Final: Louisiana, 98, LCU 63

[Esqueleto]

Bring the platinum card

My wife has gotten pretty good at sneaking in a couple of juicifers.

[Cajunsmike]

So the Cajuns take on Louisiana Christian University, formally Louisiana College.

Just a quick snapshot of this team, as most of us don't know much about them.

This is a team that defeated Centenary by double digits 63-51 earlier in the season, so just by that we should assume they should be a little bit of a tougher test than Centenary. The Wildcats are 5-4 on the season with their best win probably being their last game vs University of Southwest NM last game. They have a double headed monster leading the way of Delor "DJ" Johnson and Bailey Hardy, both averaging 12.9 points per game. Johnson is a 6'4 guard who previously played at Southern Jaguars, so he has some D1 experience. At Southern he averaged 2.3 points and 1.6 rebounds as a freshman. Hardy is a 6'2 Senior from Lake Charles.

The big problem I see for the Wildcats is that they have 7 players who have started a game of which the majority have been started by 4 players. DJ Johnson (started all 9) is 6'4, Bailey (started 8 of 9) is 6'2, KJ Bilbo (started 9 of 9) is 6'4, Ferontay Banks (started 8 of 9) is 6'0. These are also 4 of their 5 leading scorers. The other two guys that have started games are Gary Smith (started 6 of 8) is 6'2 and Malik Cooper (started 3 of 5) is 6'3. These guys make up the top 6 scorers on the team and have scored 474 of their total 580 points or 82% of their points come from these 6 players and not one of them is over 6'4. The 7th leading scorer at 3.0 point per game is Drew Tebbe at 5'10, next is Jamael Owusu at 2.3 points per game is 6'4, then Kylan Williams at 6'6 and Caleb Howe at 6'2, then Branthony Brown at 6'5, then Bryson Hardy at 6'3, then Kobi Johnson at 5'8, then Konnor DeJean at 5'9 and finally Brayden Blakeway at 6'4.

So of their 15 players that have played a game they have two that are 6'5 or 6'6. Their leading rebounder on the season is Bailey Hardy at 6'2 averaging 5.9 per game. You would think that because of their lack of size issue they may be a team that likes to shoot the 3 and they somewhat are. They have attempted 203, which is more than the Cajuns 188 on the season, but only make 33% of them, the Cajuns are hitting at a 39.9% clip. But they do have 2 guys who are shooting 3's at a better than 40% clip and that is Bailey Hardy at 44.4% and Gary Smith at 43.3%. After that no one is super dangerous.

I know we should not expect this game to be close, but you would hope that you would get some opportunities for the big men to get some practice. This is not going to be fair for Terrance Lewis and Jordan Brown who are going to just dominate inside.

Good news is that this might be a chance for guys like Vinny Sigonia, Chancellor White and Isaiah Richards and others to get some meaningful minutes once this game is put away early, which I think will happen.

I say get JB and Lewis out of the game early and keep them healthy for conference matchups coming up. There is no need for a dumb injury vs a team that we don't need to be playing.

I too am tired of the non D1 schools and truth is the staff wishes they would not be playing a third. However they have to play 14 home games due to Learfield agreement. Losing the USM (was supposed to be a non conference home game prior to move to SBC) and Southeastern (scheduled to come here prior to schools moving back to SLC) games forced them into this. I guess if they were willing to pay 60 grand plus to buy a SWAC team they would not have had to but that decision is behind us. I think this is the last year of this due to new SBC home scheduling requirements. As far as tonight goes, Dave did an excellent job of previewing the opponent. Note the Banks kid is a Comeaux High product so he probably will have family and friends present. I also wonder if the Hardy kid from Lake Charles is related to former Cajun PJ Hardy. It is being designated a Christmas game with fans encouraged to wear seasonal sweaters, whether they be tacky or not. Saturday night having the band present added some to the atmosphere. They also allowed kids to greet the team in the pregame run out of the tunnel. I hope those things happen again. Note a We're Talkin Basketball Podcast will be recorded later in the week in which the UNO, Samford, and La. Christian games will be reviewed. Short previews of McNeese and Texas also planned. On a disturbing note, it was reported this morning that Texas coach Chris Beard has been arrested. I think it involved domestic abuse. Perhaps he took his emphasis on aggressive defense a little too far.

[RaginDave]

I too am tired of the non D1 schools and truth is the staff wishes they would not be playing a third. However they have to play 14 home games due to Learfield agreement. Losing the USM (was supposed to be a non conference home game prior to move to SBC) and Southeastern (scheduled to come here prior to schools moving back to SLC) games forced them into this. I guess if they were willing to pay 60 grand plus to buy a SWAC team they would not have had to but that decision is behind us. I think this is the last year of this due to new SBC home scheduling requirements. As far as tonight goes, Dave did an excellent job of previewing the opponent. Note the Banks kid is a Comeaux High product so he probably will have family and friends present. I also wonder if the Hardy kid from Lake Charles is related to former Cajun PJ Hardy. It is being designated a Christmas game with fans encouraged to wear seasonal sweaters, whether they be tacky or not. Saturday night having the band present added some to the atmosphere. They also allowed kids to greet the team in the pregame run out of the tunnel. I hope those things happen again. Note a We're Talkin Basketball Podcast will be recorded later in the week in which the UNO, Samford, and La. Christian games will be reviewed. Short previews of McNeese and Texas also planned. On a disturbing note, it was reported this morning that Texas coach Chris Beard has been arrested. I think it involved domestic abuse. Perhaps he took his emphasis on aggressive defense a little too far.

Wow, did not know about the Chris Beard deal. That is crazy. Look we have a chance to be 10-1 when we play Texas. The reality is we should easily win tonight and should win fairly easily vs McNeese. The Texas game is going to be rough. Texas is 7-1, their only loss was to #17 Illinois with wins over #2 Gonzaga and #7 Creighton. They have Rice and Stanford before they meet us. Rice is a pretty good 6-2 team and Stanford is 3-8 on the season, that is unusual for them to be that bad. The Beard thing could throw a monkey wrench into who they are.

It is possible that Bryson Hardy is related to PJ, as they both attended St. Louis Catholic in Lake Charles, according to our website, PJ had 2 brothers: Kevin who played at McNeese and Bailey who played at LC, so he might be a cousin.

[60swerethebest]

It was ‘63 but our tallest player was 6’4”. Our center, Dave Kessler. Crazy.

[SlickRick]

Same here. Sticker shock when I went up to the counter.

I just load up at home before the game....have the wife drive. Done!

[BBcajun]

Saturday night having the band present added some to the atmosphere.

And not having the DJ blasting loud music during every single break in the action created a very pleasant atmosphere !!

[moorecajun]

And not having the DJ blasting loud music during every single break in the action created a very pleasant atmosphere !!

And that is also because the band was there! Definetly a welcomed site!

[MelRock]

Yes, the band and no DJ were a plus!

[CajunEXPRESS]

I just load up at home before the game....have the wife drive. Done!

I get the humor, but it’s very sad that we’re killing the program for short term gouging profits. What’s the income on 800 old goats too sick to partake bad food and alcohol products.

No doubt the CD, the concession vendor and UL would do much better with 100% markups by thousands than virtually nothing with 1000% markups. Same for ticket master.

[Turbine]

And that is also because the band was there! Definetly a welcomed site!

I wish that smooth move worked for football