Ragin' Cajuns head to CIT in Post Season Basketball

[NicholsonVoice]

Ok then, if you are right handed it's probably not good policy to be taking the ball toward the left side of the key & attempt to pass the ball with your left hand to your team mates who are rotating to your right side in your half court offense, when the other team is in half court defense playing either man to man or zone coverage. UL did it 6 times that I counted in the 2nd half & every single time they did the result was a turnover. Insert character assasination now.

Dude - how much did you have to drink at the Dome? I don't think you were watching the same game as everyone else in attendance.

I think you know a bit about football ..... but no offense, you need to stop pretending you know anything about basketball and just go cheer for whoever the best NBA team or NCAA champion is and be a bandwagoner.

The Cajuns ran a weave type rotation at the top, with 2 rotating post players. After a few cycles, they would pull a post out to screen and roll, then rotate the weak side players - where believe it or not the correct pass for the PG is to reverse the ball to the opposite side - or drive.

Not true that every single time it was a turnover - as it lead to a Brown 3 pointer and a few FT attempts by Coleby and McClellan.

Point being - just stick to football - not questioning character - just your basketball IQ.

[Bandwagon King]

Dude - how much did you have to drink at the Dome? I don't think you were watching the same game as everyone else in attendance.

I think you know a bit about football ..... but no offense, you need to stop pretending you know anything about basketball and just go cheer for whoever the best NBA team or NCAA champion is and be a bandwagoner.

The Cajuns ran a weave type rotation at the top, with 2 rotating post players. After a few cycles, they would pull a post out to screen and roll, then rotate the weak side players - where believe it or not the correct pass for the PG is to reverse the ball to the opposite side - or drive.

Not true that every single time it was a turnover - as it lead to a Brown 3 pointer and a few FT attempts by Coleby and McClellan.

Point being - just stick to football - not questioning character - just your basketball IQ.

Every time that I am refering to, they ran a box type rotation in a counterclockwise movement with the low post moving right to left then coming up toward the free throw line & cutting back away from the point. When the defense was in man to man the trailer always had in side out leverage & was able to jump in the passing lane & take the ball away. When the defense was in a two three zone the lower post defender on the right collapsed & was able to knock the ball to the two man as the ball handler was attemting to move to his left trying to turn to the rim. I am not saying they didn't have success running this rotation earlier because it didn't catch my attention one way or the other until about 6 minutes into the second half. But it sure as hell didn't work in the second half. In fact, they had three possesions in a row with a turnover resulting in all three. You can argue about them running a different rotation or several different rotations because it wasn't the only offense they ran, but they definitely ran that rotation several times in the second half with disasterous results. You may call it a weave, but every time they attempted to hit the cutter going the opposite way it was a turnover plain & simple.

You notice how I did that without making slur against you for effect. Maybe you can bring the level of your game up a little. BTW, I'm pretty sure Elfrid wasn't in the game when Josh or Thompson made their threes. I don't recall anyone else making a three. I also noticed one lame attempt at a high screen in the second half.

FYI, I picked FSU to beat Murray St. in the finals. I doubt that is the consensus bandwagon pick.

[awadelewis]

Every time that I am refering to, they ran a box type rotation in a counterclockwise movement with the low post moving right to left then coming up toward the free throw line & cutting back away from the point. When the defense was in man to man the trailer always had in side out leverage & was able to jump in the passing lane & take the ball away. When the defense was in a two three zone the lower post defender on the right collapsed & was able to knock the ball to the two man as the ball handler was attempting to move to his left trying to turn to the rim.

And that's one of the reasons why our inconsitency all season at hitting the outside shot was such a problem. For that offensive set to work effectively, the offense needs to be able put down the shot from the extended foul line... either off the screen and roll or off the pass to weak side. It keeps the defense honest. If you watched the UT-UC game today, you saw UC running that same set on the Longhorns and make it work by being able to hit those shots. OTOH, opponents in our games knew we weren't capable of hitting that outside shot and were able to cheat off on defense and do just like BK described in his post. That's why it's so important for our returning guys to work their tails off in the off-season to improve their shooting skills and hopefully will be a point of emphasis in recruiting this spring.

[Bandwagon King]

I'm sitting here watching ND play Xavier & ND obviously has a left handed point guard. He has successfully matriculated the ball down the court for several possessions & the first TO he had was attempting to throw a pass to his right with his left hand. He had just gone to his right the time before, but the offensive rotation was switched from right to left back to left to right with the players immediately recognizing his adjustment & adjusting their offense accordingly.

[MelRock]

At some point arguing with him is like wrestling with a pig in the mud. Sooner or later you figure out the pig likes the mud!

[Parrott]

Dude - how much did you have to drink at the Dome? I don't think you were watching the same game as everyone else in attendance.

I think you know a bit about football ..... but no offense, you need to stop pretending you know anything about basketball and just go cheer for whoever the best NBA team or NCAA champion is and be a bandwagoner.

The Cajuns ran a weave type rotation at the top, with 2 rotating post players. After a few cycles, they would pull a post out to screen and roll, then rotate the weak side players - where believe it or not the correct pass for the PG is to reverse the ball to the opposite side - or drive.

Not true that every single time it was a turnover - as it lead to a Brown 3 pointer and a few FT attempts by Coleby and McClellan.

Point being - just stick to football - not questioning character - just your basketball IQ.

Ding, ding, ding!

[duggie85]

At some point arguing with him is like wrestling with a pig in the mud. Sooner or later you figure out the pig likes the mud!

Why anyone takes him serious, i'll never understand.

[Bandwagon King]

First, everything I've observed is that Payton is right-handed but is able to dribble with both hands. Point guards have to be able to use both hands. I know I did while playing competitively and still do today.

Second, how could the team shoot 12 percent lower at the free throw line this season? Let's get the numbers straight first. The Cajuns shot 42.8 percent from the floor, 32.8 percent from 3 and 63.1 percent on free throws this season - down from 43.6 percent overall, 34.7 percent from 3 and 66.4 percent at the line last season. Not sure where you're finding a 12 percent difference there.

The Cajuns lost several players from last season and added eight newcomers (six played, one was a transfer, one was lost due to injury). Among those gone from last season: Travis Bureau (team-high 41 percent shooting from 3), Randell Daigle (team-high 44s 3 made, 80.5 percent shooting on free throws), La'Ryan Gary (led team with 77 free throws made on team-high 101 attempts).

Some of the returning players and newcomers did not pick up the slack. David Perez's poor shooting percentages stayed the same (32.7 percent overall and 31.9 percent from 3 last season to 32.7 percent overall and 31.6 percent from 3 this season). Elfrid Payton shot 56.4 percent on free throws. J.J. Thomas' overall shooting percentage dipped drastically. Alan-Michael Thompson shot 33.6 percent overall and 31.6 percent from 3.

Root cause for the continued shooting woes: The Cajuns didn't have enough quality shooters from the floor and at the line. Most people seem to understand that fact. And it's going to be an issue next season unless they add a bunch of capable shooters in the offseason.

On another note, I'd say a person who has watched only two games this season and criticizes a coach who has won nearly 400 collegiate games for how his offense rotates is rather clueless. I guarantee any Division I coach - heck, high school coach - worth his salt could see that and would laugh at him for actually thinking it's a reasonable observation.

If you're so confident in your observation, why not share it in person with coach Marlin? If it's at all reasonable I'm sure he would appreciate it. Or perhaps you'd rather continue to gripe as a know-it-all poster on a message board?

If you'd like to continue this back-and-forth, I'm sure Turbine and the rest of the board would appreciate doing so by PM. Thanks.

I appreciate you straightening me up on the numbers Parrot. I was misguided thinking their FT per centage last year was around 72.?%. I thought I had seen that number as their team FT per centage. I also thought I had seen their FT this year was around 61% much closer to the number I thought I had seen. As for the rest of your thoughts, I hate to hurt your feelings, but you don't have to be an NFL football coach to know that if a RB is running to his right & carries the ball in his left arm, his odds of turning the ball over increase tremendously. Vice versa, if a RB is running to his left & carries the ball in his right arm he is asking for trouble by exposing the football to the defense. I have never played RB in the NFL or coached in the NFL, but I don't think you could find a running back coach at any level who would disagree with this observation. On the other hand, knowing the way you guys think, you'd find one somewhere who'd say I have no idea what I'm talking about. My other observations are based on factual occurances, not hearsay, & if you weren't there, with all due respect you can run your suck as much as you want to trying to defend "stupidity?", but I'll still stand by my observations. Now I have enjoyed your previous writing & have stated so several times, but you sound way too close to this thing emotionally to be able to make an objective call on what is going on at the present time.

If you have further to say as to your greater understanding than mine, then maybe you clue the unwashed bandwagon fans in on how long it will take for this team to make the turn past 500. How much patience should the average bandwagoner show financially while waiting for this thing to get above water on a consistent basis? For example, When should a twenty win season appear on the horizon? Or a win in the conference tournament? I know this is a BIG step to hope for, but if it's all going the right way, shouldn't we be seeing some kind of PROOF some time in the next 3 or 4 years?

[Parrott]

I appreciate you straightening me up on the numbers Parrot. I was misguided thinking their FT per centage last year was around 72.?%. I thought I had seen that number as their team FT per centage. I also thought I had seen their FT this year was around 61% much closer to the number I thought I had seen. As for the rest of your thoughts, I hate to hurt your feelings, but you don't have to be an NFL football coach to know that if a RB is running to his right & carries the ball in his left arm, his odds of turning the ball over increase tremendously. Vice versa, if a RB is running to his left & carries the ball in his right arm he is asking for trouble by exposing the football to the defense. I have never played RB in the NFL or coached in the NFL, but I don't think you could find a running back coach at any level who would disagree with this observation. On the other hand, knowing the way you guys think, you'd find one somewhere who'd say I have no idea what I'm talking about. My other observations are based on factual occurances, not hearsay, & if you weren't there, with all due respect you can run your suck as much as you want to trying to defend "stupidity?", but I'll still stand by my observations. Now I have enjoyed your previous writing & have stated so several times, but you sound way too close to this thing emotionally to be able to make an objective call on what is going on at the present time.

If you have further to say as to your greater understanding than mine, then maybe you clue the unwashed bandwagon fans in on how long it will take for this team to make the turn past 500. How much patience should the average bandwagoner show financially while waiting for this thing to get above water on a consistent basis? For example, When should a twenty win season appear on the horizon? Or a win in the conference tournament? I know this is a BIG step to hope for, but if it's all going the right way, shouldn't we be seeing some kind of PROOF some time in the next 3 or 4 years?

Kyle, you're not hurting my feelings. Never have and never will. Mostly because it's obvious that you lack common knowledge about the game of basketball. Some of your suggestions/observations concerning Elfrid Payton prove that.

As usual, you're grasping at straws in saying I'm "too close to this thing emotionally to be able to make an objective call." You're a typical know-it-all, armchair quarterback who actually thinks he knows more about sports than everyone else, including men who have decades of experience on the sideline and are paid good money to coach the game. It's one thing to recognize and point out a running back is holding the ball in the wrong hand. It's totally different to question whether a right-handed player is really right-handed and question a coach for not knowing something that may not even be true. I'm trying to bring some sanity to this situation.

To answer your questions: Marlin took over a program that had fallen badly under coach Lee. He is a respected coach when it comes to Xs and Os and has already made some strides to rebuild the program. In his first year the Cajuns had a sub-.500 record after losing the conference player of the year but closed the regular season with an 11-game winning streak and won a share of the Sun Belt's West Division title. The Cajuns lost three straight to close his second season but earned the program's first postseason trip since 2005. There's still plenty of work to be done, but wouldn't you say those are at least steps in the right direction? The Cajuns would have finished with their first winning season since 2005 but accepted a spot in the CIT and lost in the first round.

Again, anyone with a clue when it comes to college basketball knows what Marlin has done in the past. He's won a junior college national championship. He built Sam Houston State from nothing into a consistent winner in the Southland Conference. And he's won nearly 400 collegiate games. He has a track record, and that should be a reason for people to give him more than two years to turn around a struggling program.

The next few weeks are huge because the Cajuns have to improve in several areas, particularly perimeter shooting. If those recruiting needs are met, I believe a 20-win season is possible next season, but you're going to see potentially a half-dozen newcomers so the Cajuns will have to develop chemistry quickly in the non-conference schedule. If those needs aren't met or the team doesn't bond, it's going to be tough to win 20 next season.

And now I'm done running my "suck." Hope you are, too, but I doubt it.

[CharlieK]

Maybe that is why you were such a poor point guard? Maybe that is why you can't seem to design a successful tool either? You still trying to make a tool that you can pump a higher volume through a smaller ID with less pressure? That's what you told me you could do last year. Now why do I not find it surprising you are going out of your way to disagree with me again this spring? You may not realize this, but a right handed point guard is going to handle the ball with his right hand at least 80% of the time & a left handed point guard is going to do the same. Don't even try to argue the point because it's like saying a right handed QB is going to throw the ball from his left half the time or a right handed pitcher is going to pitch from his left at least half the time. Of course you were different than guys like, oh, I don't know, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, John Stckton, Duane Wade, Etc. Etc. Etc. I bet Coach Robichaux will tell you that a switch hitter favors one side of the plate over the other 99% of the time. I mean I could say we had a sunny day today & some of you people can figure out how I'm insulting the softaball team & accusing the track coach of screwing up the discus thrower. That is why you deserve what you get, when you get disappointed.

I have designed many successful tools, I can give you a list anytime. I'm have no idea what you are talking about, if I reduce the ID and keep the flow rate the same in a tool, then yes I have to increase the pressure. I'm afraid you still misunderstand what I was saying about the control structure (which is not a downhole tool).

I'm not sure why you get so upset when someone disagrees with you. Are you that insecure? You claimed Elfrid was left handed cause in one game you saw him bring the ball up the court a bunch with his left hand. I'm telling you that even I could dribble almost as well with both hands and I was just a high school point. Elfrid is a D1 point guard. He is not left handed.

Chill out with the personal attacks.