MBB Final: Louisiana 105, Nicholls 80

[Turbine]

Not to open up that whole can of worms again, but I can understand/accept that we play in-state schools, but I really don't get why we agree to go there. Except for baseball, not sure why we would do this.

Because Bo Lamar did it.

[RaginDave]

Thanks. That is good news. Certainly not worth playing him at this point if it would risk further injury...

Marlin said starting point guard Marcus Stroman, who sustained a hip pointer against McNeese State, shot on Wednesday and "was moving better than he had anticipated."

Stroman was not scheduled to practice Thursday, but Marlin said he "might be available" Friday night.

Marlin also said senior swingman Johnathan Stove was "sore" after his first game back since missing five straight with a heel/ankle injury.

"I think he's still concerned about it a little bit mentally," the Cajuns coach said. "But physically he's fine; in good shape. … It looked like he was moving pretty well to me."

If Stroman can't go, Marlin said, either Stove or Marquetti — both of whom usually play primarily off the ball — could get a bulk of minutes at the point.

[Cajunsmike]

Probably CajunMike can answer this better, but I think it was part of a home vs home with them.

This is the return visit from when Nicholls opened the Dome last December. Tonight's game is the final part of a home and home. Other than the gym, tonight's game would be very similar to playing a road game in conference against would of the mid level teams. We all know we have not won as many of those as we probably should have in the past. If Stroman cannot go (personally I have my doubts he will if he did not practice yesterday), Marquetti will play point much of the game with Stove starting at the 3 spot. Nicholls does have an interesting philosophy this year with 5 graduate transfers on their team. I guess they are trying to get a quick fix and build off what they hope to be a successful year. I did note that the Colonels do not have webcast capability so if you are not going to the game, you have to listen on 107.9 FM. 1420 AM has Acadiana High playoff football tonight.

[LaCajunsFan]

This is the return visit from when Nicholls opened the Dome last December. Tonight's game is the final part of a home and home. Other than the gym, tonight's game would be very similar to playing a road game in conference against would of the mid level teams. We all know we have not won as many of those as we probably should have in the past. If Stroman cannot go (personally I have my doubts he will if he did not practice yesterday), Marquetti will play point much of the game with Stove starting at the 3 spot. Nicholls does have an interesting philosophy this year with 5 graduate transfers on their team. I guess they are trying to get a quick fix and build off what they hope to be a successful year. I did note that the Colonels do not have webcast capability so if you are not going to the game, you have to listen on 107.9 FM. 1420 AM has Acadiana High playoff football tonight.

Thanks for all the info. BTW: I had hoped it would be at least webcast, as there is a link to it on the Ragin Cajun site, which shows the last home game they had I guess, so will be bummed if that is not the case. At least they will have the live stats thing.

[CajunRebel]

Not to open up that whole can of worms again, but I can understand/accept that we play in-state schools, but I really don't get why we agree to go there. Except for baseball, not sure why we would do this.

For the same reasons LSU sometimes travels to McNeese for Baseball. It’s a quick trip, a cheap trip, kids don’t have to miss class, etc. You can’t spend all basketball season away from home traveling. You have to play local teams. P5 schools can afford to pay decent schools to come in and play instead of home and homes. We can’t.

If we lived in basketball country (northeast, midwest) we’d have plenty of great mid major schools we could travel to play. Unfortunately we live in the middle of the worst college basketball area in the country.

In our very worst baseball years we still end up with an RPI under 100. Yes, we’re a good program, but a big reason for that is that most of the local Southland schools we play on weekdays all have decent RPIs. We can go to a Nichols or Northwestern and play a good team. With basketball, the exact opposite is true. Last year, aside from Houston we had the best RPI of any team within 5 hours of us.

[Hatch]

For the same reasons LSU sometimes travels to McNeese for Baseball. It’s a quick trip, a cheap trip, kids don’t have to miss class, etc. You can’t spend all basketball season away from home traveling. You have to play local teams. P5 schools can afford to pay decent schools to come in and play instead of home and homes. We can’t.

If we lived in basketball country (northeast, midwest) we’d have plenty of great mid major schools we could travel to play. Unfortunately we live in the middle of the worst college basketball area in the country.

In our very worst baseball years we still end up with an RPI under 100. Yes, we’re a good program, but a big reason for that is that most of the local Southland schools we play on weekdays all have decent RPIs. We can go to a Nichols or Northwestern and play a good team. With basketball, the exact opposite is true. Last year, aside from Houston we had the best RPI of any team within 5 hours of us.

Exactly, it makes sense geographically and economically. I would much rather play a home and home with a Southlamd school than pay Springhill to come in for a midseason exhibition game like we did 2 years ago.

[BeauCajun]

For those who want to watch the game.

Fans can follow the game's free live video broadcast here with Casey Gisclair on the call.

Link to story:
http://www.geauxcolonels.com/news/20...y-contest.aspx

[CajunNation]

Exactly, it makes sense geographically and economically. I would much rather play a home and home with a Southlamd school than pay Springhill to come in for a midseason exhibition game like we did 2 years ago.

I'm for whatever it takes to get the D-II schools off of the schedule.

After that, we can work on better RPI schools.

[Turbine]

This is the return visit from when Nicholls opened the Dome last December. Tonight's game is the final part of a home and home. Other than the gym, tonight's game would be very similar to playing a road game in conference against would of the mid level teams. We all know we have not won as many of those as we probably should have in the past. If Stroman cannot go (personally I have my doubts he will if he did not practice yesterday), Marquetti will play point much of the game with Stove starting at the 3 spot. Nicholls does have an interesting philosophy this year with 5 graduate transfers on their team. I guess they are trying to get a quick fix and build off what they hope to be a successful year. I did note that the Colonels do not have webcast capability so if you are not going to the game, you have to listen on 107.9 FM. 1420 AM has Acadiana High playoff football tonight.

UL should not do more than a 2-Home and 1-Away with schools like Nicholls.

At the same time UL should be doing as many 2-Away, 1-Home games as possible with P5 (basketball focused) schools. 3-1 if that is what it takes to get the ball rolling.

This approach is the only way to get back to Home-Home with peers from around the country.

jmo

[Cajunsmike]

UL should not do more than a 2-Home and 1-Away with schools like Nicholls.

At the same time UL should be doing as many 2-Away, 1-Home games as possible with P5 (basketball focused) schools. 3-1 if that is what it takes to get the ball rolling.

This approach is the only way to get back to Home-Home with peers from around the country.

jmo

Good idea there Turbine about possibly trying to get more attractive names for non conference to our place. It may need to go to 3 and 1 in order to do so and we may not get paid for any of the away games in some instances. As far as 2 and 1 for Nicholls, they would not do that unless we paid them for the 2nd visit here. I found out recently we paid 50 grand for Savannah State to come here and that is the first time in probably 20 years we paid a D1 school to come to our place. Making things more difficult is the fact that Nicholls will likely have one of their better teams this year due to all the graduate transfers. Tonight's game will be a challenge. That does not mean I will use that as an excuse if the team does not perform well. I will also not use the Stroman injury as an excuse. You simply have to win games like this.

[Hatch]

Good idea there Turbine about possibly trying to get more attractive names for non conference to our place. It may need to go to 3 and 1 in order to do so and we may not get paid for any of the away games in some instances. As far as 2 and 1 for Nicholls, they would not do that unless we paid them for the 2nd visit here. I found out recently we paid 50 grand for Savannah State to come here and that is the first time in probably 20 years we paid a D1 school to come to our place. Making things more difficult is the fact that Nicholls will likely have one of their better teams this year due to all the graduate transfers. Tonight's game will be a challenge. That does not mean I will use that as an excuse if the team does not perform well. I will also not use the Stroman injury as an excuse. You simply have to win games like this.

Wasn't the Savannah St. game tied to the Cayman Island Classic? They played Cincinnati as well and both games are listed on their schedule as part of the Tournament.

[CajunEXPRESS]

Good idea there Turbine about possibly trying to get more attractive names for non conference to our place. It may need to go to 3 and 1 in order to do so and we may not get paid for any of the away games in some instances. As far as 2 and 1 for Nicholls, they would not do that unless we paid them for the 2nd visit here. I found out recently we paid 50 grand for Savannah State to come here and that is the first time in probably 20 years we paid a D1 school to come to our place. Making things more difficult is the fact that Nicholls will likely have one of their better teams this year due to all the graduate transfers. Tonight's game will be a challenge. That does not mean I will use that as an excuse if the team does not perform well. I will also not use the Stroman injury as an excuse. You simply have to win games like this.

Having a quality point guard is important to anyone. Beating Nicholls without this point guard should be expected if the team is going to be top tier.

[Cajunsmike]

Wasn't the Savannah St. game tied to the Cayman Island Classic? They played Cincinnati as well and both games are listed on their schedule as part of the Tournament.

Indirectly it was but we still had to pay them.

[Turbine]

Indirectly it was but we still had to pay them.

With a 3-1 vs a P5 basketball focused school with 1 free, 1 medium, and 1 large payday, UL could bring in 4 Savanna States.

1 per year with a single 3-1 arrangement.

[AirBill]

http://www.espn1003.com/nicholls-mens-basketball/

Advertised video feed for tonight's game