MBB Final: Louisiana 71, Arkansas State 74

[Policarp]

It was a hard fought game. Fun game to listen to. Had the shots......not a good shooting night. That's the way baseball go.

Thought the hold foul on our Freshman w/ 2 pt lead was a clever brass balls decision by stAte's coach.

[RaginEsquire06]

LOL. We definitely have some issues, but lack of quality bigs is WAY down the list.

[RaginEsquire06]

Washington is good no doubt. I watched every game that he has suited up in and he struggles with scoring in the post when challenged by tall, athletic post players. Re-watch the game against State and count the missed easy basket opportunities.

[RaginEsquire06]

Worrying about bigs in SUn Belt play is quite silly. The one thing the Sun Belt doesn't have this year is a true Big man. Washington is good, and Kevin Hervey at UTA is good, but Hervey doesn't really qualify as a true post either as much as he pops out on the floor.

It's a guard oriented league. Always has been, always will be.

Hopefully, our goal is to compete beyond the Sun Belt. You don't have to use your imagination too hard for identifying our issues in the post. Just re-watch the Georgia game.

[Louisiana84]

I hope Coach Marlin gets in touch with the college basketball experts who have posted in this thread. It's critically important. I don't see how we can possibly win another game this year without y'all. If he would just listen to y'all, all our problems will be fixed. And those of you who are former All-Americans can maybe show up at practice to help get our boys to make more of their free throws. Y'all are an untapped wealth of college-level coaching and playing experience that will truly make UL basketball great again. 2017 will be sweet for UL.

[Cajunsmike]

I hope Coach Marlin gets in touch with the college basketball experts who have posted in this thread. It's critically important. I don't see how we can possibly win another game this year without y'all. If he would just listen to y'all, all our problems will be fixed. And those of you who are former All-Americans can maybe show up at practice to help get our boys to make more of their free throws. Y'all are an untapped wealth of college-level coaching and playing experience that will truly make UL basketball great again. 2017 will be sweet for UL.

Coach actually agreed with many of the posts here in postgame. He said defense against dribble penetration and free throw shooting were not good enough. Now people who think problems at the line are because we do not practice enough or it being a physical issue may have news. After all a squad that made 31 of 37 a few weeks ago probably figured they did not need to practice them any more. In all seriousness free throw shooting at this level is mental. Handling the pressure is the key. After a couple are missed it becomes a disease that affects the whole squad. There is much more pressure on critical free throws than other plays. Plays with constant motion are instinctive with muscle memory taking over. You don't have time to think about the pressure you are under. Guys need to be mentally tougher next game and beyond to have success

[VObserver]

Hopefully, our goal is to compete beyond the Sun Belt. You don't have to use your imagination too hard for identifying our issues in the post. Just re-watch the Georgia game.

Watched it several times. Our bigs were outscored by 3 and barely outrebounded as well. Washington had 18 rebounds. Where their bigs affected the game was blocking 11 shots, almost all by our guards going to the rack. Our bigs held their own.

In fact, Washington's 18 rebounds had the Georgia announcers comparing him to Dennis Rodman. I am sure you would agree that Rodman was an effective undersized big, who generally played below the rim.

[RaginEsquire06]

Watched it several times. Our bigs were outscored by 3 and barely outrebounded as well. Washington had 18 rebounds. Where their bigs affected the game was blocking 11 shots, almost all by our guards going to the rack. Our bigs held their own.

In fact, Washington's 18 rebounds had the Georgia announcers comparing him to Dennis Rodman. I am sure you would agree that Rodman was an effective undersized big, who generally played below the rim.

[RaginEsquire06]

Now...we all know the Rodman comparison is kind of a stretch. Washington is a very good player who will dominate most; however to me, he struggles to score against taller players in the post. Miller too. Not sure if it's lack of athleticism...which can't be adjusted. Or, if it's tenacity, strength and conditioning...which can be addressed in a positive light.

[VObserver]

Now...we all know the Rodman comparison is kind of a stretch. Washington is a very good player who will dominate most; however to me, he struggles to score against taller players in the post. Miller too. Not sure if it's lack of athleticism...which can't be adjusted. Or, if it's tenacity, strength and conditioning...which can be addressed in a positive light.

I will take a guy who struggles to get 18 boards against two 7 footers. Especially if he also happens to lead the nation in double doubles. We will just have agree to disagree.

[Boomer]

Coach actually agreed with many of the posts here in postgame. He said defense against dribble penetration and free throw shooting were not good enough. Now people who think problems at the line are because we do not practice enough or it being a physical issue may have news. After all a squad that made 31 of 37 a few weeks ago probably figured they did not need to practice them any more. In all seriousness free throw shooting at this level is mental. Handling the pressure is the key. After a couple are missed it becomes a disease that affects the whole squad. There is much more pressure on critical free throws than other plays. Plays with constant motion are instinctive with muscle memory taking over. You don't have time to think about the pressure you are under. Guys need to be mentally tougher next game and beyond to have success

--Long ago I read Dr Mathew Maltz's book -Psycho-Cybernetics---It basically talked about mental practice and how a truly enacted mental scene of a physical action could count as an actual physical application---Of course the result of this is the repetition of POSITIVE physical actions-----make 100 free throws in a row but make them on the line against A State with the crowd and the sweat and guys talking etc----I had studied self hypnosis for years off and on and had seen some very real experiments with athletes and their performances which were mostly post hypnotic suggestions based----Very interesting stuff!!!

[RaginEsquire06]

I will take a guy who struggles to get 18 boards against two 7 footers. Especially if he also happens to lead the nation in double doubles. We will just have agree to disagree.