The Book: Lady Cajuns 2005-06 basketball season

[NewsCopy]

The Louisiana Lady Cajuns were in prime position for an upset on Saturday, but they couldn't close the deal on the road against Auburn. The visitors battled to within 59-54 of Auburn with 3:22 remaining in the game, but missed their last six shots and hit just 1-of-2 free throws in a 65-55 defeat - their first since the season opener at SMU. "We've got to learn to finish up," said coach J. Kelley Hall, whose squad fell to 8-2 and had an 8-game winning streak snapped. "I think we played good defense - we held them to 65 points - and rebounded well (owning a 45-44 edge). "But when you only shoot 31 percent (20-of-65, .308) on the other team's floor, you're not going to win, especially against an SEC team like Auburn. We needed to make four more shots. We never got the shot we needed late in the game." Junior Yolanda Jones led the Cajuns with 19 points and 17 rebounds, but hit just 7-of-25 shots from the field and suffered eight turnovers against the rangy Auburn front line. The rest of the story Bruce Brown bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

It was no surprise to find the Nicholls State Lady Colonels taking the fight to Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns halfway through Wednesday night's game at Stopher Gym. Nicholls has made a habit of doing that, and the Colonels led 35-34 at the break. But coach J. Kelley Hall's squad responded like a Sun Belt Tournament finalist should, shutting the door in the second half to win 74-62 and improve to 9-2 on the season. "It was like going to the dentist," Hall said. "But from the 8-minute mark on, we did what we had to do to win the game. I was proud of the effort in the second half. "At the half, we wanted to try to make them shoot from the perimeter, and we wanted to stop the dribble penetration. We made them shoot 24 percent from behind the 3-point line, and we out-rebounded them by 17 (51-34). Plus-17 on the boards - I'll take that anytime." The Cajuns got 13 points and 14 rebounds from Sonora Edwards, a critical performance since UL's leading scorer and rebounder, Yolanda Jones, was limited to 28 minutes by foul trouble. Jones still recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. The rest of the story Bruce Brown bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[CajunRed]

Although the 2005/06 Lady Cajun Basketball team is off to a fantastic start and all UL fans are excited about what Coach Hall and his team has accomplished, I am wondering if the strength-of-schedule could end up biting us as it did last year. If you will recall, it was widely speculated that our SOS was a main factor in the Lady Cajuns not being extended an invitation to play in the WNIT.

In looking at RealtimeRPI.com, although we are currently have an RPI ranking of "106", our current SOS stands at 329, which is right at the bottom. Our SOS should rise quite a bit as we begin playing Sun Belt Conference games... but will our non-conference SOS hurt us again? Just asking.......

Go Lady Cajuns!!

[El Sidonio]

I believe once our team has continued to strengthen itself for another 3 or 4 years, we can start scheduling a tougher pre-conference schedule.But, considering where our team has come from, I say a weaker schedule that allows our team to gel and come together is better. either way, they're on the way up.

God Bless

[BirdofParadise]

I believe once our team has continued to strengthen itself for another 3 or 4 years, we can start scheduling a tougher pre-conference schedule.But, considering where our team has come from, I say a weaker schedule that allows our team to gel and come together is better. either way, they're on the way up.

God Bless

I''m with Sid on this one. There will come a time that the women need to schedule up. This isn't it.

The reason many are getting excited about women's basketball is 22-9 a year ago. If we won the west and the team was 15-16 there wouldn't have been as much excitement.

Schedule wins now, get the fans fired up. Up the schedule later.

[headragincajun]

I''m with Sid on this one. There will come a time that the women need to schedule up. This isn't it.

The reason many are getting excited about women's basketball is 22-9 a year ago. If we won the west and the team was 15-16 there wouldn't have been as much excitement.

Schedule wins now, get the fans fired up. Up the schedule later.

I appreciate all the support. I think that to be fair to the DIE-HARDS I should tell them the reason that we are where we are today. I believe that first and foremost that our fans deserve the right to see our team play games at home and not always on the road. We will play anybody here in Lafayette (first) and then we will return the game. The people we are playing now are the only people willing to come play at E.K. Long. Hopefully that will change in the near future. We have the offer out to play Miss. State or La. Tech (at E.K. Long) next year. Waiting to hear back from them. You can go back and check our games away from home the first 3 years. We played 17 on the road the first year, we played 19 on the road the 2nd year (first 10 games on the road) and we played 18 road games last year. We have done better each year on the road too. I just felt like it was time to finally play more games at home than on the road (BEEN THERE, DONE THAT).

With all that being said we are (as of today) on realtimerpi.com #102. We were #149 last year when all the smoke cleared and we were 22-9. Today we are 9-2 with 1 more non-conference to go before the Sun Belt Schedule. If we take care of our own business in the West, we will be fine. It is totally up to us (No excuses). I believe that our fans have a right to know and that was what I was thinking. Keep coming out to the games (YOU DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE).

Headragincajun1

[Turbine]

Except for a blip or 3 on the radar, I would take 30 years of this winning brand of Lady Cajun basketball over anything presented in the 30 years prior.

When it comes to scheduling . . . Lock-em-up coach

[Boomer]

I appreciate all the support. I think that to be fair to the DIE-HARDS I should tell them the reason that we are where we are today. I believe that first and foremost that our fans deserve the right to see our team play games at home and not always on the road. We will play anybody here in Lafayette (first) and then we will return the game. The people we are playing now are the only people willing to come play at E.K. Long. Hopefully that will change in the near future. We have the offer out to play Miss. State or La. Tech (at E.K. Long) next year. Waiting to hear back from them. You can go back and check our games away from home the first 3 years. We played 17 on the road the first year, we played 19 on the road the 2nd year (first 10 games on the road) and we played 18 road games last year. We have done better each year on the road too. I just felt like it was time to finally play more games at home than on the road (BEEN THERE, DONE THAT).
With all that being said we are (as of today) on realtimerpi.com #102. We were #149 last year when all the smoke cleared and we were 22-9. Today we are 9-2 with 1 more non-conference to go before the Sun Belt Schedule. If we take care of our own business in the West, we will be fine. It is totally up to us (No excuses). I believe that our fans have a right to know and that was what I was thinking. Keep coming out to the games (YOU DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE).
Headragincajun1

Coach--I was at the VC Yuletide and missed Vandy Cath. Heard that they have a bunch of good ones including 2 from Cabrini---Come on back tomorrow and eat some great food----Your Lady and VC's --Brooke Williams will be there with the Acadiana Ewes???? I think that if she and the Cajun Michell ever get married that I would offer their son or daughter!!!!!

[CajunRed]

Great explanation, Coach. I started the thread as an excuse to talk about Lady Cajun Basketball and was just thinking out load about the subject of strength of schedule.

I totally agree with your comments and look forward to making the game at the end of this week.

Go Cajuns!

[headragincajun]

Great explanation, Coach. I started the thread as an excuse to talk about Lady Cajun Basketball and was just thinking out load about the subject of strength of schedule.

I totally agree with your comments and look forward to making the game at the end of this week.

Go Cajuns!

CajunRed:
I always appreciate it when our fans ask questions. I think that you have a right to know where this program is headed. We talked about our strength of schedule last night a little on the Radio Show. We are at a point where it just was not fair to our kids (missing class) to play 54 ROAD GAMES vs only 32 HOME games over the past 3 years. I finally said enough is enough, our players and our fans deserve to play equal amount of games at home. That was what we were thinking. See you at the game.
Headragincajun1

[headragincajun]

Except for a blip or 3 on the radar, I would take 30 years of this winning brand of Lady Cajun basketball over anything presented in the 30 years prior.

When it comes to scheduling . . . Lock-em-up coach

I see somebody was listening to the Radio Show last night. Happy New Year big fella.
Headragincajun1

[lcitsh]

While I would like to see a small upgrade in the schedule, I am very pleased with how everything is going with the program. I'm ok with having 2 "quality" (perception) opponents on the schedule, like SMU & Auburn this year, I would like to see one more added next year, but if the opponents we play continue to win to keep our RPI up, I'm cool with whoever we play.
The RPI is based upon how you do against your opponents, how they do against their opponents, and how those opponents do against their opponents. In other words if you win and your opponents win, your RPI will take care of itself. Our conference seems to be doing well against outside competition, so I expect any conference wins we get will boost our RPI even more. Coaching staff has them headed in the right direction, it's just wise to walk before you gallop.

[NewsCopy]

Like everything else on the Gulf Coast, the University of Louisiana's 2005 athletic year was dominated by two names - Katrina and Rita. The twin sisters of hurricane destruction unleashed their wrath more to the east and west of Acadiana, but the residual effects were felt by the Ragin' Cajun programs for the last five months - and are still being felt. UL's football team missed practice time and had its season finale backed up one week as part of a four-team date swap. Four weeks later, its Cajun Field home hosted the relocated New Orleans Bowl. The Cajun basketball team lost its home, being pushed out of the Cajundome to allow its use as an emergency shelter, and still hasn't played a game in the facility. The golf team canceled a tournament trip with travel issues and the cross country teams had to go to another location for the Sun Belt Conference meet. The twin tragedies delayed an athletic director search and a final resolution of NCAA inquiries into the basketball program. They also created problems in an already-stretched Cajun athletic budget. But life went on, and the games went on. Many of them provided memorable moments, and the most noteworthy are in the Daily Advertiser's top 10 Ragin' Cajun headlines for 2005: 1 Cajun football rallies with late winning streak for Sun Belt crown It had been a decade since the Cajun football squad had even compiled a winning record, much less win a conference championship. And with a 1-5 mid-October record, it appeared that "wait 'till next year" was again a year away. But five straight wins to end the season provided a final 6-5 record, the first winning season since 1995. More importantly, all five of those wins came in Sun Belt Conference play, and the 5-2 league record was good enough to claim a share of UL's first-ever Sun Belt title. Three of those five wins came on the road, a big bugaboo to previous UL squads. The Cajuns missed out on a bid to the New Orleans Bowl on its Cajun Field home turf, eliminated on a new interpretation of the league tiebreaker, but that hardly dampened a season in which UL led the Sun Belt in nine offensive categories and finished as the nation's seventh-best rushing team. Freshman Tyrell Fenroy became the first running back in Cajun history to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark and was named Freshman of the Year in both the Sun Belt and Louisiana. 2 Women's basketball team shocks by winning Sun Belt West crown It had been 17 years since Louisiana had a winning season in women's basketball. But the Cajuns did that and more in coach J. Kelley Hall's third year at the helm, equaling the school record for victories with 22, finishing 22-9, posting a perfect 13-0 record at home, winning the Sun Belt Western Division and reaching the championship finals of the Sun Belt Tournament. The season's peak was the final regular-season weekend, when the Cajuns beat Arkansas-Little Rock 59-47 to clinch a tie for the West and then edged Arkansas State 66-64 to take the West outright and finish 13-0 at home. Hall was named the Sun Belt Coach of the Year after UL was the only league school with 20 victories in the regular season. The leader of the resurgence was senior Anna Petrakova, the Player of the Year in the Sun Belt as a junior who repeated as an all-conference honoree and was on the All-Tournament Team at the Sun Belt Tournament. 3 Nelson Schexnayder resigns post as athletic director after 12 years The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[Turbine]

Dan you can use the word Pentathelam the term is not going away.

"During his time at the helm, Schexnayder hired Tony Robichaux as baseball coach, Stefni Lotief to coach softball, Jessie Evans and Robert Lee in basketball, Hall in women's basketball and Rickey Bustle in football.

All of those coaches enjoyed success on the field, with baseball reaching the College World Series in 2000, softball reaching the WCWS in 2003, basketball reaching the NCAA Tournament, women's basketball equaling a school record for wins in 2005 with 22 and football finishing 6-5 as Sun Belt champions in 2005."

For want of Pentathelam recognition you failed to mention that with those 5 sports only one fan base in America experienced winning more than Ragin Cajun Fans.

OTHERWISE . . . GREAT ARTICLE

[NewsCopy]

His team isn't where he wants it to be entering Sun Belt Conference play, but University of Louisiana women's basketball coach J. Kelley Hall will be happy if his team can improve in just one area. His team's 9-2 even though shooting only 35.2 percent from the field as a team, and it's that percentage that he's looking to improve tonight when the Ragin' Cajuns play their final non-conference game of the season. The Cajuns host Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-7) at an earlier-than-normal 6 p.m. at Earl K. Long Gym, before embarking on 15 straight league games against a Sun Belt that boasts five teams in the current RPI top 100. "We cannot go into conference play and expect to continue to win shooting the percentage we've shot," said Hall after his squad concentrated on shooting in its Thursday practice. "We're not where we want to be shooting the ball. "Red Auerbach once said you don't improve your shooting once the season starts. That means our shot selection has got to get better. We want our offensive half-court execution to get better." The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com