Louisiana at McNeese State

[Cajunsmike]

I think these numbers will equal out once we start playing some good competition. We got outrebounded by Montana State and by Delaware State, neither of teams are very big. Since we don't have a lot of size this year, we're going to have to do it with a team approach. I am more concerned when we start playing some of the teams in our conference who have really good frontcourts.

We held our own on the boards against Texas Southern which has a bigger front court than we do. I agree that this is something that will need to be a focus for success going forward. However, I am pleasantly surprised at how well we are doing in that regard so far from an overall sense. McNeese did have some size but they were not as athletic as the Cajuns. That led to us outrebounding them by a 48 to 14 margin. I have never heard of a stat that lopsided. Despite the fan support for Cowboys being less than they would hope, it was obvious their team was jacked for the game. They had confidence they would do well after their fast start based upon their history against us in Lake Charles. The big run at the end of the half had the Cowboys and fans speechless. I looked at several and they had blank stares.

[zephyr]

I would not trade any of our freshmen for both of them.

I like our freshmen but those kids can ball. Caleb shoots the 3 better than either Hardy or Brown and he plays longer as well. Looks like he could be a pretty good defender as well. Its neither here nor there but I thought they looked good. They will be studs in a few years for them.

[MelRock]

I would not trade any of our freshmen for both of them.

I agree that our freshman are more talented and better suited for our needs. The twins wanted to play together so they decided to go to McNeese and that was best for them. They would not have seen the court the next two years. The better one would have some playing time this year.

[zephyr]

We held our own on the boards against Texas Southern which has a bigger front court than we do. I agree that this is something that will need to be a focus for success going forward. However, I am pleasantly surprised at how well we are doing in that regard so far from an overall sense. McNeese did have some size but they were not as athletic as the Cajuns. That led to us outrebounding them by a 48 to 14 margin. I have never heard of a stat that lopsided. Despite the fan support for Cowboys being less than they would hope, it was obvious their team was jacked for the game. They had confidence they would do well after their fast start based upon their history against us in Lake Charles. The big run at the end of the half had the Cowboys and fans speechless. I looked at several and they had blank stares.

Mike, I know we can hold our own since we've seen the stats Melrock posted. However, there are some pretty good frontcourts in the SBC this year and we will really have to be focused on the boards to get the job done. We got outrebounded by a small Delaware State team and that's where I saw Miller struggle with those guys. Team wise, we are rebounding better than I thought but I could see it being an issue in some games down the line and I just hope it doesn't cost us.

[Cajunsmike]

Their is no bitterness from the LCA coaching staff concerning us offering only one of the twins. They understand we did not have room for both. In fact, Coach Starks is on the RCAF board.

[Cajunsmike]

Mike, I know we can hold our own since we've seen the stats Melrock posted. However, there are some pretty good frontcourts in the SBC this year and we will really have to be focused on the boards to get the job done. We got outrebounded by a small Delaware State team and that's where I saw Miller struggle with those guys. Team wise, we are rebounding better than I thought but I could see it being an issue in some games down the line and I just hope it doesn't cost us.

Miller did not rebound well against Delaware State. However, he had a nice game on the boards against Texas Southern which has a more talented front court than Delaware State. He was also somewhat absent yesterday. However Davis is playing better and he can help us on the boards.

[sportsfanatic21]

I like our freshmen but those kids can ball. Caleb shoots the 3 better than either Hardy or Brown and he plays longer as well. Looks like he could be a pretty good defender as well. Its neither here nor there but I thought they looked good. They will be studs in a few years for them.

Kalob (the lefty) is damn good. On both sides of the court. Jacob (the righty) is a good defender but not nearly as good as Kalob offensively. Shame we didn't have enough scholarships for both. They will both end up being very good college players.

*The above in no way suggests that we shouldn't have offered the kids we did, nor does it mean they are better than any of our true freshman this year. Just pointing out that in one of the years we had enough scholarships available, it would have been good for the program to have both of them.

[CajunT]

I do too but those kids are going to be pretty damned good for them. Hell, Caleb is already one of their best players.

Caleb Ledoux was offered.

[ManAboutTown]

Miller did not rebound well against Delaware State. However, he had a nice game on the boards against Texas Southern which has a more talented front court than Delaware State. He was also somewhat absent yesterday. However Davis is playing better and he can help us on the boards.

Wasn't Delaware state huge? Like one player under 6'6"?

We did the right thing with our kids. The twins will thrive in the southland. The best thing for all parties involved.

[moorecajun]

My observations of the arena.

Interesting that all tickets are general admission. Imitating the Techsters by putting blue tarps in the upper level seats. They must have worked out a co-op with LoTech to get them on sale.

The good thing about GA is it allowed us to sit at mid court. Kudos to my brother for getting us free tickets.

Food and beer were dirt cheap. All beers were $4 for 16 oz cans. They have a nice set up behind their south goal with a bar area set up in the arena. Allows you to sit at pub tables and enjoy your brew and free popcorn.

Most of the McNeese crowd were followers of PJ Hardy from St. Louis Catholic. McNeese really needs to find them some fans. There had more 4 years ago when we went.

Good thing about no fans is we got to park real close.

BTW, weather was pretty bad. Glad we were inside

The weather kept us away. The last time we were there I bought some beers and the lady selling them would not accept a tip from me. Not sure if I had showered before the trip but I could never figure out why!

[zephyr]

Wasn't Delaware state huge? Like one player under 6'6"?

We did the right thing with our kids. The twins will thrive in the southland. The best thing for all parties involved.

No. They have only 4 guys between 6'7" and 6'9" and they never really had more than 1 of them on the court at one time. They played a perimeter offense with one big guy, who was pretty good by the way, roaming the middle and they liked to play inside-out with him. He hurt us pretty good. They started 2 bigs in the game but literally played those guys maybe 6 minutes the whole game. Was kind of weird actually. Kind of like us starting Plaisance and then only playing him 5 minutes all game.

My point is only bred out of concern, nothing more really. I realize we've rebounded pretty well thus far and that's because we have some good rebounding guards but this does concern me when we start playing some of the more athletic front courts that we're going to see. We have two below the rim players that we are going to rely upon for over 50% of our rebounds and I could see where they are eaten up a bit by bigger more athletic guys. i do like that we have guards like Bartley and Stove that crash the offensive glass a lot more so if we continue with this rebounding trend, I think a lot of it will be due to our overall rebounding from a team perspective rather than a couple of guys who control it.

[CajunEXPRESS]

No. They have only 4 guys between 6'7" and 6'9" and they never really had more than 1 of them on the court at one time. They played a perimeter offense with one big guy, who was pretty good by the way, roaming the middle and they liked to play inside-out with him. He hurt us pretty good. They started 2 bigs in the game but literally played those guys maybe 6 minutes the whole game. Was kind of weird actually. Kind of like us starting Plaisance and then only playing him 5 minutes all game.

My point is only bred out of concern, nothing more really. I realize we've rebounded pretty well thus far and that's because we have some good rebounding guards but this does concern me when we start playing some of the more athletic front courts that we're going to see. We have two below the rim players that we are going to rely upon for over 50% of our rebounds and I could see where they are eaten up a bit by bigger more athletic guys. i do like that we have guards like Bartley and Stove that crash the offensive glass a lot more so if we continue with this rebounding trend, I think a lot of it will be due to our overall rebounding from a team perspective rather than a couple of guys who control it.

Went back an read the stats for Minnesota game, and we outrebouned them 44/39, we lost the rebound battle to Montana State 40/42.

Maybe we will not be a great rebound team, still we were not terrible in those two games, and the rest we absolutely responded well.