Basketball Podcast Highlights-Weekend Preview

[Cajunsmike]

Craig is recovering from recent surgery. Therefore we were unable to record a basketball podcast that we had planned for today. Shown below are the highlights of the topics we had planned to discuss.

McNeese Game
1) Good start with nice ball movement three from Greg Williams and a mid lane floater from Terrance Lewis. Recall we had mentioned in last pod it would be important for Lewis to attack McNeese zone by catching ball near free throw line
2) After Fulks goes to bench with foul trouble Cowboys take lead. Cajuns respond with best five minutes of year in a 15 to 0 run to take halftime lead. Scored from all three levels, limited Cowboys to one shot and mimimized turnovers. This flash encouraging for conference play
3) McNeese makes it a game in second half due to Shumate offensive rebounding. Joe Charles guards him much of this half. Does a good job initially but not strong enough to keep him off boards.
4) Trey English hurts Cajuns from three but many of those after Shumate offensive board. Best game of career for English.
5) Jordan puts game away from line and also guards Shumate at end of game as foul trouble no longer an issue. Started slow at line but finished strong. Perhaps he needs to take more free throws pre game. Good shooting by Cajuns in game. 57 percent overall and 50 percent from three
Greg Williams Jr especially hot with 5 threes.

Texas game.
1) Longhorns aggressive from start and take early lead with hot shooting.
2)Game settles down until five minutes in half. Jordan Brown keeps Cajuns in it for awhile. Turnovers at end of half and in first five minutes of second half end game. Disappointed Cajuns did not show more mental toughness at that point. Have to focus despite nerves in that environment for success.
3) Texas makes 10 of 15 threes to start game. Many come in transition and early in shot clock. Set up by their defense in many cases. Shooting early defeats Cajuns normal plan to limit three pointers by opponents.
4) Horns effective by playing Jordan straight up and pressuring guards. Tough matchup for Greg Williams Jr. at 6'3" going against 6'6" well built forward named Allen. Perhaps Greg can move to 2 guard spot at times once Kobe Julien is in flow
5) Positive was Jordan Brown scoring 20 on road against ranked team. Another was scoring from bench from Chancellor White and Jalen Dalcourt. Bench scoring has been an issue at times. Also had more offensive rebounds that Horns.

Coastal Carolina preview (Thursday night at 6 on ESPN+)
1) Chants are 6 and 5 but only 3 and 5 in D1 games. Best victory was one point win at South Dakota.
2) Several transfers on team with only three returnees.
3) Two best players are returnees. No. 4 is Josh Uduje and is their best guard. No. 44 is Estam Mustafa and he is their best rebounder.
4) Rebounding is a Chant strength. Cajuns have to improve from last few performances in that regard. Terrance Lewis may need to play more.
5) Chants like to play fast and are mostly man to man team but we expect them to change that up due to match up issue they may have with Jordan. Cajuns may be able to catch them with some confusion if they try to switch defenses on fly.

Old Dominion preview (Saturday afternoon at 1 on ESPN+)
1) Monarchs are 8 and 4 but 7 and 0 at home. Have not played away from home since November. Good practice time.
2) Last 2 games have been one point wins. 44 to 43 and 78 to 77 over George Mason. Gives them confidence
3) They also have lots of transfers but 2 best players are returnees. No.11 is Tyreek Grayson and he scored 30 against George Mason. No. 2 is Chaunce Jenkins and he hit last second shot to beat George Mason. Best rebounder is 6'7" No. 0 Mekhi Long.
4) Appear to be defensively focused as they average 68 and give up 65. Game may remind people of playing Texas State.
5) Jordan Brown may have success as their biggest guy is 6'10' but only averages 3 points and 3 boards.

Final note. Both women's games are at same time as men. Therefore, radio broadcast will only be on 96.5 FM. Women on 1420 AM.

Sorry for long post but I did not want the prep work I had done for today's postponed recording to be wasted. Hopefully, some of you find useful information in the post.

[BabbForHeisman]

Good stuff, thanks!

[Cajunfever]

Craig is recovering from recent surgery. Therefore we were unable to record a basketball podcast that we had planned for today. Shown below are the highlights of the topics we had planned to discuss.

McNeese Game
1) Good start with nice ball movement three from Greg Williams and a mid lane floater from Terrance Lewis. Recall we had mentioned in last pod it would be important for Lewis to attack McNeese zone by catching ball near free throw line
2) After Fulks goes to bench with foul trouble Cowboys take lead. Cajuns respond with best five minutes of year in a 15 to 0 run to take halftime lead. Scored from all three levels, limited Cowboys to one shot and mimimized turnovers. This flash encouraging for conference play
3) McNeese makes it a game in second half due to Shumate offensive rebounding. Joe Charles guards him much of this half. Does a good job initially but not strong enough to keep him off boards.
4) Trey English hurts Cajuns from three but many of those after Shumate offensive board. Best game of career for English.
5) Jordan puts game away from line and also guards Shumate at end of game as foul trouble no longer an issue. Started slow at line but finished strong. Perhaps he needs to take more free throws pre game. Good shooting by Cajuns in game. 57 percent overall and 50 percent from three
Greg Williams Jr especially hot with 5 threes.

Texas game.
1) Longhorns aggressive from start and take early lead with hot shooting.
2)Game settles down until five minutes in half. Jordan Brown keeps Cajuns in it for awhile. Turnovers at end of half there and in first five minutes of second half end game. Disappointed Cajuns did not show more mental toughness at that point. Have to focus despite nerves in that environment for success.
3) Texas makes 10 of 15 threes to start game. Many come in transition and early in shot clock. Set up by their defense in many cases. Shooting early defeats Cajuns normal plan to limit three pointers by opponents.
4) Horns effective by playing Jordan straight up and pressuring guards. Tough matchup for Greg Williams Jr. at 6'3" going against 6'6" well built forward named Allen. Perhaps Greg can move to 2 guard spot at times once Kobe Julien is in flow
5) Positive was Jordan Brown scoring 20 on road against ranked team. Another was scoring from bench from Chancellor White and Jalen Dalcourt. Bench scoring has been an issue at times. Also had more offensive rebounds that Horns.

Coastal Carolina preview (Thursday night at 6 on ESPN+)
1) Chants are 6 and 5 but only 3 and 5 in D1 games. Best victory was one point win at South Dakota.
2) Several transfers on team with only three returnees.
3) Two best players are returnees. No. 4 is Josh Uduje and is their best guard. No. 44 is Estam Mustafa and he is their best rebounder.
4) Rebounding is a Chant strength. Cajuns have to improve from last few performances in that regard. Terrance Lewis may need to play more.
5) Chants like to play fast and are mostly man to man team but we expect them to change that up due to match up issue they may have with Jordan. Cajuns may be able to catch them with some confusion if they try to switch defenses on fly.

Old Dominion preview (Saturday afternoon at 1 on ESPN+)
1) Monarchs are 8 and 4 but 7 and 0 at home. Have not played away from home since November. Good practice time.
2) Last 2 games have been one point wins. 44 to 43 and 78 to 77 over George Mason. Gives them confidence
3) They also have lots of transfers but 2 best players are returnees. No.11 is Tyreek Grayson and he scored 30 against George Mason. No. 2 is Chaunce Jenkins and he hit last second shot to beat George Mason. Best rebounder is 6'7" No. 0 Mekhi Long.
4) Appear to be defensively focused as they average 68 and give up 65. Game may remind people of playing Texas State.
5) Jordan Brown may have success as their biggest guy is 6'10' but only averages 3 points and 3 boards.

Final note. Both women's games are at same time as men. Therefore, radio broadcast will only be on 96.5 FM. Women on 1420 AM.

Sorry for long post but I did not want the prep work I had done for today's postponed recording to be wasted. Hopefully, some of you find useful information in the post.

Mike--nice job.

You mentioned the matchup problem Greg had against Texas playing the 3--I think the biggest challenge for us was both forward matchups--3 and 4. Lewis was really a non factor in this game and Charles was not strong enough. Texas is very talented, they are fast and strong. The Texas game reminded me of the Clemson game Dec 2017--we were 10-2 heading into that game and got spanked by 29. We ended the year at 27-7. I do think this is our best team since that 2017-2018 team and we have a chance to be better than that team.

[moorecajun]

Craig is recovering from recent surgery. Therefore we were unable to record a basketball podcast that we had planned for today. Shown below are the highlights of the topics we had planned to discuss.

McNeese Game
1) Good start with nice ball movement three from Greg Williams and a mid lane floater from Terrance Lewis. Recall we had mentioned in last pod it would be important for Lewis to attack McNeese zone by catching ball near free throw line
2) After Fulks goes to bench with foul trouble Cowboys take lead. Cajuns respond with best five minutes of year in a 15 to 0 run to take halftime lead. Scored from all three levels, limited Cowboys to one shot and mimimized turnovers. This flash encouraging for conference play
3) McNeese makes it a game in second half due to Shumate offensive rebounding. Joe Charles guards him much of this half. Does a good job initially but not strong enough to keep him off boards.
4) Trey English hurts Cajuns from three but many of those after Shumate offensive board. Best game of career for English.
5) Jordan puts game away from line and also guards Shumate at end of game as foul trouble no longer an issue. Started slow at line but finished strong. Perhaps he needs to take more free throws pre game. Good shooting by Cajuns in game. 57 percent overall and 50 percent from three
Greg Williams Jr especially hot with 5 threes.

Texas game.
1) Longhorns aggressive from start and take early lead with hot shooting.
2)Game settles down until five minutes in half. Jordan Brown keeps Cajuns in it for awhile. Turnovers at end of half there and in first five minutes of second half end game. Disappointed Cajuns did not show more mental toughness at that point. Have to focus despite nerves in that environment for success.
3) Texas makes 10 of 15 threes to start game. Many come in transition and early in shot clock. Set up by their defense in many cases. Shooting early defeats Cajuns normal plan to limit three pointers by opponents.
4) Horns effective by playing Jordan straight up and pressuring guards. Tough matchup for Greg Williams Jr. at 6'3" going against 6'6" well built forward named Allen. Perhaps Greg can move to 2 guard spot at times once Kobe Julien is in flow
5) Positive was Jordan Brown scoring 20 on road against ranked team. Another was scoring from bench from Chancellor White and Jalen Dalcourt. Bench scoring has been an issue at times. Also had more offensive rebounds that Horns.

Coastal Carolina preview (Thursday night at 6 on ESPN+)
1) Chants are 6 and 5 but only 3 and 5 in D1 games. Best victory was one point win at South Dakota.
2) Several transfers on team with only three returnees.
3) Two best players are returnees. No. 4 is Josh Uduje and is their best guard. No. 44 is Estam Mustafa and he is their best rebounder.
4) Rebounding is a Chant strength. Cajuns have to improve from last few performances in that regard. Terrance Lewis may need to play more.
5) Chants like to play fast and are mostly man to man team but we expect them to change that up due to match up issue they may have with Jordan. Cajuns may be able to catch them with some confusion if they try to switch defenses on fly.

Old Dominion preview (Saturday afternoon at 1 on ESPN+)
1) Monarchs are 8 and 4 but 7 and 0 at home. Have not played away from home since November. Good practice time.
2) Last 2 games have been one point wins. 44 to 43 and 78 to 77 over George Mason. Gives them confidence
3) They also have lots of transfers but 2 best players are returnees. No.11 is Tyreek Grayson and he scored 30 against George Mason. No. 2 is Chaunce Jenkins and he hit last second shot to beat George Mason. Best rebounder is 6'7" No. 0 Mekhi Long.
4) Appear to be defensively focused as they average 68 and give up 65. Game may remind people of playing Texas State.
5) Jordan Brown may have success as their biggest guy is 6'10' but only averages 3 points and 3 boards.

Final note. Both women's games are at same time as men. Therefore, radio broadcast will only be on 96.5 FM. Women on 1420 AM.

Sorry for long post but I did not want the prep work I had done for today's postponed recording to be wasted. Hopefully, some of you find useful information in the post.

I find it very usefull! Thanks for doing it!

And get better Craig!

GEAUX CAJUNS!

[Million$Mullet]

Thanks Mike. Good info as usual. And Craig hope you get better soon. And also hoping they fixed your broken hand from lending tree bowl as well

[Cajunsmike]

Mike--nice job.

You mentioned the matchup problem Greg had against Texas playing the 3--I think the biggest challenge for us was both forward matchups--3 and 4. Lewis was really a non factor in this game and Charles was not strong enough. Texas is very talented, they are fast and strong. The Texas game reminded me of the Clemson game Dec 2017--we were 10-2 heading into that game and got spanked by 29. We ended the year at 27-7. I do think this is our best team since that 2017-2018 team and we have a chance to be better than that team.

The Clemson game in December of 2017 was also the last game before Christmas break. Maybe we should quit scheduling the payday games at that time of year. I do think this team has a chance to be our best since the 2018 team. At this point, I believe the 2018 group was better balanced when healthy. Hopefully this group will not have their confidence shaken from the Texas game. Tonight, we will go back to seeing Jordan Brown facing multiple defenders and having to kick the ball out to the wings. Texas is one of the few teams that can guard Jordan straight up due to their athleticism everywhere else. Tonight, ability of the guys to knock down the open looks will play a role in determining the outcome. Jordan also needs to get the ball out quicker at times. That is my main concern of his game. He was improved there but not at a level he is capable of. Holding the ball higher upon the catch would help in that regard. Sometimes it is a mistake to take the first shot available when the ball comes out of the post. An extra pass results in a better shot. You can also throw the ball back down to Jordan on a repost and he may be in a better position to score at that point. We also need Terrance Lewis to be more of a factor on the boards than he was the last two games. I was very disappointed in the free throw shooting at Texas. Entire team struggled in that regard. Again, more mental toughness needed in that environment. Opening game of conference on the road also provides pressure. Will be interesting to see how the team responds.

[Cajunsmike]

Good stuff, thanks!

One other point regarding Old Dominion. In their 7 home games, they have played only one non D1 school and 6 D1 games. It appears they "bought" a few of their D1 home games. Contrast that to our situation when we have only played 2 D1 games, both of those are part of home and home series, and we bought ZERO D1 games. That will change next year due to the new conference scheduling rules and the SBC/MAC alliance.
However the Old Dominion situation shows how basketball is more of a priority on the East Coast.

[SlickRick]

Good stuff Mike, thanks!

Craig...get well soon.

[Turbine]

Get well Mel ...rock.

Thanks Mike, solid as usual.