Cedric Russell Portals out to Ohio State

[CajunVic]

It hasn't changed anything, it is understood with Marlin that he has to win this year.

It is understood between Marlin and who?

[cajuns80]

It is understood between Marlin and who?

Administration and fans.

[Hatch]

Hatch, do you or Cajunsmike has any info on the recent Marlin extension?

No insider info here but I didn’t really read anything into that seeing as it appeared to be blanket extensions across the board for all coaches. I agree that it is known expectations are high.

[Cajunsmike]

No insider info here but I didn’t really read anything into that seeing as it appeared to be blanket extensions across the board for all coaches. I agree that it is known expectations are high.

Every coach on campus got an 1 year extension due to Covid. Nothing much to be read into that formality. Expectations are high from everyone and that includes players and staff. Difference between them and others is they have extreme confidence they will be successful. I would not want those in my program to think any other way. From the social media posts I have seen one of the reasons for optimism is the attitude being instilled by the new strength coach, Oliver Winston. He was with Chris Beard at Texas Tech where he was part of a lot of success. Maybe his work will help with the problem the team has had in recent years in finishing shot attempts near the basket.

[Turbine]

Every coach on campus got an 1 year extension due to Covid.

That seems exuberant.

'Nobody gets fired because of Covid' seems rational.

[Cajunsmike]

One thing people may have missed from the article is that Cedric will finish his degree at Louisiana in the next few days. Therefore he will always be part of the Ragin Cajuns family. He indicated as such in his Twitter note announcing his decision. I for one wish him well on his next journey.

[moorecajun]

One thing people may have missed from the article is that Cedric will finish his degree at Louisiana in the next few days. Therefore he will always be part of the Ragin Cajuns family. He indicated as such in his Twitter note announcing his decision. I for one wish him well on his next journey.

I wish him well also. I just don't think it was a very smart decision as others have posted as well. He probably won't get the same playing time or exposure.

[CajunVic]

I wish him well also. I just don't think it was a very smart decision as others have posted as well. He probably won't get the same playing time or exposure.

It depends how you define exposure. Is it appearing and getting playing time in March Madness?

In his years here, that has not happened for him.

[Hatch]

One more theory on Russell that is just my own thoughts. It was mentioned in the article the steady increase in production he showed year after year while here. It is possible he didn’t want a decrease in minutes/scoring on his resume in a fifth year in the same program. I’m not saying he would have been riding the bench here next year by any means but with Williams, Harper, and Jones all competing for minutes at the guard spots a slight decrease in production would not have been out of the question, and for a scout simply looking at numbers that may raise an eyebrow. Cedric was practicing against those guys for 3 weeks so he knew what he was up against. For his numbers to go down moving from the mid major level to a national championship contender would be expected, and of course he gets the experience of playing on that kind of stage. I may get some flack for that opinion but I don’t care.

[Cajunsmike]

One more theory on Russell that is just my own thoughts. It was mentioned in the article the steady increase in production he showed year after year while here. It is possible he didn’t want a decrease in minutes/scoring on his resume in a fifth year in the same program. I’m not saying he would have been riding the bench here next year by any means but with Williams, Harper, and Jones all competing for minutes at the guard spots a slight decrease in production would not have been out of the question, and for a scout simply looking at numbers that may raise an eyebrow. Cedric was practicing against those guys for 3 weeks so he knew what he was up against. For his numbers to go down moving from the mid major level to a national championship contender would be expected, and of course he gets the experience of playing on that kind of stage. I may get some flack for that opinion but I don’t care.

The staff was definitely not expecting a decrease in production from Cedric. They WERE expecting his statistical numbers to go down however due to Williams and Jones coming on board. Part of that would be due to him simply playing fewer minutes. That would not have been a bad thing however as he was forced to play too many minutes here the last two years. Going forward the staff still has to deal with keeping 14 scholarship players and two scholarship worthy walkons engaged. That will be a challenge. Once the rotation starts to be pared down (at conference play time), how those who have time lessened respond may determine what type of year they have.

[cajun4life]

Administration and fans.

Bro the fans quit on Lil Big Guppy 5 years ago.

[Hatch]

That’s the point I was trying to make. To have minutes and scoring numbers consistently go up and then decrease a bit in a 5th year in the same program might not be the best look. It was mentioned before he was influenced by an agent, that might have been part of the agent’s advice, just speculating.