Podcast: We're Talkin Ragin' Cajuns Basketball with Jay Walker 03-07-2023

[JayWalker]

I love Jay and I'm a big fan of his, however, I'm not really sure what the point of the whole we've finished first in the league only twice in 32 years thing. Fan's criticisms of Marlin honestly had more to do with averaging a 6th place finish over the last 4 or 5 years prior to this year while being the highest paid coach in the league rather than lack of 1st place finishes.

It's to illustrate two things. 1. It's hard to win. As good as we've been at times, we've only won the regular season twice. It's just hard to win. (We've done a remarkable job as the #2 seed.) 2. Everyone wants us to win championships and act like we've done it a bunch of times. We haven't. We have had success seven times (counting this year) in the tournament, but get mad when "three days in March" is brought up.

And, while I agree with your assessment of fans criticisms to an extent, there are many on this board who judge only by are you winning championships. Hell, there were a bunch on this board who refused to recognize the 27 win team as a champion because they weren't in the NCAA tournament.

If we finished in the top two every year but never won the tournament, everyone on here would be screaming for a coaching change.

It still boggles my mind as good as we are this year, had we fallen in the finals we'd be sitting home with 25 wins. THAT'S how hard it is to win in mid major college basketball.

[cajuns80]

It's to illustrate two things. 1. It's hard to win. As good as we've been at times, we've only won the regular season twice. It's just hard to win. (We've done a remarkable job as the #2 seed.) 2. Everyone wants us to win championships and act like we've done it a bunch of times. We haven't. We have had success seven times (counting this year) in the tournament, but get mad when "three days in March" is brought up.

And, while I agree with your assessment of fans criticisms to an extent, there are many on this board who judge only by are you winning championships. Hell, there were a bunch on this board who refused to recognize the 27 win team as a champion because they weren't in the NCAA tournament.

If we finished in the top two every year but never won the tournament, everyone on here would be screaming for a coaching change.

It still boggles my mind as good as we are this year, had we fallen in the finals we'd be sitting home with 25 wins. THAT'S how hard it is to win in mid major college basketball.

If we would be finishing top 4 year in year out, we would win some tournaments. 22-23 wins should be the minimum with the way we schedule.

[ULvictory]

I love Jay and I'm a big fan of his, however, I'm not really sure what the point of the whole we've finished first in the league only twice in 32 years thing. Fan's criticisms of Marlin honestly had more to do with averaging a 6th place finish over the last 4 or 5 years prior to this year while being the highest paid coach in the league rather than lack of 1st place finishes.

Craig, solid episode as always. Enjoyed the content.

As far as finishing the league twice in 32 years, that doesn't call for not striving for more. When we went to the NOLA Bowl for our first bowl appearance in 40 years, we didn't just say the following year, "Well, it's hard and it's been 40 years so if we don't make it again, oh well." No, we were ready to go back the following year. And the year after that. And the year after that. We all know it's hard in a one bid league in basketball. It's also hard to be ranked in the Top 25 in football. It's hard to make regionals in the diamond sports. But that shouldn't stop us from having an attitude expectations. Selling ourselves short is counterproductive.

[zephyr]

If we would be finishing top 4 year in year out, we would win some tournaments. 22-23 wins should be the minimum with the way we schedule.

This is my point. You build a program that wins consistently and challenges or wins regular season championships which is extremely tough to do because it requires consistency throughout a large part of the season, you will put yourself in better position to win a larger percentage of those tournament championships.

[ManAboutTown]

It's to illustrate two things. 1. It's hard to win. As good as we've been at times, we've only won the regular season twice. It's just hard to win. (We've done a remarkable job as the #2 seed.) 2. Everyone wants us to win championships and act like we've done it a bunch of times. We haven't. We have had success seven times (counting this year) in the tournament, but get mad when "three days in March" is brought up.

And, while I agree with your assessment of fans criticisms to an extent, there are many on this board who judge only by are you winning championships. Hell, there were a bunch on this board who refused to recognize the 27 win team as a champion because they weren't in the NCAA tournament.

If we finished in the top two every year but never won the tournament, everyone on here would be screaming for a coaching change.

It still boggles my mind as good as we are this year, had we fallen in the finals we'd be sitting home with 25 wins. THAT'S how hard it is to win in mid major college basketball.

It's to illustrate two things. 1. It's hard to win. As good as we've been at times, we've only won the regular season twice. It's just hard to win. (We've done a remarkable job as the #2 seed.) So we haven't won championships in the past (which is not true) so we shouldn't do everything that we can do to it now? Our fans shouldn't expect to win now? This league has not been good in 15, maybe 20 years. The schedule isn't CLOSE to what it was in the late 70s through early 2000s.

2. Everyone wants us to win championships and act like we've done it a bunch of times. We haven't. We have had success seven times (counting this year) in the tournament, but get mad when "three days in March" is brought up. Let's go ask Georgia State and Ron Hunter how hard it is to win in the SBC prior to adding the new members. 3 championships in 7 years. Finished below 4th place ONCE.

And, while I agree with your assessment of fans criticisms to an extent, there are many on this board who judge only by are you winning championships. Hell, there were a bunch on this board who refused to recognize the 27 win team as a champion because they weren't in the NCAA tournament. Literally never happened.

If we finished in the top two every year but never won the tournament, everyone on here would be screaming for a coaching change. The AD of this university set the standards. Top 4 every year and competing for championships. If any part of that is not being met, a change needs to be made, PER THE STANDARD OF THE BOSS.

It still boggles my mind as good as we are this year, had we fallen in the finals we'd be sitting home with 25 wins. THAT'S how hard it is to win in mid major college basketball.
That's because we play in a bad basketball league in a sport that is quickly removing mid-majors from their equation. Schedule better teams, invest in the league and WIN. We all understand that getting to the dance every year is not going to happen. But I seem to remember fans really enjoying the Evans era. NCAAs and NITs alike.

[ManAboutTown]

I love Jay and I'm a big fan of his, however, I'm not really sure what the point of the whole we've finished first in the league only twice in 32 years thing. Fan's criticisms of Marlin honestly had more to do with averaging a 6th place finish over the last 4 or 5 years prior to this year while being the highest paid coach in the league rather than lack of 1st place finishes.

The point is that we're all "dumb" and our expectations are "not realistic."
You knew as soon as Marlin won, he'd come here to pop off.

[CajunRage]

My hang up is the amount of hype that is put into the pay for play tournaments and stats like the undefeated home season when we don't meet our goal of making the NCAA tournament. Pay for play tournaments should be treated as extra practice and not "celebrated" the way they are. The stats should be celebrated but not hyped to the point where they feel like they are being used to hide that we didn't reach our goal.

[CajunNation]

...It still boggles my mind as good as we are this year, had we fallen in the finals we'd be sitting home with 25 wins. THAT'S how hard it is to win in mid major college basketball.

If all we do is schedule a bunch of D II schools in non-conference this will always be the case.

[ManAboutTown]

My hang up is the amount of hype that is put into the pay for play tournaments and stats like the undefeated home season when we don't meet our goal of making the NCAA tournament. Pay for play tournaments should be treated as extra practice and not "celebrated" the way they are. The stats should be celebrated but not hyped to the point where they feel like they are being used to hide that we didn't reach our goal.

Or as I refer to it, propaganda.

[JayWalker]

It's to illustrate two things. 1. It's hard to win. As good as we've been at times, we've only won the regular season twice. It's just hard to win. (We've done a remarkable job as the #2 seed.) So we haven't won championships in the past (which is not true) so we shouldn't do everything that we can do to it now? Our fans shouldn't expect to win now? This league has not been good in 15, maybe 20 years. The schedule isn't CLOSE to what it was in the late 70s through early 2000s.
Ok. Quit putting words in my mouth. I NEVER said it was wrong to want or expect to win. Everyone likes to win, me included. And, when I speak of championships, I made it clear I was talking about the regular season. Twice in 32 years.

And, the league slipped around 2013 when MTSU and WKU left for CUSA. With exception of Ga. State, the newcomers haven't exactly jacked up the rating of the league.

2. Everyone wants us to win championships and act like we've done it a bunch of times. We haven't. We have had success seven times (counting this year) in the tournament, but get mad when "three days in March" is brought up. Let's go ask Georgia State and Ron Hunter how hard it is to win in the SBC prior to adding the new members. 3 championships in 7 years. Finished below 4th place ONCE.

That sounds a lot like let's fire Marty cuz he can't beat Tim Floyd. Now, let's be fair. Georgia is much more a hotbed for good basketball than Louisiana is. And, they are in Atlanta for crying out loud. That's not an excuse, it's reality. The Panthers have a built in advantage. And, it isn't like we just tank. Since they joined the league, we are second in total wins and second in SBC wins. Even with a slip recently.

And, while I agree with your assessment of fans criticisms to an extent, there are many on this board who judge only by are you winning championships. Hell, there were a bunch on this board who refused to recognize the 27 win team as a champion because they weren't in the NCAA tournament. Literally never happened.
Wrong. I had posters tell me that to my face.

If we finished in the top two every year but never won the tournament, everyone on here would be screaming for a coaching change. The AD of this university set the standards. Top 4 every year and competing for championships. If any part of that is not being met, a change needs to be made, PER THE STANDARD OF THE BOSS.


You know, you put words in my mouth with an earlier post. I NEVER said it was okay to be fourth or fifth every year. I was simply pointing out major vs. mid major conferences and what happens. But I'll stand by my comment that in today's SBC with today's criteria you can finish second every year and sit at home every year. And, fans would want coaches fired. That's finishing SECOND every year, let alone 4-6.

It still boggles my mind as good as we are this year, had we fallen in the finals we'd be sitting home with 25 wins. THAT'S how hard it is to win in mid major college basketball.
That's because we play in a bad basketball league in a sport that is quickly removing mid-majors from their equation. Schedule better teams, invest in the league and WIN. We all understand that getting to the dance every year is not going to happen. But I seem to remember fans really enjoying the Evans era. NCAAs and NITs alike.

No. That's because the criteria has changed. If the NIT still owned the NIT, the Cajuns would be a lock had they lost on Monday. Marshall would be in as well. With today's criteria it is my opinion Jessie's teams would not have gotten an NIT bid. I'm all aboard with our need to schedule better. But the solution is easier said than done. I'm still waiting for someone to tell me the caliber of team we would get at the Cajundome for the money we got from Drake. Geography hurts here. For instance, Marshall can schedule half of the MAC every year and travel by bus. Here it gets us the third worst conference in America. I know fans here rale about the non D-1's. UNO and McNeese (traditional rivals) both lost 20 games this year. THAT'S hurting us more than the NAIA's.

And, this year, our schedule looked a lot better before we started playing. We thought the likes of ETSU and Harvard would help our SOS. Then they both had bad years. Everyone (including me) wants to see our schedule improve. But none of us have ever tried to schedule and probably don't know nearly as much about it as we think we do.

Look, we disagree on a lot of things. But I'll stand by my comments on the podcast, including (especially?) my statement about coaches preparing student-athletes for life beyond athletics being the top priority. And, I"m proud that all of our coaches, from Des to (name your sport here) feel the same way.

My other answers wound up in the shaded block. I didn't ignore any of them.

[RedTails]

I think we as fans need to change expectations...not on winning championships, but changing the expectations on Jay's outlook/POV. He's not a donor or simply a fan. He's a play-by-play guy that's close to our programs, coaches, players, and players' family members.

Of course he's going to have a bias that aligns more with the admin/coaches/players. He does go after fans sometimes, but he doesn't shy away from hashing it out on RP.

I just think it's cool we have a play-by-play guy that comes around and interacts with us, even if he calls us idiots sometimes.

[ManAboutTown]

JW - It's to illustrate two things. 1. It's hard to win. As good as we've been at times, we've only won the regular season twice. It's just hard to win. (We've done a remarkable job as the #2 seed.)
MAT - So we haven't won championships in the past (which is not true) so we shouldn't do everything that we can do to it now? Our fans shouldn't expect to win now? This league has not been good in 15, maybe 20 years. The schedule isn't CLOSE to what it was in the late 70s through early 2000s.
JW - Ok. Quit putting words in my mouth. I NEVER said it was wrong to want or expect to win. Everyone likes to win, me included. And, when I speak of championships, I made it clear I was talking about the regular season. Twice in 32 years.
MAT - You didn't explicitly SAY it was wrong, but you certainly implied it over and over. The reason why the HC was literally coaching for his job was in large part because of those substandard results.

JW - And, the league slipped around 2013 when MTSU and WKU left for CUSA. With exception of Ga. State, the newcomers haven't exactly jacked up the rating of the league.
MAT - 4 teams inside the NET top 100 this season. I'm not sure how that compares to RPI, but it has to be a first in many years. 2 of those 4 were new members. Also, WKU and MTSU don't make a league. The SBC has been bad since the early 2000s.

JW - 2. Everyone wants us to win championships and act like we've done it a bunch of times. We haven't. We have had success seven times (counting this year) in the tournament, but get mad when "three days in March" is brought up.
MAT - Let's go ask Georgia State and Ron Hunter how hard it is to win in the SBC prior to adding the new members. 3 championships in 7 years. Finished below 4th place ONCE.

JW - That sounds a lot like let's fire Marty cuz he can't beat Tim Floyd. Now, let's be fair. Georgia is much more a hotbed for good basketball than Louisiana is. And, they are in Atlanta for crying out loud. That's not an excuse, it's reality. The Panthers have a built in advantage. And, it isn't like we just tank. Since they joined the league, we are second in total wins and second in SBC wins. Even with a slip recently.
MAT - Wait.. .WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT.. Didn't you say basketball was dead in the South? Now Atlanta is a hotbed of basketball talent?? Didn't the finish dead last in they league this year?? They played in a freaking office building, for crying out loud, Jay!

JW - And, while I agree with your assessment of fans criticisms to an extent, there are many on this board who judge only by are you winning championships. Hell, there were a bunch on this board who refused to recognize the 27 win team as a champion because they weren't in the NCAA tournament.
MAT - Literally never happened.
JW - Wrong. I had posters tell me that to my face.
MAT - When I make up stuff, I usually cite anonymous sources too. Obviously, I can't respond to something like that. But I have a hard time believing anymore would say the season didn't matter because we lost the way we did. Hanging a banner of any kind is success. Even the staunchest of Marlin detractors have said that here.

JW - If we finished in the top two every year but never won the tournament, everyone on here would be screaming for a coaching change.
MAT - The AD of this university set the standards. Top 4 every year and competing for championships. If any part of that is not being met, a change needs to be made, PER THE STANDARD OF THE BOSS.


JW - You know, you put words in my mouth with an earlier post. I NEVER said it was okay to be fourth or fifth every year. I was simply pointing out major vs. mid major conferences and what happens. But I'll stand by my comment that in today's SBC with today's criteria you can finish second every year and sit at home every year. And, fans would want coaches fired. That's finishing SECOND every year, let alone 4-6.
MAT - But we don't finish second every year. Until this year, average finish of 6th place in a very bad conference since the 2017 team. You're making an argument that can't be vetted.

JW - It still boggles my mind as good as we are this year, had we fallen in the finals we'd be sitting home with 25 wins. THAT'S how hard it is to win in mid major college basketball.
That's because we play in a bad basketball league in a sport that is quickly removing mid-majors from their equation.
MAT - Schedule better teams, invest in the league and WIN. We all understand that getting to the dance every year is not going to happen. But I seem to remember fans really enjoying the Evans era. NCAAs and NITs alike.

[ManAboutTown]

Continued...

JW - No. That's because the criteria has changed. If the NIT still owned the NIT, the Cajuns would be a lock had they lost on Monday. Marshall would be in as well. With today's criteria it is my opinion Jessie's teams would not have gotten an NIT bid. I'm all aboard with our need to schedule better. But the solution is easier said than done. I'm still waiting for someone to tell me the caliber of team we would get at the Cajundome for the money we got from Drake.
MAT - I'm not exactly sure but I can guaran-damn-tee you it would be better than D2 and D3 schools.
Geography hurts here. For instance, Marshall can schedule half of the MAC every year and travel by bus. Here it gets us the third worst conference in America. I know fans here rale about the non D-1's. UNO and McNeese (traditional rivals) both lost 20 games this year. THAT'S hurting us more than the NAIA's.

And, this year, our schedule looked a lot better before we started playing. We thought the likes of ETSU and Harvard would help our SOS.
MAT - I didn't see one person bangin' on Bob for the schedule this year. In fact, I saw many times, people sticking up for the attempt to get in those MTEs. I was one of them. I understand that scheduling is difficult and in many cases, a crap shoot, with regard to strength of team when you play them. What fans are pointing to are the historically bad schedules we've seen the past decade. And there is no excuse for that.
Then they both had bad years. Everyone (including me) wants to see our schedule improve. But none of us have ever tried to schedule and probably don't know nearly as much about it as we think we do.

Look, we disagree on a lot of things. But I'll stand by my comments on the podcast, including (especially?) my statement about coaches preparing student-athletes for life beyond athletics being the top priority. And, I"m proud that all of our coaches, from Des to (name your sport here) feel the same way.
MAT - I'm thrilled that our coaches invest in our young people. Wouldn't want it any other way. But to say its their "number one priority" is absurd. If that were the case, we'd hire the engineering department to put together a basketball team and treat it like a club sport. Our coaches are hired and paid handsomely to WIN games.

My other answers wound up in the shaded block. I didn't ignore any of them.
MAT - One thing I do admire about you is your ability to be wrong as ____ but stand by your words. It is a rare things these days. I appreciate that.

[CajunRage]

I know fans here rale about the non D-1's. UNO and McNeese (traditional rivals) both lost 20 games this year. THAT'S hurting us more than the NAIA's.

They hurt us this year but not every year, yet the 3 non-d1 games have zero chance of offsetting that.

[JayWalker]

Continued...
My other answers wound up in the shaded block. I didn't ignore any of them.
MAT - One thing I do admire about you is your ability to be wrong as ____ but stand by your words. It is a rare things these days. I appreciate that.

OK, that was funny. Same to you!