Orien Greene will be forced to carry heavy load this season

LOUISIANA La. – A year ago, Orien Greene had to sit and wait … again.

Greene had just spent a year on the sidelines, watching the University of Louisiana’s squad from a seat on the bench as a sitting-out transfer.

But going into the 2003-04 season, his academic house still wasn’t in order, and he didn’t play in the fall semester. He also didn’t play in the break between semesters.

It wasn’t until last Jan. 17 that the 6-foot-4 transfer from the University of Florida was finally cleared to participate – 22 months after his last game with the Gators.

“It took a while for me to get comfortable,” he said. “There were a lot of new guys to get used to playing with, and I had to get used to the up-and-down again. About the third game, I felt like things were getting back to normal.”

Greene played 28 minutes in that Jan. 17 game and the Cajuns rolled past New Orleans 85-64 at the Cajundome. He played in the next seven, and the Cajuns won all those including a 79-73 win at South Alabama where Greene had 28 points and six three-pointers.

Eventually, he played in UL’s last 18 games, starting three times, and the squad went 14-4 in those games including an 11-2 Sun Belt Conference mark. The Cajuns won the Sun Belt’s West division and the overall league title by three full games.

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com