MBB G13 Final: Louisiana 73, SLU 72

[Clutch0364]

Missed that one, but in any case he is very good for a low mid-major and his offers are very good. There should be no complaints about him or Julien in either case. But early on, it looks like he missed on Hayes, Lafayette and Wesley. I still hold out some hope on Hayes and Wesley right now.

Do you mean Gladney? Wesley in my opinion has played well.

I believe Wilson and Julien will both be starters next season. They are the best freshmen that have been brought into the program on paper. Hopefully they pan out.

[Cajunsmike]

Missed that one, but in any case he is very good for a low mid-major and his offers are very good. There should be no complaints about him or Julien in either case. But early on, it looks like he missed on Hayes, Lafayette and Wesley. I still hold out some hope on Hayes and Wesley right now.

Hayes and Wesley both had good moments at SLU. Wesley had a terrible last twenty seconds of the first half but was instrumental in the late comeback. He is playing as a pure freshman so plenty of reason to be optimistic in his case. It is critical Hayes be more productive at this stage. You are 100 per cent right in that we are suffering from 2 signees not being able to contribute. It is correct that you don't hit on every one and they may develop in time. That does not help us right now.

[talktomewillis]

Do you mean Gladney? Wesley in my opinion has played well.

I believe Wilson and Julien will both be starters next season. They are the best freshmen that have been brought into the program on paper. Hopefully they pan out.

i agree about Wesley. He played 32 minutes against Southeastern and played very well. I think he's going to turn out to be a good one.

I think Lafayette and Gladney need to get a lot better for them not to be considered misses. I think the jury is out on Hayes. I think he's good. I don't think he's made the adjustment to D-1 yet.

[CajunT]

Do you mean Gladney? Wesley in my opinion has played well.

I believe Wilson and Julien will both be starters next season. They are the best freshmen that have been brought into the program on paper. Hopefully they pan out.

For an undersized PG, Wesley does not shoot the ball well. Like most freshmen, he has been inconsistent but he really needs to shoot the ball better. His size is already a disadvantage and not shooting well gives the staff a reason not play him. Gladney is raw, more physical ability than basketball player. Without the injuries, he probably would have RS.

[zephyr]

So you think when someone posts info to refute your argument, you are getting fussed at? Interesting.

I'm not a sycophant by any measure since I have nothing to gain here but I will continue to argue my point and defend a coach, player or program from people both inside and outside the University.

Kind of. You get called a "hater" when it's not necessarily true.

[zephyr]

I thought both Julien and Wilson were four star guys. Maybe they are on some sights but not others. I think Johnson was as well when he left HS in Baton Rouge for St. Louis. You are right though in the ranking does not mean they will be productive players. Just gives you a slight reason to be optimistic they will be successful.

https://247sports.com/Season/2019-Ba...State.Key=sa_4

[Clutch0364]

For an undersized PG, Wesley does not shoot the ball well. Like most freshmen, he has been inconsistent but he really needs to shoot the ball better. His size is already a disadvantage and not shooting well gives the staff a reason not play him. Gladney is raw, more physical ability than basketball player. Without the injuries, he probably would have RS.

Wesley is shooting 40% from 3 and is averaging 13 minutes a game and played damn good against SLU. I'll take that.

[talktomewillis]

"If Marlin had won two championships early in his tenure instead of more recently, I would be pounding the 'what have you done for me lately' drum........"

That would mean we would be paying a coach ~$500k with no postseason appearance in the past 5 years. Luckily, that's not the case. See: Hud.

I don't know who you are, but you must be part of that basketball social club that MAT was talking about. I love how you basketball apologists play victim as if we are "picking" on basketball. If you know me or have read my posts, you will see that I took up for Napier after the loss against Coastal; and I also took up for Robe after that blunder of a start last season in baseball. Trust me. I have more important things to do in my life than to just pick on a program of a school that I graduated from and love. And I like Coach Marlin. I think he's a nice guy. But I also think when you're paid a certain salary, you compliment it with performance. This is not a bureaucracy. So, let's not go there.

Secondly, are we supposed to just succumb to the fact that only one other Sun Belt school has multiple post-season appearances? So now what? We just fold and say, "Oh, well. Other schools in our conference barely make the tournament more than once. I guess we can't either." If so, then that's a shame. I'm not asking Coach Marlin to hang the moon. Nor am I asking for his firing, so please quit assuming that. All I'm asking is for is for more postseason appearances than what he has shown in the 8 years he has been here. Just get it done. Don't give me excuses of why we can't do it. Don't sit here and complain about teams not wanting to come to Lafayette. Don't try to justify the modern era of college basketball. Just earn your salary and find a way. That's what he's paid to do.

Finishing in the top 4 of the conference consistently is what I ask for because it's SUPPOSED to be done over here. If you're going to pound your chest on just that, then great. My demand for that as a fan should be a minimal accomplishment.

So, there it is in writing (or typing in this matter): top 4 conference finish and more postseason appearances. We will soon see if our coaching staff can accomplish this.

MAT is one of my better friends. I am not a member of that club.

I look at the total picture. I'm not so naive as to think everyone wins every year. Nor do I expect that as a fan.

I want the same things you do. I think where we differ is I don't believe you understand how hard it is to be very good every single year.

With a few exceptions, mid major programs have peaks and valleys. I don't think you get that. Or at least, you think we are, or should be, immune to it.

Examples? Check WKU in the last five years. You'll agree it is a highly thought of mid major program. How about Middle Tennessee this year? After several good seasons, they are not good at all.

You're one of those guys who wants it EVERY YEAR. We have finished out of the top four (on your list of expectations) four out of five years. That's pretty good. Not great.

When I said we were the second most consistent program in the league over the last five years, I said I wanted to be first. You must have missed that part.

You talk about more postseason appearances. Well, there was a time, as recently as Jessie Evans, when you had a solid season but didn't win your league, you got an NIT bid. That no longer is the case. So...you want to either win the league or the tournament damn near every year in order to keep you happy. OK.....got it.

Using TODAY's criteria for postseason play and applying it to the past, you'll see we aren't far off from the best days in our recent history. (post probation). Under Coach paschal, we would have made postseason twice in seven years. Yet he's considered the best coach we've had since probation. Marty Fletcher won a game in the NCAA tournament, but only made postseason twice in eleven years. Jessie would have had two in seven years. Robert Lee had one in six years. bob Marlin has two in eight years.

Now, read this carefully. I am only talking about appearances. And, that's because YOU were only talking about appearances. I am well aware the previous coaches had better quality wins. But if you were to bring that up, you would be moving the needle.

Again.

[CajunT]

Wesley is shooting 40% from 3 and is averaging 13 minutes a game and played damn good against SLU. I'll take that.

Well that's one game, didn't play well against Tech or McNeese. His shooting 41% from the field period. I'm not saying he can't improve, just not impressed yet.

[zephyr]

We are 28 pages here because there are people who either think he should be fired, that the program should be disbanded, or his salary should be cut to a HS level. Since you said it what should Maggard do at this point to “hold Marlin accountable”. The season is currently playing out and we have not even started conference play. The goal for the team is to win the conference and then win the tournament. That seem like he is being held accountable. If neither of those goals are attained he will then have to explain to his boss why they didn’t and how he is going to make it happen.
I realize some fans enjoy firing coaches and like having new energy injected into the program, but unfortunately for them Marlin won the SBC last year and got coach of the year honors. They will probably have to wait a couple of years before they get their pound of flesh.

Again, you like many take opinions and turn them into assumptions. You are assuming that guys like myself want Marlin fired based on your opening of your post. That is inaccurate. There may be a couple of outliers but most of us who have made critical comments about Marlin centralize it in regards to his extensions. That typically inflames the Marlin supporters who counter those claims and we have two sides who are trying to make their point by either fluffing up his accomplishments or focusing on the lack of success.

Now, you said the goal is to win conference and the tournament. That is a goal. Goals and expectations are different. Goals are what you strive for. You can have success and accomplishments yet not attain your goals. I thought last year's team was a success. We did not attain all of our goals but that doesn't mean there was not a level of success attained. However, expectations are the tangible results you make someone accountable to attain. If they fail to reach these expectations, obvious reactions need to be considered. My question was about what are Marlin's true expectations. What, if any, has Maggard addressed with Marlin thus giving him a blueprint of what he needs to do to be successful in the university's eyes.

I posted something earlier in response to Willis in regards to striving for excellence. We have made decisions at the top that have suggested and stated that we are on a mission of excellence in our athletic programs. We have done everything from forming private funding mechanisms to supplement salaries, facilities upgrades and additions, nutritional programs etc...These are things we are doing to attract the best talent as well as best coaches to attain excellence so we can hopefully be considered for future realignment. So, many are happy or satisfied with what we've accomplished in basketball over the past 9 years but does that truly define excellence? If we had more years like last year, I would answer yes or at least be much more in agreement.

[Hatch]

i agree about Wesley. He played 32 minutes against Southeastern and played very well. I think he's going to turn out to be a good one.

I think Lafayette and Gladney need to get a lot better for them not to be considered misses. I think the jury is out on Hayes. I think he's good. I don't think he's made the adjustment to D-1 yet.

Now I trust the coaches because I’m obviously not at practice every day but the one thing that is a little bit strange about Gladney and Lafayette is they have actually showed promise the little bit we have seen them in games. Gladney had those 2 blocks and looked to be very physical while Lafayette has made 3 of 4 from beyond the arc and rebounded well. In fact with an extremely low sample size of just 20 minutes played Lafayette actually has more points and rebounds per minute than anyone else on the team. Now granted I know that is skewed as the only time he has seen was garbage minutes against some lowly competition. I would still like to see them each get a couple minutes here or there as Marquetti’s load is distributed out just to see what they can do.

[MetryCajun]

Zephyr, I know you don’t want Marlin fired at this time, but others do and we all know it has a zero chance of happening. No one fires their coach after a year after winning a conference title and garnering coach of the year. What usually happens in these situations is the coach gets an extension which is exactly what happened. Now if it were my athletic department I would not have offered the extension because of our poor Top150 RPI record, but we have entrusted our success to Maggards wisdom. I honestly don’t know how people constantly _____ing and moaning about one of our better sports teams is productive. We only have two sports where we can even compete with P5 programs. If I had to pick a third to that can complete it would be MBB.our football team and other spring sports are an absolute embarrassment when trying to complete with good teams.

I can only speak for myself, but I am not satisfied with our current team. We only have 2 difference makers and one of them is out for the year. A title run is unlikely at this time. Next year we will rely heavily on a transfer, a redshirt Frosh coming back from injury and a true Frosh. The other guys will be role players. That does not look like a recipe for a SBC title run. So I firmly believe Marlin will be held accountable. He is just not going to get fired this year like some people want.