Basketball Q?

[zephyr]

I dunno. Any way I try to rationalize the admin decisions made around Cajun MBB just don't make sense.

Rationalization 1: SBC is only a 1 bid league, so why be overly critical.

That's an easy one to debunk, won't even type it out.

Rationalization 2: MBB doesn't matter in the south (I've heard that from a few people)

Well, it used to, and I don't see why it can't again.

Rationalization 3: FB, BSB, and SB get all the resources

If you can sell season tickets and generate fan interest, you can create your own resources.

When people say that basketball is dead in the south its usually from a place of ignorance. They either just don't really like basketball generally because they may be more of a baseball fan or they are just spitting out something they heard some talking head say.

I think the folks at McNeese would beg to differ or just across the south in the SEC and parts of the Big 12. You are seeing major growth and the SEC has become the premier conference in the country although I hate to say that (ACC fan).

Many programs are dumping large amounts into their programs and they are seeing record attendance numbers. We, as a city, may be a bit of an outlier though as we have seemed to take over a baseball culture more here. It's sad but it may be true but the sport is not dead on a collegiate level at all in the south. It appears to just be so here.

[jaxmc1023]

Wasn't UL putting 6-8k fans in the Cajundome regularly for years?

When I got to Lafayette the entire UL athletic program had an air of "so close but not quite over the hump".. especially in football. When Hudspeth arrived and we started winning, there was an energy you could feel that we might actually make some noise on a larger stage. We get our 1st bowl invite and bring 40k rowdy Cajun fans to NOLA.

Then we keep winning - not necessarily 1 or 2 loss seasons, consistently 8-4'ish. We're establishing ourselves as an improving program. At the same time, our baseball program reaches #1 in the country, and our basketball team heads to the tourney with two NBA prospects on the team.

That was peak "we are almost there!" time at UL. And what became of it? First round bounce against Creighton. Bounced from baseball in Supers, then regional, then regular season. And football, we get the Beth Mowins bowl against CUSA teams for half a decade.

We got to the top of the hump, prepared to go over it, and only then realized that the real hump was actually much much bigger.

Prices went up. Diehards got older. And our years of pushing students to BR to tailgate are finally catching up to us.

[Esqueleto]

Wasn't UL putting 6-8k fans in the Cajundome regularly for years?

When I got to Lafayette the entire UL athletic program had an air of "so close but not quite over the hump".. especially in football. When Hudspeth arrived and we started winning, there was an energy you could feel that we might actually make some noise on a larger stage. We get our 1st bowl invite and bring 40k rowdy Cajun fans to NOLA.

Then we keep winning - not necessarily 1 or 2 loss seasons, consistently 8-4'ish. We're establishing ourselves as an improving program. At the same time, our baseball program reaches #1 in the country, and our basketball team heads to the tourney with two NBA prospects on the team.

That was peak "we are almost there!" time at UL. And what became of it? First round bounce against Creighton. Bounced from baseball in Supers, then regional, then regular season. And football, we get the Beth Mowins bowl against CUSA teams for half a decade.

We got to the top of the hump, prepared to go over it, and only then realized that the real hump was actually much much bigger.

Prices went up. Diehards got older. And our years of pushing students to BR to tailgate are finally catching up to us.

Poetry. 100% correct.

[CajunJack55]

Wasn't UL putting 6-8k fans in the Cajundome regularly for years?

When I got to Lafayette the entire UL athletic program had an air of "so close but not quite over the hump".. especially in football. When Hudspeth arrived and we started winning, there was an energy you could feel that we might actually make some noise on a larger stage. We get our 1st bowl invite and bring 40k rowdy Cajun fans to NOLA.

Then we keep winning - not necessarily 1 or 2 loss seasons, consistently 8-4'ish. We're establishing ourselves as an improving program. At the same time, our baseball program reaches #1 in the country, and our basketball team heads to the tourney with two NBA prospects on the team.

That was peak "we are almost there!" time at UL. And what became of it? First round bounce against Creighton. Bounced from baseball in Supers, then regional, then regular season. And football, we get the Beth Mowins bowl against CUSA teams for half a decade.

We got to the top of the hump, prepared to go over it, and only then realized that the real hump was actually much much bigger.

Prices went up. Diehards got older. And our years of pushing students to BR to tailgate are finally catching up to us.

Not sure that the hump got bigger, more like we added weights to our backpack to make it impossible to get over that hump. . Big difference imo.

[Turbine]

Wasn't UL putting 6-8k fans in the Cajundome regularly for years?

When I got to Lafayette the entire UL athletic program had an air of "so close but not quite over the hump".. especially in football. When Hudspeth arrived and we started winning, there was an energy you could feel that we might actually make some noise on a larger stage. We get our 1st bowl invite and bring 40k rowdy Cajun fans to NOLA.

Then we keep winning - not necessarily 1 or 2 loss seasons, consistently 8-4'ish. We're establishing ourselves as an improving program. At the same time, our baseball program reaches #1 in the country, and our basketball team heads to the tourney with two NBA prospects on the team.

That was peak "we are almost there!" time at UL. And what became of it? First round bounce against Creighton. Bounced from baseball in Supers, then regional, then regular season. And football, we get the Beth Mowins bowl against CUSA teams for half a decade.

We got to the top of the hump, prepared to go over it, and only then realized that the real hump was actually much much bigger.

Prices went up. Diehards got older. And our years of pushing students to BR to tailgate are finally catching up to us.

Perception is everthing.

Peak hump would have been the time to change conferences or go independant with the focus on changing conferences.

When status quo was endorsed, peak hump only has one other side.

There will be other opportunities, but they don't present simultaneous synchronicity very often.

[UL_Cajuns]

I was a basketball first guy for many years as a Cajuns Fan. Now I don’t even know when we play half the time because I know the program is going nowhere under Big Fish. Just a shame because such a nice arena and had much support at one time. Those early 2000s were lit in the CD.

[CajunRed]

Fair enough, but wouldnt it still be maggard's fault... couldnt he take over basketball schedule if it was so bad or assign it to whomever he chose, and/or delegate football scheduling if it isnt his strong suit?

Anything having to do with athletics is ultimately the fault of the AD and the President.

[CajunRed]

I was a basketball first guy for many years as a Cajuns Fan. Now I don’t even know when we play half the time because I know the program is going nowhere under Big Fish. Just a shame because such a nice arena and had much support at one time. Those early 2000s were lit in the CD.

This.

[CajunNation]

I was a basketball first guy for many years as a Cajuns Fan. Now I don’t even know when we play half the time because I know the program is going nowhere under Big Fish. Just a shame because such a nice arena and had much support at one time. Those early 2000s were lit in the CD.

Not as lit as the early 90’s, which were not as lit as the Blackham days.

[babysitter]

Is Maggard just not a basketball guy?

Wives are BFF’s so there’s that.