UL Needs

[Cajunsmike]

_ I have seen these three kids play, they are very talented and have recieve good honors. Again, Gradnigo not MVP of the district, neither was Wallace, Bureau came no where near signing with LSU either man, get you facts straight. I dont now a kid that has choosen UL over LSU in 20 years man. Why are you so against local talent? _

Travis Bureau chose the Cajuns over the Tigers. Granted, both were offering him preferred walk on opportunities vs a scholarship, however he did choose to come here vs Baton Rouge and earned a scholarship.

[CajunRed]

_ I hope he hires some guys with good connections in Louisiana, we have a lot of home town talent right here. Those kids bring in more fans and family members. Three off the top of my head would be Donovan William - 25 ppg, 6'2" PG/2G, Cecilia HS, Jacoby Colbert - 18ppg, 6'2" slasher and jump shooter, Westgate HS, Xaiver Blackburn - 17ppg, 6'3" GF, knows how to play big and rebound. Those three guys will bring in a 1000 fans by themselves every home game. _

Look... I am all for signing local kids. But I've been following UL basketball for decades and it is wrong to think that signing local kids "brings the fans". It does not.

I'm for bringing in the best kids we can... nor matter where in the hell they are from.

[CAJUNJUDO]

_ I have seen these three kids play, they are very talented and have recieve good honors. Again, Gradnigo not MVP of the district, neither was Wallace, Bureau came no where near signing with LSU either man, get you facts straight. I dont now a kid that has choosen UL over LSU in 20 years man. Why are you so against local talent? _

You are WRONG.
As with Bureau not coming close?....look at Cajunmikes post.

Gradnigo recieved a scholarship to Notre Dame (not the one in Crowley either) and chose to come to UL....who cares if he was not the MVP of his district?

Also, EVERY SINGLE PLAYER (yes everyone of them after Ryan McCoy quit) was from LOUISIANA....local talent is NOT the answer. It takes a multitude of things from talent, skill, coaching, chemistry, etc.

Stop following high school basketball so closely and you will see the bigger picture. I've only watched one high school basketball game in my life (Mt. Pleasant High School vs. Detroit Country Day....back when Shane Battier was a beast)

I had my fill.....its College Basketball from now on for me!!

[Damon]

_ If Marlin wins us a title are you willing to change your name to St. Marlinville? _

"St. Marlinville" is funny.

I was being sarcastic, BTW. I'm against signing local kids for sake of being local. We need the best athletes and coaches, regardless of their mailing address. The "St. Martin Parish will come to the game if you sign these players" post was funny to me. You could fit all of Cecilia in one section of the upper deck. It's just silly.

[Just1More]

I think we should recruit nothing but local rich kids. We shouldn't worry about how good they are. We need their daddy's money. We could also force all of the parents business associates and employees to purchase season tickets or lose their jobs or business connections. I also think we should trick a leprechaun into showing us where the pot of gold is. We could promise him a unicorn. All little people like ponies. We could also have the leprechaun do trampoline dunks at halftime for entertainment. Local rich kids... that's the ticket.

[zephyr]

_ I have seen these three kids play, they are very talented and have recieve good honors. Again, Gradnigo not MVP of the district, neither was Wallace, Bureau came no where near signing with LSU either man, get you facts straight. I dont now a kid that has choosen UL over LSU in 20 years man. Why are you so against local talent? _

The facts are that you have no idea what you are talking about. If you knew anything about the Bureau situation, you'd know that LSU wanted him and we ultimately won out on his services. Also, your claim that local kids helps draw attention to the program are not necessarily disputed, however, to claim that signing a few local kids would increase attendance by 1,000 fans is ludicrous. Also, the notion that because a kid is a district MVP or all state is laughable at best when determining his future value to a collegiate program. I played in a district where the MVP was no more college ready than any of the other good players in the district and the state MVP was probably not even the best player in the state but rather, a beneficiary of good circumstances. Come on man, get real. Do you not think that the other players that will be recruited along with local players are not all state and all district performers?

[MetryCajun]

_ The facts are that you have no idea what you are talking about. If you knew anything about the Bureau situation, you'd know that LSU wanted him and we ultimately won out on his services. Also, your claim that local kids helps draw attention to the program are not necessarily disputed, however, to claim that signing a few local kids would increase attendance by 1,000 fans is ludicrous. Also, the notion that because a kid is a district MVP or all state is laughable at best when determining his future value to a collegiate program. I played in a district where the MVP was no more college ready than any of the other good players in the district and the state MVP was probably not even the best player in the state but rather, a beneficiary of good circumstances. Come on man, get real. Do you not think that the other players that will be recruited along with local players are not all state and all district performers? _

This claim of a 1,000 fans is one of the most ridiculous things ever said on this forum (and that is saying a lot). Daigle is a local kid with quite a fan base and he gets nowhere near 300+ per game.
Historically our best teams have been a mix of local and national kids. In a state as small as ours, you have to go that way.

[CajunRed]

_ This claim of a 1,000 fans is one of the most ridiculous things ever said on this forum (and that is saying a lot). Daigle is a local kid with quite a fan base and he gets nowhere near 300+ per game.
Historically our best teams have been a mix of local and national kids. In a state as small as ours, you have to go that way. _

My guess is that on the average a local player from Acadiana "MAY" average 20 additional fans who attend most games on his/her behalf. A player from Louisiana, but from outside of the Acaidana area, "MAY" average 5 additional fans per game who attend to watch that kid.

That means that if our basketball team has 5 kids from Acadiana, we "might" have 100 more people attend home games than would otherwise. Although we welcome all who wish to attend games and support our program, that is FAR from enough to warrant signing local kids just for the sake of increasing attendance.

Bottom line -- what will increase attendance? Winning!

[AstroCajun]

_ I have seen these three kids play, they are very talented and have recieve good honors. Again, Gradnigo not MVP of the district, neither was Wallace, Bureau came no where near signing with LSU either man, get you facts straight. I dont now a kid that has choosen UL over LSU in 20 years man. Why are you so against local talent? _

(Cough, Cough) SEAN GRIGGS (cough, cough) transfer (cough, cough)

Careful with those declaratory statments, my man.

[zephyr]

_ I have seen these three kids play, they are very talented and have recieve good honors. Again, Gradnigo not MVP of the district, neither was Wallace, Bureau came no where near signing with LSU either man, get you facts straight. I dont now a kid that has choosen UL over LSU in 20 years man. Why are you so against local talent? _

Another thing my friend, I do not want you to not post here as many of us disagree with your beliefs about local talent and their effects on our program. I am not against local talent at all. I actually said that if all things were equal such as fitting certain team needs, talent, character etc...I'd choose the local kid. I also said that the coaching staff has not done a good enough job of maintaining contact with kids and coaches of local high schools, even when those schools don't have any D-1 talent. It doesn't hurt to stop by every few months and say hi and invite some of the kids to clinics or camps you may hold in the summer. However, to think that because one of the kids that you mentioned should automatically be recruited and brought in before any other kid from another state carries no merit. Because a kid is all state or a district MVP does not mean that he possesses the talent to trump other players. Collegiate athletics is about winning. Coaches are paid, hired and fired based on their records first and many other factors second. You bring in the best players that you can when you can, regardless of where they live. We've had some good local kids over our years like the Brad Boyds, Eric Moutons, Boudreaux brothers, Kelvin Price and Chris Manuels but i don't recall seeing an inordinate amount of fans there just because of the local guys, they were there because we were good teams that won 80-90% of our home games and consistently won 20+games per season.

[Cajunsmike]

_ Another thing my friend, I do not want you to not post here as many of us disagree with your beliefs about local talent and their effects on our program. I am not against local talent at all. I actually said that if all things were equal such as fitting certain team needs, talent, character etc...I'd choose the local kid. I also said that the coaching staff has not done a good enough job of maintaining contact with kids and coaches of local high schools, even when those schools don't have any D-1 talent. It doesn't hurt to stop by every few months and say hi and invite some of the kids to clinics or camps you may hold in the summer. However, to think that because one of the kids that you mentioned should automatically be recruited and brought in before any other kid from another state carries no merit. Because a kid is all state or a district MVP does not mean that he possesses the talent to trump other players. Collegiate athletics is about winning. Coaches are paid, hired and fired based on their records first and many other factors second. You bring in the best players that you can when you can, regardless of where they live. We've had some good local kids over our years like the Brad Boyds, Eric Moutons, Boudreaux brothers, Kelvin Price and Chris Manuels but i don't recall seeing an inordinate amount of fans there just because of the local guys, they were there because we were good teams that won 80-90% of our home games and consistently won 20+games per season. _

In his radio interview with Scott Prather yesterday, Coach Marlin said they plan to recruit the local area first. Of course that means the players in the area must be ones with talent to play D1 ball and that is a subjective opinion that he is much more qualified than any of us to give.

[HoustonCajun]

_ In his radio interview with Scott Prather yesterday, Coach Marlin said they plan to recruit the local area first. Of course that means the players in the area must be ones with talent to play D1 ball and that is a subjective opinion that he is much more qualified than any of us to give. _

Coming from SHSU, I'm sure he will be tapping into the talent rich Houston area for recruits.