The Book: 2002-2003 Basketball (Ragin'Cajuns)

[Turbine]

Originally posted by Trigger74
Yes and for those out-of-staters, Jay has assured me that all games will be on the KPEL web as long as the team is playing.

GEAUX LOUISIANA'S RAGIN CAJUNS

Thanks Trigger74

[LatvianCajun]

I'm glad our season isn't over yet.

[Southern Miss Alum]

I'll go ahead and warn you; UAB is HOT right now. Their win over Marquette (C-USA regular season champs and No. 8 in the nation) wasn't a fluke, they took it to them.

UL is definitely capable of beating them, but y'all need to be clicking when you hit Birmingham.

Best of luck.

[NewsCopy]

LAFAYETTE — The last time Louisiana was in the National Invitation Tournament, the Ragin’ Cajuns played like they didn’t care about the outcome. The result was predictable, an 83-63 loss at Louisiana Tech in 2002 shortly after the Cajuns had lost to Western Kentucky in the finals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

Coach Jessie Evans is hoping for a better performance on Wednesday when his 20-9 team travels to face 19-12 Alabama-Birmingham in the NIT.

“Last year, the (Sun Belt) tournament was closer to the invitation to the NIT,” Evans said Monday. “We were still recovering from the loss in the finals.

“We’re a little more mature this year, and we’ve had a little more time to get over it.”

The Cajuns suffered an unexpectedly early loss in the Sun Belt quarterfinals, falling 72-68 to Denver for the first time in school history, and have been inactive since March 8.

“It’s given us the opportunity to heal,” Evans said. “Laurie (team MVP Laurie Bridges) was about 60-70 percent in the Sun Belt Tournanent with a deep thigh bruise.

“And, (senior) Anthony Johnson is feeling a lot better with his lower leg injury. They’re all able to practice this year.”

The rest of the story

South Louisiana Publishing
Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — For four days last week, Alabama-Birmingham’s basketball team was the talk of the Conference USA Tournament.

The Blazers wore the Cinderella slipper with three wins in three days to reach that league’s final, including upsets along the way over No. 8-ranked Marquette and a higher-seeded Saint Louis team.

Even though the glass slipper cracked in an 83-78 loss to Louisville in the finals, it was a memorable week for UAB head coach Mike Anderson.

“That was an opportunity for our team and our program to show people around the country that we had progressed tremendously,” he said. “We were progressing pretty nicely.”

Anderson will be hoping his 19-12 Blazers can sustain that hot stretch when they welcome Louisiana's Ragin’ Cajuns in the first round of the NIT Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in Bartow Arena.

That is, if his team can reach the emotional pitch that it used to get within five points of a seemingly-impossible NCAA berth.

“That’s something that does concern you as a coach,” Anderson said. “At the same time, I think our guys just want to continue to play basketball. We’ve got two seniors that just want to continue to play, and now they have another opportunity to play another game at Bartow.

“Our goal was to get to the NCAA, no doubt about that, but our guys will be ready to play. I won’t let them have a letdown.”

The rest of the story

South Louisiana Publishing
Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

[CDeb]

I will be shocked, stunned and stupefied should the Cajuns win on Wednesday.

[Turbine]

Blazers up early 4-0

[Turbine]

Jay says the Cajuns are playing hard.

16-15 UAB

[Turbine]

21-16 Louisiana

Th defense is on fire.

[CajunRebel]

Nice job right there on D

[Turbine]

Louisiana on a 10-0 run

[Turbine]

UAB responds with a 14-2 run