Louisiana hopes to turn their program around with their new coach Bob Marlin. Marlin's successful 17-year coaching career includes 348 victories, four Coach of the Year awards and 11 seasons of 20-or-more wins.

Although Marlin brings a hefty resume to UL, he said it's still a process to transition a team to a new coach's culture. "Every program is different. You've got to get guys that work hard, successful and love the game," Marlin said. "We are excited about this year."

The Cajuns will have to replace last season's Sun Belt Player of the Year, Tyren Johnson, but

UL will have the benefit of leadership on the Cajuns' squad with the return of the core senior leadership of Colby Batiste, Travis Bureau, Randell Daigle, La'Ryan Gary and Courtney Wallace.

Daigle and Bureau are just shy of becoming the next players in ULL history to enter the 1,000-point club. Daigle is 172 points of shy of the goal, and Bureau needs 320 to reach the milestone.

Daigle, who was named to the Third Team All-Conference squad, has 183 career triples and averaged a career-best 11.5 points per game last season. "We're proud of Randell," Marlin said. "He's really improved his game. We're looking forward to a good year from him."

Marlin said he's impressed with the continued improvement around the league and is looking forward to the challenge of rebuilding UL's program.

"We're excited about the opportunity that's in front of us, and doing it in a league that's getting better and that's going to have a good year," Marlin said.