MBB OT Final : Louisiana 76, SMU 72

[CajunEXPRESS]

The only thing that drives me nuts is Brown’s habit of playing small sometimes. He needs his hands above his head not waist high.

[fanof71]

In the current world of college basketball 12 in not a bunch of turnovers. I have been impressed with the fact that as a team we have cut down on the unnecessary turnovers this season.

As a team we have a total of 58 through 5 games or roughly 11.6 per game. We have forced 70 turnovers on the season or average of 14 per game.

The blocks could be concerning but most of those were Thomas and/or Fulks getting in amongst the trees and getting stuck without a passing option. Those are mistakes that can be unlearned. But they are trying to make things happen with our bigs and/or three point shooters.

Cajuns had 8 blocks and caused timely turnovers...

[moorecajun]

In the current world of college basketball 12 in not a bunch of turnovers. I have been impressed with the fact that as a team we have cut down on the unnecessary turnovers this season.

As a team we have a total of 58 through 5 games or roughly 11.6 per game. We have forced 70 turnovers on the season or average of 14 per game.

The blocks could be concerning but most of those were Thomas and/or Fulks getting in amongst the trees and getting stuck without a passing option. Those are mistakes that can be unlearned. But they are trying to make things happen with our bigs and/or three point shooters.

We have played the last two games against some pretty tough defences; I was impressed with how we have dealt with that so far and our ability to close out these games.

[RaginDave]

To put the turnovers in perspective. On the season.

Duke has 61 turnovers through 5 games. 12 per.

UNC has 39 through 4 games. 10 per

Gonzaga has 70 through 4 games. 17 per.

I can live with 12 per as long as they aren’t careless turnovers. Turnovers come in all shapes and sizes. For instance the turnover that SMU got early in the 2nd half was a mix of carelessness on our part and a great play on theirs. The turnover (charge) that Michael Thomas took and the play by joe Charles late in the game were just great plays. The play where SMU through the ball away on a fast break and the one where they stepped out of bounds on a fast break were 100% carelessness. If we eliminate the careless ones or at least cut down on them I am fine with 10-12 per game. It is the careless ones that kill you. So far we have done a good job of keeping those to a minimum.

[moorecajun]

To put the turnovers in perspective. On the season.

Duke has 61 turnovers through 5 games. 12 per.

UNC has 39 through 4 games. 10 per

Gonzaga has 70 through 4 games. 17 per.

I can live with 12 per as long as they aren’t careless turnovers. Turnovers come in all shapes and sizes. For instance the turnover that SMU had early in the 2nd half was a mix of carelessness on our part and a great play on theirs. The turnover (charge) that Michael Thomas room and the play by joe Charles late in the game were just great plays. The play where SMU through the ball away on a fast break and the one where they stepped out of bounds on a fast break were 100% carelessness. If we eliminate the careless ones or at least cut down on them I am fine with 10-12 per game. It is the careless ones that kill you. So far we have done a good job of keeping those to a minimum.

Man, that guy ployed into MT!

[Duggie35]

This team is fun to watch and it appears (so far) that they will be pretty good. What a change after so many mediocre seasons over the past few years. However, I should probably take some credit for the teams much improved performance. I gave up my season tickets this season after having them for 25-30 years! I decided that I no longer enjoyed attending UL Basketball games and would just buy individual game tickets for the games I wanted to attend. This also allowed me to save paying the additional "Per Seat Donation" for a less than enjoyable experience in recent seasons. So give me some credit, for making a change in my support of UL Basketball. This must have influenced this team and they are apparently trying to win my support back!

[RaginDave]

Man, that guy ployed into MT!

To also put this in persective, last year we averaged 15.6 turnovers per game. That is almost cutting your turnovers by 25% year over year. I'll take that, currently we are ranked 80th out of 363 D-1 college basketball teams in turnovers per game. That is the top 25% of teams in the country.

[Hatch]

Agree on the grow up game. The bench was absolutely huge in this game and it wasn’t all stuff that shows up in the box score but it sure does in the + -.

Charles +11
Thomas +11
Dalcourt +17

[RaginDave]

We outscored their bench 19-4

[zephyr]

In the current world of college basketball 12 in not a bunch of turnovers. I have been impressed with the fact that as a team we have cut down on the unnecessary turnovers this season.

As a team we have a total of 58 through 5 games or roughly 11.6 per game. We have forced 70 turnovers on the season or average of 14 per game.

The blocks could be concerning but most of those were Thomas and/or Fulks getting in amongst the trees and getting stuck without a passing option. Those are mistakes that can be unlearned. But they are trying to make things happen with our bigs and/or three point shooters.

He was talking about our defense.

[zephyr]

To put the turnovers in perspective. On the season.

Duke has 61 turnovers through 5 games. 12 per.

UNC has 39 through 4 games. 10 per

Gonzaga has 70 through 4 games. 17 per.

I can live with 12 per as long as they aren’t careless turnovers. Turnovers come in all shapes and sizes. For instance the turnover that SMU got early in the 2nd half was a mix of carelessness on our part and a great play on theirs. The turnover (charge) that Michael Thomas took and the play by joe Charles late in the game were just great plays. The play where SMU through the ball away on a fast break and the one where they stepped out of bounds on a fast break were 100% carelessness. If we eliminate the careless ones or at least cut down on them I am fine with 10-12 per game. It is the careless ones that kill you. So far we have done a good job of keeping those to a minimum.

Marlin has stated he wants to be around 18+ assists and 12 or less turnovers per game. That is the team goal. They seem to be meeting that right now.

[RaginDave]

He was talking about our defense.

You are correct, I misread his post.