Louisiana Officially Opens Men's Basketball Practice

[California Cajun]

Basketball really needs to step up for the athletic department after all this football acrimony just 1/3 through the season.

[Hatch]

No pressure.

How good this team is will depend on how they come together as a team. There is only one ball and only 5 can play at a time.
Seems like the talent is there to be really good.

Exactly the depth is there but how this team plays together is key. There seemed to be pretty good chemistry last year and I think it helps that the 3 transfers were part of that team, however them getting game minutes could change things. I am interested in seeing how Marlin uses that depth. I really hope Bryce Washington isn't playing 35+ minutes a game as that took a toll last year. Filling Jay Wrights shoes will be a big task as I don't think many realize how much he will be missed. That will be on either Stroman or a combination of Stroman and Russell. I hope the staff can get guys like Miller, Davis, and maybe even Russell to buy into being role players on this years team and develop into stronger upperclassmen.

[Ragin4U]

Exactly the depth is there but how this team plays together is key. There seemed to be pretty good chemistry last year and I think it helps that the 3 transfers were part of that team, however them getting game minutes could change things. I am interested in seeing how Marlin uses that depth. I really hope Bryce Washington isn't playing 35+ minutes a game as that took a toll last year. Filling Jay Wrights shoes will be a big task as I don't think many realize how much he will be missed. That will be on either Stroman or a combination of Stroman and Russell. I hope the staff can get guys like Miller, Davis, and maybe even Russell to buy into being role players on this years team and develop into stronger upperclassmen.

Good point about Bryce. I think its tough not to have him on the floor, though. His basketball IQ is so high.
I agree that filling Jay's shoes will be harder than some may think. That guy was a warrior for us. Saw that Jay signed a G-League contract and will be draft eligible. Hoping for the best for him.

[VObserver]

As usual, Bob has a dumpster fire for a home schedule. He should be fired for that alone, let alone how much his teams have underachieved. Third in the SBC with a lottery pick point guard and an NBA caliber power forward? He could have just rolled a ball out on the court and let them play and done at least that well. With this roster and this schedule, anything less than an outright regular season title and 25 wins is an abject failure.

With this roster, he should have scheduled for an at large bid, even at the expense of having fewer home non conference games.

[GeauxCajuns]

I bet you're a blast at parties.

[VObserver]

I bet you're a blast at parties.

Millsaps, Loyola, Louisiana College, Savanna State, McNeese, Nichols, UNO.

I rest my case.

[Ragin4U]

Millsaps, Loyola, Louisiana College, Savanna State, McNeese, Nichols, UNO.

I rest my case.

Just a check of the closest SEC team to us.
Alcorn St, Samford, Tennessee-Martin, UNC-Wilmington, SFA, Sam Houston and Houston, North Florida.
With the exception of UH, that looks pretty similar.

Not saying our schedule is good, just that the issues with scheduling OOC home games have been discussed ad nauseum.

[VObserver]

UT Martin 160, UNCW 33, Samford 170, SHSU 193, SFA 206, UNF 221, Houston 62, Alcorn 227

Millsaps, Loyola, Louisiana College non D 1, Savannah State 282, SLU 251, McNeese 314, Nichols 254, UNO 161.

I will take 2 top 100 home games and 3 top 200, over Bob's 1 top 200 every day.

Those are final RPI numbers from last season.

[Ragin4U]

UT Martin 160, UNCW 33, Samford 170, SHSU 193, SFA 206, UNF 221, Houston 62, Alcorn 227

Millsaps, Loyola, Louisiana College non D 1, Savannah State 282, SLU 251, McNeese 314, Nichols 254, UNO 161.

I will take 2 top 100 home games and 3 top 200, over Bob's 1 top 200 every day.

Those are final RPI numbers from last season.

Agreed. I'm not arguing that we have a great OOC schedule. My point was that an SEC school has pretty close to the same OOC schedule. Better but not THAT much better. Its UNC-W, not UNC and Samford, not Stanford.
Now I would think that because they play an SEC conference schedule, they don't have to work as hard for RPI in OOC as we do/should.

[ManAboutTown]

I expect this team to take some time to gel. I expect them to get a lot better by the end of the year. I expect the CajunDome to be a fun place this season.

I expect to go to the NCAAs and WIN a game, at minimum.

One thing I'll say for Marlin and Bryce, specifically for this year.. They expect to do more than that..