MBB G13 Final: Louisiana 73, SLU 72

[Cajunfanatico]

Andrew Toney and George Almonds. Was not Kevin Broooks Mr. Basketball his senior year?

I knew Toney was CajunT, but didn't recall that Almonds was. Don't recall on Kevin Brooks either.

For some reason I was thinking Alanzo Allen might have been a "Mr. Basketball" from Florida but could be mistaken. Alanzo Allen came off the bench for us! Imagine that.

[Ragin4U]

I recall over the years our basketball program occassionally signing, "Mr. Basketball of the state of Florida", or "Mr. Basketball of the state of Alabama".

When was the last time we did such a thing? Anyone know? Or should I not bother asking because things have changed too much?

I remember a couple of years ago the knock against Marlin was that players would not come here or stay. Now that he gets good players, its not good enough unless he gets a Mr. Basketball?

[Cajunfanatico]

I remember a couple of years ago the knock against Marlin was that players would not come here or stay. Now that he gets good players, its not good enough unless he gets a Mr. Basketball?

Yes, that's what I was saying. Unless every one of our recruits is "Mr. Basketball" from their respective states, Marlin's a failure.

I swear, some of you guys are overly-invested in this subject.

[zephyr]

I remember a couple of years ago the knock against Marlin was that players would not come here or stay. Now that he gets good players, its not good enough unless he gets a Mr. Basketball?

His 3 best players this year are transfers. Arguably his "best" signings are 3 star guys. One of which is still in HS and the other has not touched the court due to injury. We have no idea how good they will be in the future. By good players, I assume you are talking about them and not Lafayette, Miller, Gladney etc...? I think if you took Gant and Stroman off this team, our talent would be considered bottom half of the league.

[CajunT]

I knew Toney was CajunT, but didn't recall that Almonds was. Don't recall on Kevin Brooks either.

For some reason I was thinking Alanzo Allen might have been a "Mr. Basketball" from Florida but could be mistaken. Alanzo Allen came off the bench for us! Imagine that.

George Almonds was a 3 sport HS All-American in HS, MBB, Football and Track & Field.

[ULvictory]

Yes, that's what I was saying. Unless every one of our recruits is "Mr. Basketball" from their respective states, Marlin's a failure.

I swear, some of you guys are overly-invested in this subject.

LOL

We aren’t allowed to criticize basketball coaches here. If you say anything remotely negative, you will get fussed at. It’s become similar to Farmer’s Corner Bar Crew.

[Hatch]

His 3 best players this year are transfers. Arguably his "best" signings are 3 star guys. One of which is still in HS and the other has not touched the court due to injury. We have no idea how good they will be in the future. By good players, I assume you are talking about them and not Lafayette, Miller, Gladney etc...? I think if you took Gant and Stroman off this team, our talent would be considered bottom half of the league.

Gant was Mr Basketball of Georgia. Mylik Wilson has a good shot at being Mr Basketball here this year. Justin Miller was the MVP of the Kentucky sweet 16 state championship tournament, but of course he is not a “good player”. There are only a handful of teams in the country who if you robbed them of their top 2 players wouldn’t fall into the bottom half of their conference in talent level.

[ULvictory]

Agreed and that is why it is the main goal. Stated several times by people in the program. My point was in regards to judging the program on an overall basis. No argument it is better to win the tournament. You still have to produce a quality team in order to do that. Rare for a team not playing well going into the tournament to win it.

No question. You have to produce a quality team to win the tournament. Judging by our results, it doesn’t quite look like we have done that consistently.

[ULvictory]

I have debated this often, particularly last year. I believe that our program needs to breed a consistent winner. We have been all over the place for the past 30 years or more. Good season here terrible the next. People often ask, which would you prefer out of the two scenarios you suggested. I don't think there necessarily has to be a distinction between them or you have to choose one or the other.

I think we need to build a program from the ground up. We need to define our successes by winning conference titles. Believe it or not, this gets the attention of players. They want to play for winning programs. My thought on this is that once you are building a consistent winner, you will be in a better position to win your conference tournament and go to the dance. At the least, if you win conference like we did last year, you at least get to the NIT.

By doing this, we are hopeful that recruiting is consistently strong and we are naturally setting high expectations from our current and future players that we are expected to win titles. Like I said, you do that and you are naturally in a better position to make the NCAA.

I agree with the fact that you have to build a program to have consistent success. The problem that I have is that this coaching staff hasn’t shown me that quite yet. Like Mike said, recruiting wasn’t quite up to par building depth; and we still have shortcomings even today.

This is where I separate myself from the basketball loyalists. I hear “wait and see what happens this season.” The problem with that is the fact that I already knew the answer to it even before Marquetti got hurt. We weren’t making the tournament with this team nor were we winning a conference championship. Sorry. Wasn’t going to happen. It’s nothing personal against anyone, but I’ve seen the same song and dance for way too long to get excited.

Now.......I will say this. IF we either win a conference championship OR make the NCAA tournament by the end of this season, I will happily be the first to come on here and publicly state that I was wrong and eat crow. But I don’t think that I will have to worry about that.

[MetryCajun]

Mike come on man... We have gotten rid of coaches for mediocre performances recently, we just keep rewarding this guy. Why?

Z

We have gotten rid of coaches who had losing records. Marlin won the SBC last year. There is no precedent for letting go of a title winning coach at this university. Now if you want to argue an extension was not warranted, I will agree, but Marlin has done nothing to this point to get fired. I am willing to let the season play out. If we have a sub .500 record in conference your opinion will hold more weight and his seat will become very hot.

[cajun_lannister]

-Foundational pay increases by $30K on April 1, 2019, and continuing each April 1 of the contract term.
-Coach can reach additional incentive based bonus pay including $25K if the #Cajuns win the Sun Belt regular season or tournament championship.

— Cody Junot (@CJunot) January 2, 2019

Imagine what we would pay a guy with a top 50 win but he is now the highest paid coach in the league, and his expectations should be as such.

[zephyr]

We have gotten rid of coaches who had losing records. Marlin won the SBC last year. There is no precedent for letting go of a title winning coach at this university. Now if you want to argue an extension was not warranted, I will agree, but Marlin has done nothing to this point to get fired. I am willing to let the season play out. If we have a sub .500 record in conference your opinion will hold more weight and his seat will become very hot.

No firing is necessary at this point. Higher expectations and a willingness by the university to hold coach accountable to those expectations should be fully expected and is what I think is most important.