprise for our fans, I do believe. It will be interesting to see who between Davis and Miller pick up the D-1 game quicker. I, like you, want to see Scotty get some playing time and improve over the off season. We could use his size. He showed looked OK in some mop up duty late in games. We will need more than 1.7 PPG from him. I do like that he shot .529% from the field in limited minutes though. We lose 2863 minutes from our seniors on this team, out of 6450 played, not to mention other attrition like Wooten and possibly Hedgemen (not sure if he is coming back), but if you figure McGuire, Marlin, Wooten and Hedgemen as well as Long, Shepard, Walker, Wronk and Williams, that is a total of 3450 minutes of 6450 or 53% of our on court time gone from this year. We will need to replace those minutes and production.

[jllanclos]

By Josh Parrott

Justin Miller thought hard about taking an official visit to Manhattan, but the post-grad power forward from 22 Ft Academy (S.C) decided it wasn’t worth his time.

Miller already knew he wanted to play for the Ragin’ Cajuns.

Two weeks after his official visit to Louisiana, Miller verbally committed to coach Bob Marlin’s Cajuns on Thursday. The 6-foot-7, 240-pound Kentucky native plans to sign a binding national letter of intent during the first week of the NCAA’s spring signing period, which starts April 13.

“They were the only coaching staff that I felt really treated me like a priority,” said Miller, whose primary recruiter was Cajuns assistant Gus Hauser. “I like coach Gus a lot. He’s a Kentucky guy and I’m a Kentucky guy, too. Coach Marlin is a terrific coach, and I feel like I can really be successful there and hopefully play right away and help get them to the NCAA tournament.”

Miller also claimed offers from Manhattan, Eastern Kentucky, South Carolina State and Coppin State and interest from Wright State, Detroit, Quinnipiac, UT Martin, Tennessee State and Miami (Ohio). What the Cajuns, who must replace record-setting big man Shawn Long next season, had to offer impressed Miller when he visited for the March 3 game against Georgia State.

“The visit went really well,” Miller said. “All the people down there were real friendly. It just felt like home. Their indoor practice facility is a high-major facility and really impressed me. They have a family atmosphere and I should have a chance to play right away.”

Miller averages 10.4 points and a team-best 9.8 rebounds per game for a balanced 22 Ft team (26-9) with a half-dozen likely Division I signees. He had 13 points in a November win over then-No. 3 Oak Hill Academy. 22 Ft plays next week in the Grind Session National Championship tournament in Kansas.

Last season, Miller — then 6-7, 280 pounds — earned first-team All-Third Region and Kentucky state tournament MVP honors after leading Owensboro High to the Sweet 16 tourney championship and averaging 17 points, nine rebounds and three assists per game. He signed with NCAA Division II Kentucky Wesleyan over offers from Coppin State and South Carolina State but landed at 22 Ft after losing 40 pounds over the summer.

“After we won the state tournament, my high school coach and pretty much everybody in Owensboro wanted me to go to Kentucky Wesleyan and I did, too,” Miller said. “After I lost all that weight in the summer I just felt like I wasn’t a Division II player and needed to go to a prep school and see where it could get me.”

Miller describes himself as a versatile, hard-working forward who can play inside and outside the paint and patterns his game after Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors and Iowa State’s George Niang. He’s excited about joining a program that produced the 2016 Sun Belt player of the year in Long and a first-round NBA draft pick two years ago in guard Elfrid Payton.

“Shawn is a terrific player,” Miller said. “Their player development program has to be really good with what he’s done there and now being in the position to go to the NBA and they had Elfrid Payton there, too.”

According to 22 Ft coach Ryan Schmidt, the Cajuns project Miller to develop into one of the top players in the Sun Belt.

“Some big guys want to play on the perimeter, but Justin is a physical 6-7 guy who demands the ball in the post, can score over his right and left shoulders and rebound at a really high level,” Schmidt said. “He also has the ability to step out and hit shots, but what really stands out is his ability to pass the ball. He can even take a dribble or two and initiate the fast break.”

While Miller plays more of a below-the-rim game, Schmidt said the Cajun faithful will appreciate him after watching him play.

“He’s not going to blow you away with highlight-reel dunks, but fans at the school will love him because he’s so competitive and plays hard,” Schmidt said. “What he doesn’t have in athleticism he makes up for with heart, and rebounding and defense comes down to heart.”

Follow me on Twitter @joshuaparrott

Always fascinating to hear what sold the kids on coming here.

What I like most? "Get them to the NCAA Tournament."

Sounds like the right attitude to me.

[Hatch]

With all the talk of next years lineup does anyone have info on Hedgeman? Is he still in class? Have plans on coming back?

[basinbear]

Wright needs to get better at looking for the pass 1st.....his shots will come off of that...

[moorecajun]

With all the talk of next years lineup does anyone have info on Hedgeman? Is he still in class? Have plans on coming back?

I've seen him on the bench; I take that as he is planning on coming back.

[CajunNation]

Ok.

Now, my kingdom for a shooting guard.

Please.

[basinbear]

Ok.

Now, my kingdom for a shooting guard.

Please.

Lordy yes.....

[California Cajun]

Glad to hear the positive discussion. UL fans have above average interest in basketball and it pains me when they are frustrated with it. I hope things get substantially better beginning with next season. Unfortunately the best player is a senior this year.

[Parrott]

I am expecting big things out of Bryce next year. This year allot of his minutes were taken by Shawn and even Devonte, but that won't be the case next year. I really like Wright, Washington, Stove, Bartley IV and possibly Davis/Miller as the other forward.

PG Wright SR
G Stove JR
G Bartley IV JR
F Washington JR
F Davis/Miller FR

That starting 5 will have a lot of experience, with Washington, Stove and Wright logging tons of minutes for the Cajuns over the past 2-3 years and as Jay Walker already stated about Bartley, you don't play 67 games in 2 years at BYU as a Freshman and Sophomore unless you are pretty darn good. I know that his numbers do not jump out at you in college, but remember in Prep school this kid averaged 19.7 points, 6.7 assists, 8.5 rebounds, 3.3 steals and 1 block per game for a team that went 52-13. He also averaged 14.2 points and 6.2 rebounds at Christian Life and we have him for 2 years.

His production at UL will be better than his production at BYU, specifically because he will be playing most of his games vs lesser competition. I think we will see 8-10 points per game and 3-5 rebounds per game as well as a few assists. I think he is going to be one of our more solid starters. He is a big strong Guard at 6-3 200 lbs. I am excited to see him on the court for the Cajuns. With this lineup we may be a little small, but should be very fast and you will have at least 4 guys on the court that can handle the ball.

Washington surprises the heck out of me with his ball handling skills. Wright/Bartley and Stove can all handle the ball extremely well.

Bartley also played out of position at BYU. He has a chance to be an impact player for the Cajuns.