Cajuns back in the Gulf Coast Classic

[RaginDave]

Fist opponent wright state. Iona, high point, lbsu, Illinois state, Hofstra and buffalo also in the tournament.

Here is the bracket:

Iona vs High Point
Iona was an NCAA tournament team that lost in the first round, they had a RPI of 48 and a NET rating of 58, their record last year was 27-8. High Point was 12-17 and had an RPI of 294 and a NET rating of 290. This is what is considered probably the #1 vs #8 matchup based on last years teams.

Long Beach State vs Illinois State:
LBSU had a 15-16 record and had an RPI of 174 and a NET rating of 160, while ISU had a 11-21 record and an RPI of 302 and a NET rating of 281. This would be a 4 vs 5 matchup.

UL vs Wright State:
UL had a 23-8 record with an RPI of 40 and a NET rating of 88 and was an NCAA First round team vs Wright State who finished 14-18 with an RPI of 236 and a NET rating of 195. I guess this would be considered a 2 vs 7 matchup.

Hofstra vs Buffalo:
Hofstra finished 24-10 with an RPI of 61 and a NET rating of 86 and was a 2nd round NIT team, they face Buffalo who was 13-17 and had an RPI of 182 and a NET rating of 192, this would be what I would consider the 3 vs 6 matchup.

[cajun4life]

So outside of Iona, it’s expected to be a really weak field.

[RaginDave]

So outside of Iona, it’s expected to be a really weak field.

I think Iona, Hofstra and UL are based on this past year are the best teams by far.

[RaginDave]

Hofstra beat a good Princeton team and Iona early in the year. They also beat a pretty good SJSU team, they won their regular season title in the Colonial Athletic Association, but lost to UNC-W in the semifinals and that is what put them in the NIT.

I agree there is a pretty significant drop off from #3 to the rest of the field. But we should hopefully beat Wright State in round 1 and set up a matchup with what should be a pretty good Hofstra team. If we were to win that it would be a really good matchup with what I expect to be Iona in the finals. We could end up playing 2 really good teams if we can win our side of the bracket.

[RaginDave]

This also guarantees us the following D1 games:

#1--a home game vs Toledo
#2--Hopefully a road game vs another MAC team, not guaranteed, there will be 2 SBC teams not playing a MAC school.
#3--Wright State in a neutral site game
#4--Either Hofstra or Buffalo in a neutral site game
#5--Either Iona, High Point, LBSU or Illinois State in a Neutral site game.

At the end of the day, when very few teams will travel to Lafayette to play you, you need to find a way to get at least mid major matchups. This is what we are working towards. I would assume we will have at least 1 or 2 P5 road matchups and then probably a local in state school playing us. I know we have Tech and McNeese on the schedule as well, I think on the road. Marlin is trying to build a decent OOC schedule. I know it is not perfect, but I don't see other ways of doing this if you can't get teams to come to you.

[zephyr]

And Iona lost Rick Pitino

[RaginDave]

And Iona lost Rick Pitino

Yeah their new coach only beat the #1 seed Purdue as a 16 seed last year at farleigh Dickenson. Check out Tobin Anderson’s history at d2 st Thomas and FDU. Not too shabby.

[Tasso]

What UL team this is? Baseball or softball

[Tasso]

Basketball

[RaginDave]

Sorry Men's Basketball.

[Cajunsmike]

Some contracts for home games vs a couple of other mid majors are waiting to be signed. Those are games we are planning to buy. University does not want to make those public until final contracts have been signed. Until everything is official, there remains a possibility the planned opponent could receive a better offer from a major school. From what I understand we may have only 1 road payday game. No clue who that may be against.

[mgv6260]

Some contracts for home games vs a couple of other mid majors are waiting to be signed. Those are games we are planning to buy. University does not want to make those public until final contracts have been signed. Until everything is official, there remains a possibility the planned opponent could receive a better offer from a major school. From what I understand we may have only 1 road payday game. No clue who that may be against.

Can you share the conference of the mid Majors?