A Simple Q for Robert Lee

[Cajunsmike]

_ Have you been to any games? Everything you said is true. But I have a hard time believing the talent level on this team is NCAA tournament quality. _

Talent on the team is overrated in my view. Biggest problem is lack of ability to finish plays inside.

[zephyr]

_ Have you been to any games? Everything you said is true. But I have a hard time believing the talent level on this team is NCAA tournament quality. _

Yes I have, which makes me think your statement doesn't have much merit. First off, do you know what talent is? The reason we're talking about their talent is because they haven't realized their potential yet which is exactly what you are talking about. The potential to improve and contribute. Batiste is not what I would define as talent. Why? Because I think he has the greatest room for improvement as he's not very good but I don't think that he has the tools to truly improve much beyond the player that he currently is. Guys like Gradnigo, Bureau, Mitchell and Andrews have not only a lot of room for improvement but the tools necessary to realize that opportunity and become very solid players. Gradnigo's ranking out of high school was one inidcator of his "talent" as he was a highly thought of product. Nobody argues that Gradnigo and Bureau have been disappointments in more ways than one. That doesn't mean that they still can't develop into premier players with some hard work and coaching. Both guys can play multiple positions, shoot the ball well from the outside, are very athletic and could be very tough defensive players with their length and athleticism if they worked hard enough at it. Mitchell has a high ceiling because is a true post player with a lot of eligibility remaining and with some good coaching, could be one of the best post players in the conference.

Again, nobody is arguing with the fact that these guys have not played well but to me and many others, these guys have the ability to be very solid players and that is exactly what "talent" is. Whether they reach this level and become the players that we think they can is up to them and hopefully a new coach.

Also, when he mentioned that they could win the West next year, we're not exactly talking about the Big East here. The SBC has been fairly down the past couple of years and the West is not exactly a beast of a conference. We won the West while all of these guys were freshmen. Why is it hard to think that they couldn't win it as Seniors with hopefully a lot more experience and better coaching?

[zephyr]

_ Talent on the team is overrated in my view. Biggest problem is lack of ability to finish plays inside. _

Overrated in which way Mike? Overrated in saying that they can win the West or just in the fact that they've underachieved from an individual standpoint? If this team's talent was overrated, I doubt that this fanbase would be as frustrated as it is with the way they've played.

[UL_Cajuns]

_ Overrated in which way Mike? Overrated in saying that they can win the West or just in the fact that they've underachieved from an individual standpoint? If this team's talent was overrated, I doubt that this fanbase would be as frustrated as it is with the way they've played. _

I quit going to the games a few years back, after seeing the play on the court. You have good points. Your points lead to the main problem with this team: THE COACH. There is no doubt that the Admin will get rid of him after this season, but I just feel that it was a wasted season, by letting Robert Lee coach this year. He is a failed coach and he knows it. So just resign now Robert Lee.

[zephyr]

_ I quit going to the games a few years back, after seeing the play on the court. You have good points. Your points lead to the main problem with this team: THE COACH. There is no doubt that the Admin will get rid of him after this season, but I just feel that it was a wasted season, by letting Robert Lee coach this year. He is a failed coach and he knows it. So just resign now Robert Lee. _

Well, Robert will not resign and I would not expect him to do such a thing. However, he will be gone after the season and hopefully, we will have a much renewed interest and excitement about the upcoming team come October of this year. At this point, that is all we can hope for.

[zephyr]

_ Have you been to any games? Everything you said is true. But I have a hard time believing the talent level on this team is NCAA tournament quality. _

Also, nobody mentioned NCAA caliber. He simply spoke of winning the West division of the conference which does nothing to ensure that you will be a tourney team.

[SlappyCajun]

I stand by my statements. And luckily for me, I don't stay up at night, because River Ranch Man questions my credibility. I will say it again and again. I have several, several friends who coach at all levels. From top to bottom, UL has more talent than any team in the state, with the possible exception of Louisiana Tech.

You have guys guards and forwards who are all 6'6" and 6'7" and can really shoot it. It is the coaches job to get them to play at a higher level.

I will say that the only position that I think we are really over matched is the point guard position. Other than that, we have more than adequate talent.

Name one team that we lost to at home who you would describe as more talented.

LSU has three better players, Bo Spencer, Tasmin Mitchell and Storm Warren. But after that there is a huge drop out.

Talent does not equal wins. Talent plus getting guys to play hard plus having a good scheme equals wins. Sometimes just Talent and playing hard is enough. I think that is what happened Robert's first year.

[Cajunsmike]

_ Overrated in which way Mike? Overrated in saying that they can win the West or just in the fact that they've underachieved from an individual standpoint? If this team's talent was overrated, I doubt that this fanbase would be as frustrated as it is with the way they've played. _

I believe they are overrated in terms of shooting the ball. Daigle hits a few but his % is not where it should be. Same goes for Bureau who has disappeared recently. We also don't have enough quickness on defense although I believe Dison and Gary would help were they healthy. The problem they have scoring inside is like having trouble running the ball in football. It is not always pretty but it is essential to success. Defensively we also let guys get in the paint too easily which leads to wide open threes with the in and out game. What I am saying is that bringing an outstanding coach should help but we won't immediately return to glory with the guys on the current squad.

[zephyr]

_ I believe they are overrated in terms of shooting the ball. Daigle hits a few but his % is not where it should be. Same goes for Bureau who has disappeared recently. We also don't have enough quickness on defense although I believe Dison and Gary would help were they healthy. The problem they have scoring inside is like having trouble running the ball in football. It is not always pretty but it is essential to success. Defensively we also let guys get in the paint too easily which leads to wide open threes with the in and out game. What I am saying is that bringing an outstanding coach should help but we won't immediately return to glory with the guys on the current squad. _

Mike, we have great shooters. You mention shooting percentage. There is a big difference between hitting open shots due to good ball rotation or dribble penetration and getting the kickout for a good shot and having to jack up outside shots with a man in your face and the shot clock winding down due to no ball movement and a lack of execution of any type of offense. We've seen this for several years now. It's not new. Also, we know these guys can shoot. Shooting, in itself, is fickle sometimes and there are just stretches that you will go through where you lose confidence and your stroke and it sometimes takes a while to get it back. I think getting a better, more disciplined offense installed and executed would create more open looks with guys more likely to knock them down. Bureau is a streaky, but talented shooter who seems to have lost a lot of confidence.

Do you really think that the players we have are not quick enough to defend the perimeter or they just haven't sold out enough on defense? I tend to think the latter is more true. I believe these guys have more than adequate quickness and I also think that we don't play the passing lanes as hard as we should. When we do play the passing lanes, we get way too many backdoors and the rotating defense is often late or not even in the area which creates all of the easy baskets you spoke of. I think that lack of defensive discipline and effort are to blame, not necessarily a lack of athleticism or talent.

I wouldn't believe that a team like Duke is necessarily quicker than the Cajuns. However, they play much better defense and that is an attitude that is installed from their coach to the players. If they are beat by their man, they know they have help defense rotating to stop the penetration. Sometimes it only takes fundamental basketball to succeed.

There are lots of teams that have accomplished their season goals with a lack of inside presence. I don't think that we need to have a big offensive presence, albeit it would be nice, but we just have to have post guys who have a role and understand it. Batiste should not be anywhere near the block trying to receive the ball. He should be setting picks and anticipating rebounds before a shot goes up. Villanova runs a 3 guard offense with little scoring production from their frontcourt but they have a role and they play well with it. Villanova succeeds quite nicely in the Big East, a conference known for its physical inside play. Having it is a luxury, not a necessity.


Again, nobody was stating that we were going to see the next coming of Andrew Toney and Bo Lamar, he simply noted that if they were to get a quality head coach, this team could be picked to win the West next year. We did it 3 years ago with the core of this current team.

[reddot]

_ Mike, we have great shooters. _

We may have good shooters but great shooters is a stretch.