Final: Louisiana 75, Samford 58

[BeauCajun]

Football, baseball, softball, and volleyball are out drawing MBB. Less than a 1000 folks at a MBB D1 game is weak. No way to sugar coat this.

That’s a big negative on the last 2.

[cajun4life]

That’s a big negative on the last 2.

Let’s just look at social media presence.

Basketball:
Instagram 4428 followers.
Facebook 2500 followers
Twitter 9500 followers

Softball
Instagram 8256 followers
Facebook 12745 followers
Twitter 22500 followers

Volleyball
Instagram 4058 followers
Facebook 2100 followers
Twitter 3061 followers

So from a social media standpoint our least popular sport is on the heels of our 2nd most popular sport. Is easily on a better trajectory than basketball and has a better social media presence considering it’s a niche sport.

There is zero casual support for basketball and a rapidly dying, literally and figuratively, core support for basketball.

If football is the front porch, then basketball is the steps and they are broken.

[ManAboutTown]

I'm not going to pretend like I've been following MBB, but I have watched some. Namely, Harvard, Tech and a little of Samford. So you guys can take this as an outside view.

First, M$M standing his ground is good to see. I think we see the same thing in terms of what kind of potential this roster has. Lewis is the missing ingredient this program has missed for a long time. Someone compared him to B Hamilton. I think that's pretty accurate. PG play has been much better than the previous few years. If Dalcourt and Garnett continue to make shots, this team should really never struggle to score points. They have all of the pieces in place.

I don't think it's fair to expect much out of Julien. I have no idea what he will provide this team with other than toughness and leadership. If he can contribute on the court, that's just an added bonus. Seems like a good dude, so I hope he gets the best out of his physical gifts for the rest of his eligibility.

The critics are right in that we still lack quality wins on the ledger. If you're going to argue Harvard (they just beat Clemson last week), I'll raise you Drake, who just got their doors blown off by a sub .500 Richmond team. The critics are also right in saying there weren't 2600 in the dome for an 8-1 team against Samford on a Saturday night. 2600 is tickets sold and half of those tickets are purchased by the Social Club. (Y'all can get mad at me if you want, but that's a fact.) There may have been 1500 for LaTech. Apathy has set in and winning isn't fixing it. It's no secret why that may be. You can say all you want about Marlin and his "accomplishments" but the fanbase quit on the man 4 years ago.

This 2022 roster is good enough to win the league. But 2017 was good enough to make an NCAA run and we couldn't get to the conference tourney final. I don't want to hear about Stove's belly ache or Gant's sniffles. That roster was loaded and the SBC was WAY down that year. I can't really blame fans for rolling their eyes about the "hype" so far this season. This is what happens when you pump a fanbase full of propaganda and never deliver. We're a victim of our own BS.

[zephyr]

The current players don't think so. They play hard for each other and their coaches. Granted they don't always play well. Note there has been quite a turnover on the staff in recent months. The lead assistant is in his second year as is the strength and conditioning coach. Two other assistants are in their first year. There is also a new video coordinator. I don't know if this turnover is responsible for what appears to be improved play to date but the new guys do bring things from Alabama, Texas, and Texas Tech.

Wait, our leading assistant basketball coach is also the strength and conditioning coach? Is this for real?

[moorecajun]

Wait, our leading assistant basketball coach is also the strength and conditioning coach? Is this for real?

No. He wrote "as is", not "and is"

[CajunVic]

I'm not going to pretend like I've been following MBB, but I have watched some. Namely, Harvard, Tech and a little of Samford. So you guys can take this as an outside view.

First, M$M standing his ground is good to see. I think we see the same thing in terms of what kind of potential this roster has. Lewis is the missing ingredient this program has missed for a long time. Someone compared him to B Hamilton. I think that's pretty accurate. PG play has been much better than the previous few years. If Dalcourt and Garnett continue to make shots, this team should really never struggle to score points. They have all of the pieces in place.

I don't think it's fair to expect much out of Julien. I have no idea what he will provide this team with other than toughness and leadership. If he can contribute on the court, that's just an added bonus. Seems like a good dude, so I hope he gets the best out of his physical gifts for the rest of his eligibility.

The critics are right in that we still lack quality wins on the ledger. If you're going to argue Harvard (they just beat Clemson last week), I'll raise you Drake, who just got their doors blown off by a sub .500 Richmond team. The critics are also right in saying there weren't 2600 in the dome for an 8-1 team against Samford on a Saturday night. 2600 is tickets sold and half of those tickets are purchased by the Social Club. (Y'all can get mad at me if you want, but that's a fact.) There may have been 1500 for LaTech. Apathy has set in and winning isn't fixing it. It's no secret why that may be. You can say all you want about Marlin and his "accomplishments" but the fanbase quit on the man 4 years ago.

This 2022 roster is good enough to win the league. But 2017 was good enough to make an NCAA run and we couldn't get to the conference tourney final. I don't want to hear about Stove's belly ache or Gant's sniffles. That roster was loaded and the SBC was WAY down that year. I can't really blame fans for rolling their eyes about the "hype" so far this season. This is what happens when you pump a fanbase full of propaganda and never deliver. We're a victim of our own BS.

Attendance kind of reminds one of football, right . . .

[cajun4life]

Attendance kind of reminds one of football, right . . .

Basketball has been terribly attended since Peyton/Ling years.

[JMV JustMyView]

That’s a big negative on the last 2.

Esqueleto reading comprehension is poor. I said MBB was 5th on the importance level and he brought season tickets/attendance into play. While we are talking about it Volleyball was pulling close to 1000 folks and EKL was pack. I don't have to tell you about softball getting 1500 to 1800 per game. MBB at UL is dying.

[CajunVic]

Attendance kind of reminds one of football, right . . .

7500 = 1500

[Million$Mullet]

Esqueleto reading comprehension is poor. I said MBB was 5th on the importance level and he brought season tickets/attendance into play. While we are talking about it Volleyball was pulling close to 1000 folks and EKL was pack. I don't have to tell you about softball getting 1500 to 1800 per game. MBB at UL is dying.

Who gets to decide which sport is more important? What’s the criteria? Wouldn’t attendance be something to look at? While you’re bringing up attendance to volleyball, it was free to get in so it’s not a fair comparison. Also a men’s national championship in basketball would garner far more attention than a women’s softball natty. It’s why big fish gets paid 600k and glasco makes what he makes 170k.