MBB: Louisiana vs UTA

[VObserver]

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RCAF annual report, which every member received last month.

[Cajunsmike]

FTR, I am not railing against fans that aren't happy and I understand why several want a new coach. I go back and forth.

I get the support for Marlin. Seems like a good man that recruits and graduates top notch individuals (and families). As opposed to a coach that had his own son being arrested for slangin dope.

I get the anti Marlin crowd because, me included, expect our historically quality basketball program to compete at a high level. IMO, we should always be in contention for an SBC championship.

Mike gave a great example of the ____ MBB has to deal with. Also, when it costs 75k to get Stephen F. Austin to come to Lafayette, you can see why scheduling is lack luster. (And oh, btw, they refuse to come and play us as well.)

I forgot about SFA being another school that refuses to play us home and home. Add that to USM, Tulane, UNO now, Lamar, Houston, and Rice as area schools that refuse to play us home and home. I think the last time we bought a D1 home game was when Robert Lee was able to get Centenary to come to the Dome. We got them for cheap as they were dropping out of D1 the next year. We just need to go out of the area and find teams that are willing to play us home and home. We played schools like Robert Morris and Duquesne a few years ago in home and home deals. We can do that type of thing again.

[Cajunsmike]

The man has been and still being given time...can he not have a UTA,LATECH ,UALR,Georgia state,USM type season at some point? Is that really too much to expect in 8 years? All similar schools in close proximity.

It is reasonable to expect a strong season like those schools have had. I just did not expect it this season due to all the new guys. I was hoping it would happen last season and was disappointed it did not occur then.

[CajunEXPRESS]

Mike we know the problem, but it is within our powers to fix the problem. It only takes will.

Mr. Maggard will start today after a very successful weekend of the four major spring sports. IMO he needs to upgrade all non conference sports to the extent possible. To say locals refuse to play us and cry woe is me is not acceptable.

[Cajunsmike]

Mike we know the problem, but it is within our powers to fix the problem. It only takes will.

Mr. Maggard will start today after a very successful weekend of the four major spring sports. IMO he needs to upgrade all non conference sports to the extent possible. To say locals refuse to play us and cry woe is me is not acceptable.

I just gave the solution. Play schools outside of the area in home and home deals. When we went to the Pittsburgh area we played two schools on one trip and they came the next year. You can also go to UCLA and play Pepperdine on the same trip. You get paid for the trip by UCLA and then get a home and home deal with a nearby school. We did that last year. I bet we could do the same with Houston and Houston Baptist. Get paid by the Coogs and have Houston Baptist come home the next year. Now the schools I am mentioning are not the big names but the P5 schools are not traveling in today's world. We do get Iowa next year in the tournament in the tropics on a neutral court but that is not one coming here. I agree that Dr. Maggard needs to get involved here for all the sports and I hope that is a focus area. The non conference home schedule is only one issue. Finishing higher in the league than in recent years is what I would like to see happen. I just knew it would be tough to do this year with basically only three returning players. That is why I say we should focus on what they players did accomplish for now. We also know a staff change will not occur so working on some of these other issues is something that can begin to be tackled in the offseason.

[CajunEXPRESS]

I just gave the solution. Play schools outside of the area in home and home deals. When we went to the Pittsburgh area we played two schools on one trip and they came the next year. You can also go to UCLA and play Pepperdine on the same trip. You get paid for the trip by UCLA and then get a home and home deal with a nearby school. We did that last year. I bet we could do the same with Houston and Houston Baptist. Get paid by the Coogs and have Houston Baptist come home the next year. Now the schools I am mentioning are not the big names but the P5 schools are not traveling in today's world. We do get Iowa next year in the tournament in the tropics on a neutral court but that is not one coming here. I agree that Dr. Maggard needs to get involved here for all the sports and I hope that is a focus area. The non conference home schedule is only one issue. Finishing higher in the league than in recent years is what I would like to see happen. I just knew it would be tough to do this year with basically only three returning players. That is why I say we should focus on what they players did accomplish for now. We also know a staff change will not occur so working on some of these other issues is something that can begin to be tackled in the offseason.

Mike, with all due respect it isn't your or my job to fix the problem. It isn't even our job to identify the problem. We are fans and all I hear from Marlin is he does not have enough money, and we will continue to get the weakest non conference schedule until his boss says enough.

There are solutions that do not blame USM, Tulane, LTUR, for not playing us. You have identified some ways and I can only think Marlin and staff were the ones smart enough to take advantage of those opportunities. It isn't his fault that Pepperdine and JMU chose 2017 to be weak.

Bob nees to help raise funds to bring in better OCC teams. Instead of simply thinking that these games will or won't increase attendance short term we need to see them as recruiting tools, RPI builders, and if successful building a better younger fan base. If a business does not think in terms of long term success they would never invest in short term losing operations needed to insure growth.

For the moment, I am going to enjoy the conference tournament and a baseball game with Tulame tomorrow. Still long term we need basketball to be much more successful in order to fully take advantage of the NCAA gold mine out there.

[ManAboutTown]

Mike, with all due respect it isn't your or my job to fix the problem. It isn't even our job to identify the problem. We are fans and all I hear from Marlin is he does not have enough money, and we will continue to get the weakest non conference schedule until his boss says enough.

There are solutions that do not blame USM, Tulane, LTUR, for not playing us. You have identified some ways and I can only think Marlin and staff were the ones smart enough to take advantage of those opportunities. It isn't his fault that Pepperdine and JMU chose 2017 to be weak.

Bob nees to help raise funds to bring in better OCC teams. Instead of simply thinking that these games will or won't increase attendance short term we need to see them as recruiting tools, RPI builders, and if successful building a better younger fan base. If a business does not think in terms of long term success they would never invest in short term losing operations needed to insure growth.

For the moment, I am going to enjoy the conference tournament and a baseball game with Tulame tomorrow. Still long term we need basketball to be much more successful in order to fully take advantage of the NCAA gold mine out there.

I wont get frustrated because, honestly, it took me a while to accept that MBB is a convoluted, complicated cluster ___. The bottom line is, we have some SERIOUS disadvantages. It is easy to say "we need solutions" and "fix the problem" but an entirely different thing to actually get into the trenches and DO it. USM, UH, etc won't come here. That's not a blame, it's a fact. Among other pains in the ___, geography is becoming more and more of an issue. Even if we take Mike's idea and play further away, we will still incur substantially more cost.

You made the comment about NCAA tourney money.. What is the payout for simply making the dance? Outside of that, college basketball at our level is not the cash cow that people want to make it out to be. Especially in our situation with the cajundome.

IMO, our money folks see that MBB in the SBC and the south are a not great investment, and because of that, there is less commitment. I could be wrong, and maybe 15 years of losing and irrelevance has set in with the fanbase. It also doesn't help that a chunk of MBB budget (as does football's budget, only football is much bigger so it hurts less) is subsidizing title IX sports, which we all know hemorrhage money.

[CajunEXPRESS]

I don't recall the actual dollars, but very substantial and for a number of years. As I stated in another at another time it would be helpful if the SBC coaching fraternity decided to up their chances of having more than a single entry and maybe two and a win or two. Then you would be talking millions spread over the conferce and participants.

I've yet to see Bob Marlin approach money raising like Lotief, Robe, Hud. He needs to face the facts, as you call them, find the money to bring in two or three better teams every year. He could also face the music and get paid to visit. I know which way I'd go. Of course we can curse the basketball gods for our geography, and continue to play for three games in March, which by the way is four games this year if lucky.

This site will give you an idea how much it is worth.

https://www.fool.com/investing/gener...bid-worth.aspx

[ManAboutTown]

I don't recall the actual dollars, but very substantial and for a number of years. As I stated in another at another time it would be helpful if the SBC coaching fraternity decided to up their chances of having more than a single entry and maybe two and a win or two. Then you would be talking millions spread over the conferce and participants.

I've yet to see Bob Marlin approach money raising like Lotief, Robe, Hud. He needs to face the facts, as you call them and find the money to bring in two or three better teams every year, or face the music and get paid to visit. I know which way I'd go. Of course we can curse the basketball gods for our geography, and continue to play for three games in March, which by the way is four games this year if lucky.

The 3 games in March comment pizzed me off. It's ridiculous to look at a season that way, and I don't think he does. The guys certainly don't, which has been put on full display in the last 3 weeks of this season. It's time to pump the brakes on this "3 games in March" ____.

To massively oversimplify a very complicated situation, your choices are as you stated: pay to play, or schedule roast beef tech and banana republic university. We either spend our money overpaying average teams to play in front of 3500 fans in the CajunDome, or we spend our money traveling to play better RPI games on the road. Not to mention, finding people that will schedule us. It's an NCAA problem, not a UL problem.

[MelRock]

I don't recall the actual dollars, but very substantial and for a number of years. As I stated in another at another time it would be helpful if the SBC coaching fraternity decided to up their chances of having more than a single entry and maybe two and a win or two. Then you would be talking millions spread over the conferce and participants.

I've yet to see Bob Marlin approach money raising like Lotief, Robe, Hud. He needs to face the facts, as you call them, find the money to bring in two or three better teams every year. He could also face the music and get paid to visit. I know which way I'd go. Of course we can curse the basketball gods for our geography, and continue to play for three games in March, which by the way is four games this year if lucky.

This site will give you an idea how much it is worth.

https://www.fool.com/investing/gener...bid-worth.aspx

I am sorry but you and your but buddies are idiots. Tell where can he raise money? Softball and baseball can sell advertising in their stadium, basketball doesn't have a stadium to sell ads. Softball and baseball get concessions. Baseball and softball does not have to pay rent to host their camps. Baseball and softball can sell other advertisements but basketball can't. Even in the program you get when you walk in we have to have the women's on the same program and the advertisements on the program are for the restaurants that feed the media. Try comparing apples to apples.

You and your little buddies can get on your knees and suck on La Tech even though they haven't made the NCAA tournament since 1991.

[ManAboutTown]

I am sorry but you and your but buddies are idiots. Tell where can he raise money? Softball and baseball can sell advertising in their stadium, basketball doesn't have a stadium to sell ads. Softball and baseball get concessions. Baseball and softball does not have to pay rent to host their camps. Baseball and softball can sell other advertisements but basketball can't. Even in the program you get when you walk in we have to have the women's on the same program and the advertisements on the program are for the restaurants that feed the media. Try comparing apples to apples.

You and your little buddies can get on your knees and suck on La Tech even though they haven't made the NCAA tournament since 1991.

And we kinda own TGUN over the last several years..

[CajunEXPRESS]

I am sorry but you and your but buddies are idiots. Tell where can he raise money? Softball and baseball can sell advertising in their stadium, basketball doesn't have a stadium to sell ads. Softball and baseball get concessions. Baseball and softball does not have to pay rent to host their camps. Baseball and softball can sell other advertisements but basketball can't. Even in the program you get when you walk in we have to have the women's on the same program and the advertisements on the program are for the restaurants that feed the media. Try comparing apples to apples.

You and your little buddies can get on your knees and suck on La Tech even though they haven't made the NCAA tournament since 1991.

You're an idiot for bringing LTUR into this. I've never been a fan of LTUR. Still you cannot ignore what they accomplish in nowhere-Ville.

Regardless, it seems you've bought into the can't fix it foolishness.