Basketball game vs McNeese

[MetryCajun]

My grades.
UL: C-. Played short handed, but they had a couple of awful stretches of basketball in both halves. The beginning of the game was bad even by HS standards. Johnson played well and Russell got hot so that was nice. Julien reminds me of Bryce Washington. Hope he can be that third scorer.
McNeese: D. They look like a mediocre SLC team. If they were any good they would have been up by 25 in the first half. Respect their coach for not punching the refs as it was clear they were giving us the calls in the second half.
Refs: F. Basketball would be the least popular sport in the US if these guys called major games. Can we let the players play and not call every touch foul?

I will wait to make a judgement on the team until the end of the Calendar year, but this was not a great audition. It looks to me like the athleticism, shooting and rebounding are less than last year. I do not follow the program like I used to, but this looks like an underwhelming group and should give lots of fuel to the Marlin haters. The guys do play hard and seem to like each other, so maybe they can improve over the next few months.

[Cajunsmike]

This years team is a has mid level Southland Conference talent. I won' be surprised if we are a .500 team this year. We don't have a big to protect the rim and get rebounds.

We don't have one right now with the guys we are running out there. We will have one when Smith comes back and hopefully that is within the next week or so. Pretty sure he won't play at TCU. As far as tonight goes, first 15 minutes was simply a matter of not being able to make a shot or get to line. Last 5 minutes of first half and first 10 minutes of second half was a pretty good display of basketball by our guys. What happened in the last two minutes is something I have a hard time being able to explain and certainly won't try to excuse it. Turnovers when being pressed at crunch time just cannot happen and more practice time needs to be spent on that. It came down to making enough free throws to hold them off and that is a positive which may help in other games later in the year.

[ZoomZoom]

Well, the bright spot was only ten turnovers, abet two at crunch time.

McNeese's best player, Brown, couldn't wait his turn here and transferred to Lake Charles. For him, no victories against the team he left.

[CajunDreDog]

Final ❗️#GeauxCajuns ⚜️ pic.twitter.com/jpil9vEmbq

— Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns® Men's Basketball (@RaginCajunsMBB) November 10, 2019

[CajunDreDog]

#TurnItRed #RingTheBell #CajunsWin pic.twitter.com/cEq078UpEr

— 🤟#CajunNationNews🤟 (@CajunDreDog) November 10, 2019

[Geaux]

We don't have one right now with the guys we are running out there. We will have one when Smith comes back and hopefully that is within the next week or so. Pretty sure he won't play at TCU. As far as tonight goes, first 15 minutes was simply a matter of not being able to make a shot or get to line. Last 5 minutes of first half and first 10 minutes of second half was a pretty good display of basketball by our guys. What happened in the last two minutes is something I have a hard time being able to explain and certainly won't try to excuse it. Turnovers when being pressed at crunch time just cannot happen and more practice time needs to be spent on that. It came down to making enough free throws to hold them off and that is a positive which may help in other games later in the year.

Thanks for the explanation. Geaux Cajuns

[Cajunsmike]

My grades.
UL: C-. Played short handed, but they had a couple of awful stretches of basketball in both halves. The beginning of the game was bad even by HS standards. Johnson played well and Russell got hot so that was nice. Julien reminds me of Bryce Washington. Hope he can be that third scorer.
McNeese: D. They look like a mediocre SLC team. If they were any good they would have been up by 25 in the first half. Respect their coach for not punching the refs as it was clear they were giving us the calls in the second half.
Refs: F. Basketball would be the least popular sport in the US if these guys called major games. Can we let the players play and not call every touch foul?

I will wait to make a judgement on the team until the end of the Calendar year, but this was not a great audition. It looks to me like the athleticism, shooting and rebounding are less than last year. I do not follow the program like I used to, but this looks like an underwhelming group and should give lots of fuel to the Marlin haters. The guys do play hard and seem to like each other, so maybe they can improve over the next few months.

Hard for the 8 guys playing now to be as athletic as in the past when Gant is not on the team. However, when you bring in all the guys that are out now, from an overall basis this group is actually more athletic than last season. However Smith may be the only one to come back soon so your concerns are valid. When Smith does come back we will be better than last year from a rebounding standpoint Shooting wise, Russell and Johnson appear to be the only two that are consistent from the perimeter. However, recall that Temple, Lafayette, and Julien all hit big ones late in the first half to help fuel a comeback which is encouraging. I do expect the staff will catch more heat if improvement does not occur and I think it will be incremental at best as long as we have only these eight guys. What the team looks like by the time conference play starts may be a lot different than what we ran out there tonight however.

[CajunEXPRESS]

We don't have one right now with the guys we are running out there. We will have one when Smith comes back and hopefully that is within the next week or so. Pretty sure he won't play at TCU. As far as tonight goes, first 15 minutes was simply a matter of not being able to make a shot or get to line. Last 5 minutes of first half and first 10 minutes of second half was a pretty good display of basketball by our guys. What happened in the last two minutes is something I have a hard time being able to explain and certainly won't try to excuse it. Turnovers when being pressed at crunch time just cannot happen and more practice time needs to be spent on that. It came down to making enough free throws to hold them off and that is a positive which may help in other games later in the year.

Somebody told me that we could count on an improvement in defense. Eighty to the Brokebacks, almost seventy to an NAIA school aren’t my idea of top notch defense.

[Cajunsmike]

Somebody told me that we could count on an improvement in defense. Eighty to the Brokebacks, almost seventy to an NAIA school aren’t my idea of top notch defense.

Our defense in the first half was excellent, not so much in the second half. Wonder if having only eight guys had anything to do with that . We did force 22 turnovers which is indicative of effective defense. The two big turnovers we had at the end were a major factor in points allowed. Have to get better all the way around to have a chance at TCU.

[CajunEXPRESS]

My grades.
UL: C-. Played short handed, but they had a couple of awful stretches of basketball in both halves. The beginning of the game was bad even by HS standards. Johnson played well and Russell got hot so that was nice. Julien reminds me of Bryce Washington. Hope he can be that third scorer.
McNeese: D. They look like a mediocre SLC team. If they were any good they would have been up by 25 in the first half. Respect their coach for not punching the refs as it was clear they were giving us the calls in the second half.
Refs: F. Basketball would be the least popular sport in the US if these guys called major games. Can we let the players play and not call every touch foul?

I will wait to make a judgement on the team until the end of the Calendar year, but this was not a great audition. It looks to me like the athleticism, shooting and rebounding are less than last year. I do not follow the program like I used to, but this looks like an underwhelming group and should give lots of fuel to the Marlin haters. The guys do play hard and seem to like each other, so maybe they can improve over the next few months.

Let’s get something straight? Define hater! I doubt anyone hates Big Fish. Recognizing that he is a very limited coach, that almost always fails to deliver the hype isn’t hating, it’s being honest. I doubt anybody wants Marlin to ever lose another game as Cajuns basketball coach. But he’s probably going to lose way too many. That’s not hating.

[cajun55]

Somebody told me that we could count on an improvement in defense. Eighty to the Brokebacks, almost seventy to an NAIA school aren’t my idea of top notch defense.

This team as it is now stands definitely lacks experience. Some talented pieces that I think will take time to mesh and be consistent. I was impressed with #34 Dou Gueye. Big and athletic for his size, the kind of player that is needed to suceed at this level. I’d say an average sbc team as of now with above average talent that will only get better with experience. From what i’ve seen so far I predict we will be 5-5 heading into our conference play opener against Ark. St.

[CajunEXPRESS]

Our defense in the first half was excellent, not so much in the second half. Wonder if having only eight guys had anything to do with that . We did force 22 turnovers which is indicative of effective defense. The two big turnovers we had at the end were a major factor in points allowed. Have to get better all the way around to have a chance at TCU.

The fact that the Brokebacks couldn’t throw a ball into the ocean didn’t make us a good defense, only them an awful offense. Anytime you allow 80 you didn’t have a good defense that game.