Ragin' Cajuns pick up basketball pledge

[Just1More]

_ Brad, you should know better than most that getting a "dominant" big man is extremely difficult for a mid-major program to do in this day and age. Not to mention that the college game has, in large part, become a transition oriented game and there are a lot of teams out there that structure their team around the good SG and SF's out there. You see a lot more recruiting of the traditional PF's out there to turn them into 5's so there is more of an inside out game. The Greg Oden's are few and far between today and most centers now have to be able to run the court and even have a good range on their jumper to get the big looks. I have no problem with the way they are recruiting as long as we bring in guys who will improve in their time here, are team players and the coaches know how to assemble a gameplan that takes advantage of the given talents of the team. _

Not to pile on top of Brad... he knows more about basketball than 20 of me... but you are right. UL didn't "recruit" M Southall. We "found" him. Even the top programs are in search of the elusive "dominate" big man. Few big men (6-10 plus) that are accessible to UL are actually capable of contributing more than a solid 6-8 guy that we can find. Our biggest need... IMO... is the floor general PG. There are a lot of highly capable basketball athletes accessible to UL that are wingmen, shooting forward, slash and crash types.

I feel we are missing the player-coach ball handling machine guard that controls the game and team... mentally. He has basketball brains to go along with his basketball skills. That kid knows how to stop and pop when he's open, draw that special game changing foul, dribble penetrate and kick it out to an open team-mate. The single most impressive thing about WKU over the years, to me, has been their ability to find and floor a kid that essentially becomes the attitude of the team. I am tired of hearing about some kid's HS stats and his accolades, without hearing that we targeted the young man to be the practice team attitude and run the team on the contest floor. To me, too many coaches, just like in football these days... overlook the thinking kid at the helm and opt for someone with a cannon and a great 40. We, right now, at UL, need a floor general PG with a lion's heart and high basketball IQ. JMO

[HOUCajun]

_ Not to pile on top of Brad... he knows more about basketball than 20 of me... but you are right. UL didn't "recruit" M Southall. We "found" him. Even the top programs are in search of the elusive "dominate" big man.

Not only that, but we were pretty bad when he played as a Senior. D Mitchell was also on that team. That team should have been better.

[Boomer]

_ Greg ODEM, no one is talking about greg oden, southall ran the floor, blocked out, rebounded, so did cedrick williams, 6'8" beast, wasnt afraid of nobody... so did LONNIE THOMAS, and REGGIE POOLE, all different types of big men that were pretty fricken good, it was a problem for opposing teams when they had to match up against these guys... They out there you gotta get em... Im not talking about dominate the country just the SUNBELT, you gotta find those players... Transfers, you have to know what guys are not happy at big time schools, are ones that want more playing time... They will come, if you build it. Program needs to be built better,from here on out!!! We got some good inside players on this years team, how many times do the ever touch the ball, not much, we might have a dominant inside player, and we dont know it!!! GO CAJUNS!!! _

Whhhhoooaaa guy---Southhall ran the floor????-He was the biggest dog that I have ever seen as far as effort--How many times that he literally WALKED the floor!!!!

[Spydaman70507]

I agree with Both Brad & Josh. The 2 hardest postion to find is a PG & C they are out there but you have to find the one that really fits the style of plays you run. I don't know if the two incoming freshman we sign (Andrews & Mitchell) are that type of players. These 2(PG/Center) type of players will open up more opportunity for Chris & Travis.Mostly all teams that make it to the tourney have the 1-2 punch.The past few years we lost out on PG's either we didnt make a strong pitch or they felt they could of get more playing time else where. So I think they are out there but is up to the staff to find a O.Green or a Southall maybe we are doing that but only time will tell.

[CajunCanaille]

_ Whhhhoooaaa guy---Southhall ran the floor????-He was the biggest dog that I have ever seen as far as effort--How many times that he literally WALKED the floor!!!! _

I remember Southall running the floor quite often. I remember him being very good when he was here. I would take another Southall in a heart beat. My only knock on him, and it's a fairly big knock, is he couldn't get elligible for an entire season.

[zephyr]

_ Greg ODEM, no one is talking about greg oden, southall ran the floor, blocked out, rebounded, so did cedrick williams, 6'8" beast, wasnt afraid of nobody... so did LONNIE THOMAS, and REGGIE POOLE, all different types of big men that were pretty fricken good, it was a problem for opposing teams when they had to match up against these guys... They out there you gotta get em... Im not talking about dominate the country just the SUNBELT, you gotta find those players... Transfers, you have to know what guys are not happy at big time schools, are ones that want more playing time... They will come, if you build it. Program needs to be built better,from here on out!!! We got some good inside players on this years team, how many times do the ever touch the ball, not much, we might have a dominant inside player, and we dont know it!!! GO CAJUNS!!! _

First, its Greg OdeN. Second of all, I was referring to the type of player that Greg is which is a prototypical center to the old days. A true 7 footer who is a good shot blocker, rebounder and makes his living playing on the blocks. The true, good and skilled protypical centers of today go to the large BCS programs. It's that simple. The only ones that don't are the Southall's who are trouble from the beginning. Don't forget, Southall was at a BCS school before he ended up at UL. I'd rather a couple of guys of the Marcus Stokes or Lonnie Thomas mold that were 6'8" ish but great on the boards, scored in the low post and were team guys. They played a lot bigger than they were and we can score a lot of those guys although there is a lot of teams out there right now starting to go to that type of player.

So, by your account, if we have some good low post players on this team, why must we stop recruiting and signing the 2 and 3 guards?

[zephyr]

_ You gotta find the good, good, players, they are out there!!! _

So again, how does this statement conflict with the thread? According to some of the services, these are some good players. ESPN has MacDougald rated as 83. That's higher, if I'm not mistaken than Gradnigo was coming out. You had a problem with the position that we were signing and the problem is, we have to build smaller, quicker teams centered around guard play and a couple of 6'8" guys down low that play big and rebound. The low post guys we have are not good so yes, we do need to sign some more of them but there are plenty of teams in the country the have really good guard play and get by with adequate low post play and succeed. I have no problem with these signings as long as they are program building players.

[CajunProud]

I think everybody is missing the bigger picture and that is, not only do you have to get the talent to come, but you have to have a coach who can coach and knows what he is doing, and we don't have that.

[zephyr]

_ I think everybody is missing the bigger picture and that is, not only do you have to get the talent to come, but you have to have a coach who can coach and knows what he is doing, and we don't have that. _

I think that is part of getting the talent to come. Players are willing to play somewhere small if they know they will be better coached. Part of selling the program is selling the coach.

[CajunProud]

_ I think that is part of getting the talent to come. Players are willing to play somewhere small if they know they will be better coached. Part of selling the program is selling the coach. _

I agree 100%. I just don't think we have it. Hope I am wrong, but we will see shortly.