MBB G7 Final: Louisiana 77, UNO 73

[ULvictory]

Not saying you are wrong.but wouldn't it be hypocritical for us to expect to be competitive with P5 programs with multiples of our budget? We seem to expect Marlin to be competitive on occasion with those guys, but for teams with fractions of our budget to never be competitive with us.

The problem is that we never have been competitive against P5 competition outside of that one win against Iowa last year.

[CajunJeaux]

Not saying you are wrong.but wouldn't it be hypocritical for us to expect to be competitive with P5 programs with multiples of our budget? We seem to expect Marlin to be competitive on occasion with those guys, but for teams with fractions of our budget to never be competitive with us.

Exactly what I’m trying to say.

[Cajunsmike]

Respectable question and I noticed you asked me the same thing last night.

Beating small schools is one thing, but most of these “small schools” are either D2 or NAIA. With the money we are investing into the basketball program compared to our peers, this should be automatic wins with no questions asked. The problem is that it doesn’t help us get better. That coach who took us to OT last night makes barely over $100k with a program budget that’s equal to peanuts, and it took a clutch shot or two to come out with a win.

I’ve said it many times before. Cost has to match quality. With the cost being demanded from our fans, the quality has to give us a complimentary return. And that includes postseason appearances that doesn’t involve pay-ins. Padding wins against Loyola-New Orleans and The University of The Virgin Islands doesn’t help us as a team.

Now if we make the tournament this season, I will be the first one here to eat my crow stew over rice. But for now, the apathy has really started to sink in. And I know that I’m not the only person who feels this way.

We only play two non D1 teams per year. I agree that is too many but it is not as frequent as some think. We had no choice this year to play those in order to get to the 14 home games Learfield requires. The MTE's we play in allow us to play the normal 29 games vs D1 competition. I do give lots of credit to UNO for the intensity they played with last night. We will see how many they win going forward but I think they will contend well in the SLC. We have two chances to play in either the NIT or NCAA in our league. Conference tournament championship is the only way to the NCAA and we have to win the regular season to get to at least the NIT. Can we do that? I have no idea. I know the Georgia schools are good and I know our team is nowhere near the well oiled machine of last year prior to injury. If we finish second in the regular season and lose in the tournament finals our season will be over or we will be in a minor tournament. That would be disappointing but I don't know if I would call that a failure of a season. However, the last two games vs the New Orleans schools shows we do have a gritty bunch. Hopefully, the way they dug deep to find ways to win will pay off once conference play starts.

[Cajunsmike]

The problem is that we never have been competitive against P5 competition outside of that one win against Iowa last year.

We were somewhat competitive against the two road games we played vs Top 10 schools we played this year. We also played Michigan State to a 3 point game on the road when Elfrid was here. Losses are not to be celebrated in any form. However the words "competitive" and never were used. Perhaps the term "rarely" would be more appropriate than "never".

[Hatch]

We only play two non D1 teams per year. I agree that is too many but it is not as frequent as some think. We had no choice this year to play those in order to get to the 14 home games Learfield requires. The MTE's we play in allow us to play the normal 29 games vs D1 competition. I do give lots of credit to UNO for the intensity they played with last night. We will see how many they win going forward but I think they will contend well in the SLC. We have two chances to play in either the NIT or NCAA in our league. Conference tournament championship is the only way to the NCAA and we have to win the regular season to get to at least the NIT. Can we do that? I have no idea. I know the Georgia schools are good and I know our team is nowhere near the well oiled machine of last year prior to injury. If we finish second in the regular season and lose in the tournament finals our season will be over or we will be in a minor tournament. That would be disappointing but I don't know if I would call that a failure of a season. However, the last two games vs the New Orleans schools shows we do have a gritty bunch. Hopefully, the way they dug deep to find ways to win will pay off once conference play starts.

I really don’t get the hate for the “other” tournaments, especially with the way the selection committee and NIT treat mid majors these days. Of course the NCAA should be the goal but if you win 20+, finish in the top 4 in conference and make at least the semis of the tournament that is solid, not great but solid. If that is the case let the kids get the chance to go play some more ball with something on the line. If you win the whole thing celebrate and hang a banner. If you don’t at least it was some extra practice and game experience for next years bunch. I really think a 6-6 team going off to a bowl game is much more of a celebration of mediocrity than the CIT/CBI.

[CajunJeaux]

We were somewhat competitive against the two road games we played vs Top 10 schools we played this year. We also played Michigan State to a 3 point game on the road when Elfrid was here. Losses are not to be celebrated in any form. However the words "competitive" and never were used. Perhaps the term "rarely" would be more appropriate than "never".

Also.the Creighton Big Dance was quite entertaining (at least for 33 min)

[Cajunsmike]

I really don’t get the hate for the “other” tournaments, especially with the way the selection committee and NIT treat mid majors these days. Of course the NCAA should be the goal but if you win 20+, finish in the top 4 in conference and make at least the semis of the tournament that is solid, not great but solid. If that is the case let the kids get the chance to go play some more ball with something on the line. If you win the whole thing celebrate and hang a banner. If you don’t at least it was some extra practice and game experience for next years bunch. I really think a 6-6 team going off to a bowl game is much more of a celebration of mediocrity than the CIT/CBI.

Extra practice is one of benefits of football. Same goes for basketball. Agree 6 and 6 with a bowl game is same as minor tournament in basketball.

[zephyr]

But is it a consistent theme to allow small programs to compete with us?.the biggest gripe on this board about Marlin is him padding his record with W’s against smaller schools.apparently he beats them religiously

McNeese St. (multiple times), Robert Morris, Lamar, Jackson State, Northwestern State, Texas College and I want to say Centenary as well when Wronkowski was there but could be mistaken. These are teams that have beaten us much less competed with us. He does pad his record with wins like this but the criticism comes more from the consistent scheduling of all these teams versus trying to go out and get better competition, especially in the Cajundome.

[zephyr]

The problem is that we never have been competitive against P5 competition outside of that one win against Iowa last year.

In fairness to Marlin, we have competed from time to time. We went to a good Michigan State team and barely lost, we lost to Louisville in the NCAA by a few points and we've been competitive against teams like a Baylor and Georgia. Issue is we never win these games and more times than not, we get run out of the gym regardless of how talented we are supposed to be.

[CajunEXPRESS]

Rockets this season is just another example of Big Fish plateau. Lost to a very bad LilRock last year because Stove injured, good Lord an awful LilRock last year. GaSt virtually every game.

It’s a shame that the sycophants chose to muddy the water when Big Fish had such a nice week vs Louisiana teams. But actually that’s about as good as it gets for y’all cause he’s not gonna have two big years in a row. Good luck to the team.

[MetryCajun]

Rockets this season is just another example of Big Fish plateau. Lost to a very bad LilRock last year because Stove injured, good Lord an awful LilRock last year. GaSt virtually every game.

It's a shame that the sycophants chose to muddy the water when Big Fish had such a nice week vs Louisiana teams. But actually that's about as good as it gets for y'all cause he's not gonna have two big years in a row. Good luck to the team.

How annoying.

[CajunAmos]

Same here. Crazy how they used to have 7-10k there. Now they’re lucky to get 500

The highest of their posted attendance info since 2005-2006 (they had some years where the arena wasn't available after Katrina with $20M in repairs put into it) was 929 in the 2016-2017 season.

[Cajunsmike]

Rockets this season is just another example of Big Fish plateau. Lost to a very bad LilRock last year because Stove injured, good Lord an awful LilRock last year. GaSt virtually every game.

It’s a shame that the sycophants chose to muddy the water when Big Fish had such a nice week vs Louisiana teams. But actually that’s about as good as it gets for y’all cause he’s not gonna have two big years in a row. Good luck to the team.

Agree we should appreciate the two wins vs New Orleans area opponents who wanted desperately to beat us. We should celebrate getting those victories in a week’s time vs a focus on our problems right now. If you think that we should blow out UNO at their place just because of resources, you are not being realistic. Just their intensity in such a game insures it will be a war. While it is unlikely we match last year in conference, we may do quite well with proper focus.

[ZoomZoom]

The highest of their posted attendance info since 2005-2006 (they had some years where the arena wasn't available after Katrina with $20M in repairs put into it) was 929 in the 2016-2017 season.

Time to move back to "The Chamber of Horrors". That was an ever lovin' fumble hole of a gym, and was appropriately named.

[BeauCajun]

Time to move back to "The Chamber of Horrors". That was an ever lovin' fumble hole of a gym, and was appropriately named.

I remember it well.