Bob Marlin, staff counting heavily on newcomers to improve Cajuns defensively and in SBC Race

[NewsCopy]

No one will ever know for sure how the 2018-19 UL men's basketball team would have fared in the Sun Belt Conference race if not for the season-ending injury to senior standout Malik Marquetti in the final league tune-up of the season.

And while Ragin' Cajun coach Bob Marlin's heart is pretty convinced, he's also not spending much time these days mired in the frustration of last season's obstacles. Rather, Marlin and his staff are motivated and guided by them.

The rest of the story ...
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[zephyr]

I found it interesting in that Marlin said we still have a spot available and may try to bring in another PG. I thought we were full on scholarships.

[Turbine]

Big year coming up.

[ManAboutTown]

Everytime I see a new thread about basketball, I just get mad... then sad.

[Cajunsmike]

Actually All the changes may be good for the program. A young assistant coach with different ideas and basically a new set of hungry players could bode better days are ahead. Perhaps some level of complacency had set in, it was recognized, and changes were made accordingly. For the record, we have only 12 players on scholarship at this time and one is available. I would not be surprised to see it go to a JUCO player which graduates from junior college sometime this summer. You can’t sign with a four year school from JUCO unless you graduate from the two year institution. Exception is if you were Eligible out of high school. Another transfer from a four year school is also a possibility.

[zephyr]

Actually All the changes may be good for the program. A young assistant coach with different ideas and basically a new set of hungry players could bode better days are ahead. Perhaps some level of complacency had set in, it was recognized, and changes were made accordingly. For the record, we have only 12 players on scholarship at this time and one is available. I would not be surprised to see it go to a JUCO player which graduates from junior college sometime this summer. You can’t sign with a four year school from JUCO unless you graduate from the two year institution. Exception is if you were Eligible out of high school. Another transfer from a four year school is also a possibility.

Was the complacency recognized if its there? We lost a coach to another school. We didn't fire him due to poor performance. If there is complacency in the program, that issue would not seem to have been addressed just by bringing in Brock Morris.

[zephyr]

Everytime I see a new thread about basketball, I just get mad... then sad.

I am hopeful that we have truly upgraded our roster. I'm often skeptical of creating high expectations based off of so much turnover and unknowns with the players but I would bet your house that our frontline will be drastically improved from what it would have looked like without some of this player movement and we will hopefully have more quality depth.

[Cajunsmike]

Was the complacency recognized if its there? We lost a coach to another school. We didn't fire him due to poor performance. If there is complacency in the program, that issue would not seem to have been addressed just by bringing in Brock Morris.

As you said in your followup posts, we have overhauled the roster and that probably is a bigger indicator of a need to change than staff movement. As far as Brock is concerned, I do know that there was an emphasis on bringing in youth when the position became open. Both he and Josten Crow aspire to be D1 head coaches one day and that is a good thing to have on your staff. I also don't know at what level the players brought in will perform at but it does appear we will have more athleticism and more depth than in the past. Of course none of us have any idea what type of team we will have at this stage. Consider, only four members of the squad saw playing time last year and one of those saw minimum action. At least two to of the eight new guys were able to practice due to redshirting. On an optimistic note, folks who went to practice have said they were the second and third best players on the team after Gant. That leaves six guys who have never had one practice at the D1 level at this time. Impossible to predict with any kind of confidence how successful they will be at this stage due to so much turnover. This is definitely a wait and see year.

[cajunfan96]

Yep, i am with you! Another year wasted with excuses from the Big Fish, while we lose stock with conference realignment!

[ULvictory]

It’ll be interesting to see how the changes play out. It can either be a huge blessing in disguise or it can be a disappointment. We will see soon enough.

With that being said, I’m very skeptical of “how good” a transfer or a recruit is in any sport because I’d rather not set myself up for disappointment. Show me on the field (or court in this matter), and I’ll judge you based on that. Hopefully, these guys can step up and get the job done. Watching us win games against glorified high schools before getting bounced out early in the conference tournament is starting to get kind of old.

[RaginDave]

It’ll be interesting to see how the changes play out. It can either be a huge blessing in disguise or it can be a disappointment. We will see soon enough.

With that being said, I’m very skeptical of “how good” a transfer or a recruit is in any sport because I’d rather not set myself up for disappointment. Show me on the field (or court in this matter), and I’ll judge you based on that. Hopefully, these guys can step up and get the job done. Watching us win games against glorified high schools before getting bounced out early in the conference tournament is starting to get kind of old.

Marlin has had some really good transfers though.

Shawn long and frank Bartley are two that come to mind.

[ManAboutTown]

Actually All the changes may be good for the program. A young assistant coach with different ideas and basically a new set of hungry players could bode better days are ahead. Perhaps some level of complacency had set in, it was recognized, and changes were made accordingly. For the record, we have only 12 players on scholarship at this time and one is available. I would not be surprised to see it go to a JUCO player which graduates from junior college sometime this summer. You can’t sign with a four year school from JUCO unless you graduate from the two year institution. Exception is if you were Eligible out of high school. Another transfer from a four year school is also a possibility.

The whole thing is stale, my friend. We need sweeping changes across the board. From head coach, to how we approach the basketball program, to how we schedule. We need to overhaul the basketball program, top to bottom.