Last year’s poor finish motivates this year’s team.

LOUISIANA La. — It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish that counts.

Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns, who begin the 2003-2004 basketball season with a Thursday exhibition game in the Cajundome against Delta State, are still miffed about the end of last season.

“Last year was disappointing for us,” sophomore center Chris Cameron said Tuesday.

“Losing to Denver in the Sun Belt Tournament was obviously something nobody wanted.”

“We learned to never underestimate an opponent,” said senior guard Brad Boyd. “You always want to finish strong, and you never want to lose three in a row.”

The Cajuns fell 69-66 to Western Kentucky in their regular-season finale, then were upset by Denver 72-68 in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Tournament.

Then, in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament, UL dropped an 82-80 heartbreaker at Alabama-Birmingham.

“When you haven’t lost to a team in the last four or five years, you start to think it’s automatic,” Boyd said of Denver. “We overlooked them, and they played really well.”

That disappointment may fuel an improved Cajun squad this season, a team which hosts the Arkansas Angels next Thursday in a second exhibition before opening the Preseason NIT at Georgia Tech on Nov. 18.

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Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com