The Book: Lady Cajuns 2005-06 basketball season

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Ashley Blanche had plenty on her mind Thursday. The Louisiana Ragin' Cajun senior point guard was awaiting UL's Sun Belt Conference opener against Denver at Earl K. Long Gym, but she also was preparing to leave for Houston for the weekend funeral of her grandmother. Blanche scored 13 of her 15 points by halftime to help lead the Cajuns to a 76-50 blowout of the Pioneers, then got ready to hit the road. "She just found out recently that she had cancer," Blanche said, "and she died last Tuesday. It kind of was on my mind today. I had to pack, get my things together, but once you get to the gym you've just got to block it all out. "For an hour and a half, you just think about playing basketball." There is a wake this evening in Houston, then an 11 a.m. funeral on Saturday. The rest of the story Bruce Brown bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[DestinCajun]

30 points.Dang

I hope we saved some.

Z.

I watched this one from the comfort of my den. Old Earl K. sure looked good, the Cajuns looked good, the floor looked good, the crowd was good. Overall, it was what I'd call a good one.

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DENVER - It sounds cliché, but Michael Southall and Yemi Nicholson are definitely the centers of attention tonight. Southall was a two-time All-Sun Belt Conference selection and the league's Freshman of the Year in 2002, before missing the last two years with academic and legal woes. Nicholson came from nowhere to become the league's dominant inside player in 2005, earning Sun Belt Player of the Year honors, and was a unanimous choice for that same honor this season. Virtually all eyes will be on their first-ever matchup between the 6-foot-11 rivals tonight when Southall's UL club meets Nicholson's Denver squad in the second Sun Belt game of the season for both teams. Never mind that it's a rematch of last year's league tournament title game, one where the Ragin' Cajuns surprised everyone with a runaway 88-69 win. Discount the fact that the host Pioneers were the only team to sweep UL in last year's regular season. And ignore that it's a nearly "must" win for both teams, the Cajuns to avoid their first 0-2 league start since 1994-95 and the Pioneers to not have their first home loss of the year come to a West Division rival. It's all about the big guys tonight. The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

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Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. When the Louisiana Ragin' Cajun women won the Sun Belt Conference Western Division last season, the first such title in the history of the program, it meant coach J. Kelley Hall's team had used up its allowance of flying under the radar. This year, the Cajuns are operating with targets painted on their backs as they try to capture another title and eventually earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Thursday's 76-50 thrashing of Denver - the 22nd straight victory at home - showed the Cajuns are ready for league play, but they'll have to maintain that level at 7 p.m. tonight against North Texas at Earl K. Long Gym. Coach Tina Slinker's team is off to the best start in school history at 11-2 and is coming off a 62-33 hammering of New Orleans in its league opener. Two teams at 11-2, both 1-0 in Sun Belt play, make for a dramatic early-season pairing. The rest of the story Bruce Brown bbrown@theadvertiser.com

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LOUISIANA La. — How well is Michael Southall responding to a challenge issued earlier this week by University of Louisiana at Lafayette men’s basketball coach Robert Lee? That answer could come at 9:05 p.m. CST today at the University of Denver’s Magness Arena. Southall is expected to engage in a shot-blocking duel with Denver center Yemi Nicholson when the teams meet in a Sun Belt Conference game. UL’s Lady Cajuns (11-2, 1-0) also play an SBC contest at 7:05 p.m. today when they host North Texas (11-2, 1-0) at Earl K. Long Gym. The Lady Cajuns won their conference season-opener 76-50 at home against Denver on Thursday, while the North Texas women beat UNO 62-33. Southall, a 6-foot-10 senior center, has 44 blocks, while the 6-11 Nicholson, the 2004-05 SBC Player of The Year, has 40 this season. Lee said UL coaches told Southall to play harder if the Cajuns plan to ascend from their 4-8 record. “We challenged him (before Monday’s Georgia State game) to become a dominant player,” Lee said. “Sometimes he has seemed to take some possessions off.” In UL’s 86-79 conference-opening loss at North Texas on Thursday, Southall appeared to absorb the message. He scored 19 points¸ added 12 rebounds and had a school-record 11 blocks. UL blocked 17 North Texas attempts, also a Sun Belt record. The rest of the story By BOB ARDOIN Special to The Advocate

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• Dwayne Mitchell leads the way with 18.8 points, 11.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game. • Michael Southall has added 15.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.0 blocks per game. • Chris Cameron has contributed 11.1 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. • Ed Turner is averaging 11.0 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists per outing. • Louisiana-Lafayette has followed up each of its previous four defeats with a victory in its next outing. • The Ragin' Cajuns haven't begun Sun Belt Conference play 0-2 since the 1994-95 campaign. • ULL is seeking to rebound from an 86-79 loss to North Texas in its Sun Belt opener on Jan .5. The Cajuns tied a season-high with 23 turnovers and were outscored • The Ragin' Cajuns returned to "full strength" on Thursday when Cameron returned to the starting lineup. Cameron had missed the previous three games after he dislocated his right shoulder in the Dec. 17 LSU game. • Louisiana-Lafayette registered a Super Pit record 17 blocked shots which also turned out to be a Sun Belt Conference record. Southall led the charge with a career-high 11 blocks. • ULL shot 56 percent for the game (31-of-55) and saw its percentage above 50 percent in both halves. The rest of the story

[Diapason]

I can't get the internet feed can anyone update the girls score?

[CAJUNJUDO]

They got stomped at home.by 23


lost 70-47

[DaddyCajun]

They got stomped at home.by 23


lost 70-47

Tail of two nights, like a totally different team out there tonight.

Lets start another streak.
DaddyCajun

[DaddyCajun]

Denver: SCOUTING THE RAGIN' CAJUNS

It must of worked because we got schooled, big time!

I am starting to get somewhat concerned, although I see:
MS playing much better and with less fouling
DM in a little slump but still playing hard, will get back on track.
CC will get back as the shoulder layoff time is recouped
Turner still high is turnovers not as many but scoring more
MB must score more and increase assist
Mout needs to step up and score

at a loss for names but our other 6'9 not James but needs more playing time as he is VERY quick to the ball and basket!!

DaddyCajun

ps Hang on for the transition.

Hope we have some great recruits and big ones coming in this year we are going to miss the big men MS and CC as much as we are missing TW and OG right now!

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The matchup of the teams with the best records in the league figured to be a dramatic one, but the visitors took the Cajuns out of it quickly with a 32-15 first half. UNT finished that deciding period with a 14-2 scoring surge before intermission. APPRECIATING ASHLEY: Senior point guard Ashley Blanche played the most minutes of any Cajun in Saturday's stunning blowout loss to North Texas. Blanche returned from her grandmother's funeral in Houston to give her team 37 minutes, scoring 14 points and providing the one 3-point basket UL could manage. "It's not an easy thing to do, to play a game after you've buried someone you love," coach J. Kelley Hall said. "It hurt her to lose this game." When Blanche headed to the bench in the final moments, she buried her face in a towel and allowed herself the tears she had held inside. RARE HUMILIATION: Saturday's defeat was the worst for a Kelley Hall-coached Cajun team in three years. On Jan. 9, 2003, South Alabama whipped UL 62-37 in Lafayette, the last time a Hall team had scored fewer at home than the 47 it had against North Texas. NOW IT GETS TOUGHER: The Cajuns are on the road for their next five games and seven of their next eight. "That's why this game was so important to us," coach J. Kelly Hall said. "It's a tough stretch now." GAME NO. 100 A DOWNER: Satursday was the 100th game at UL for coach J. Kelley Hall, who is 54-46 in his fourth year here. The rest of the story Bruce Brown bbrown@theadvertiser.com

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Saturday night at Earl K. Long Gym was strikingly similar to last Thursday night. The only problem was, the same Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's squad that dismantled visiting Denver 76-50 in its Sun Belt Conference opener was throttled in similar fashion by the North Texas Mean Green by an embarrassing 70-47 count. In a showdown of the teams with the best records in the league, North Texas controlled the contest from the start en route to a 12-2 record and a 2-0 start in league action. Louisiana saw its 22-game home win streak broken, falling to 11-3, 1-1 before 542 fans. "We need to understand that the target is on us," said coach J. Kelley Hall, whose Cajuns won the Sun Belt Western Division last season and reached the SBC Tournament finals. "People want to beat you. "We did not play like champions and did not deserve to win the game. They pretty much did to us what we did to Denver on Thursday night." The Cajuns hit just 19-of-62 shots and were out-rebounded 49-34. They didn't hit a 3-pointer until senior Ashley Blanche connected with 5:35 remaining in the game, and were 1-of-15 on treys. The rest of the story Bruce Brown bbrown@theadvertiser.com

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DENVER - It was billed as a battle of the big men, but Denver's perimeter shooting ended up being more of a factor here Saturday night. The Pioneers put together two solid 3-point shooting streaks, one midway through the first half and one that lasted most of the second half, and followed those runs to a 75-63 win over the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns in their Sun Belt Conference meeting Saturday at Magness Arena. The Cajuns had streaks of their own, but they weren't good ones. UL had a five-minute stretch in the first half where it managed only one free throw, and the host Pioneers opened an 18-11 lead. Then, in the second half, the Cajuns saw a five-point deficit grow to a 17-point hole when DU went on a 12-0 run and UL went scoreless from the 8:18 mark to the 3:23 mark. Denver (8-6, 2-0 Sun Belt) grabbed the early lead in the league's West Division courtesy of the win and New Orleans' upset 72-69 win at North Texas. The cold-shooting Cajuns (4-9, 0-2), meanwhile, remained winless in league play and fell to 0-2 in the Sun Belt for the first time since the 1994-95 season. Denver's Yemi Nicholson, the returning Sun Belt Player of the Year, had his seventh "double-double" of the season by intermission and finished with 18 points and 16 rebounds. But it was DU's 3-point shooting, more than anything else, that had more to do with the Pioneers taking their third straight regular-season win over UL in as many games. Denver missed its first six trey opportunities and then hit 11 of its next 20 outside the arc. The rest of the story

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Was kryptonite green in the Superman comics? It's hard to remember. At any rate, the North Texas Mean Green packed some kryptonite when UNT visited the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns on Saturday at Earl K. Long Gym. Coach J. Kelley Hall's squad had won 22 straight games at home, and only senior point guard Ashley Blanche had been around for the last time the Cajuns fell short in front of their own fans. So when the Mean Green halted that streak, it was a disappointment. But the way they did it, pummeling UL 70-47, was shocking. "I think we thought we couldn't lose here," Hall said. "They did think they were bullet-proof. But, you also have to take care of your business and continue to get better, and we did not do that tonight. "I told the players that that's how far away we are from first place, and that's a long ways away. It's very disappointing. The game was between the two best teams in the Sun Belt, and we were not ready." The rest of the story Bruce Brown bbrown@theadvertiser.com

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Several years ago, the Louisiana Ragin' Cajun women's basketball coach J. Kelley Hall had the chance to speak with legendary coach Al McGuire. And, like any young coach, Hall welcomed the opportunity to seek words of wisdom. McGuire's name came up on Monday, when Hall was reminded that his team did not score in the final 4:08 in the first half of last Saturday's 70-47 home loss to North Texas. "Al told me that, in a given year, you'll play 28 games," Hall began, "and out of those 28 games there will be two nights when, I don't care how many timeouts you call or how many adjustments you make, it's not going to happen for you. "He said you could yell, scream, get technical fouls, and that's not going to change the outcome. We tried everything Saturday night, and it did not make a difference." The Cajuns experienced a jarring change between last Thursday's 76-50 win over Denver in their Sun Belt opener and Saturday's 23-point loss to UNT that snapped their 22-game home win streak. "We're probably not as good as we looked against Denver, and probably not as bad as we looked against North Texas," Hall said. The rest of the story Bruce Brown bbrown@theadvertiser.com