The Ragin' Cajuns of UL-L (RPI 238) come into HCC tonight at 8-5 to face the Apps (RPI 182) at 4-6. The Cajuns' coach, Bob Marlin, will be looking for his 300th win as a D-I head coach. He's 422-234 in 22 years as a collegiate head coach. The Apps Jim Fox will be looking for his 5th win in his 1st season. Oh, did I mention that the Apps are 4 point favorites! We haven't seen that very often in recent seasons.

Nonetheless, we need to keep it realistic. UL-L just beat Troy 91-64 in the CajunDome Saturday night. They exploded for 62 points on 68% shooting in the second half. They've been a second-half team throughout the early season. They'll be looking to go 3-0 in the SunBelt with a win.

The Cajuns are led by 6-9 245 C/F Shawn Long, a candidate for SunBelt player of the year; and sharp-shooting soph G Jay Wright, who lead all scorers Saturday night with a 28 point performance against Troy.

At the very least, the Apps are going to get tested early and often. Be there if you possibly can! The dorms aren't open yet; campus food services are still closed. We can't expect a huge student turnout.

*Flashback* The last time the Ragin' Cajuns were in The HIgh Country was for a basketball game in the '90-'91 season. The Apps were off to a HOT start under coach Tom Apke and were on a five game December win streak including wins over UNC-W, Montana State, UNCC and ECU. Hopes were sky-high for a break-out Mountaineer season.

The team then known as Southwest Louisiana rolled into VG with a 6-9, 6-9, 6-8, 6-6, 6-3 starting lineup and played the entire game over the heads of the much shorter Apps. They put on a slam-dunk show on the court; and their coach, former VMI mentor Marty Fletcher (dressed like a Brooks Brothers model), put on a show on the sideline. The Cajuns left town with an 89-84 win--but it seemed much worse than that. They left the Apps embarrassed and App fans with a bad taste in their mouths. I, for one, have never forgotten. I've waited a long time for this game tonight.

Anyway, the Apps really never recovered from that experience and finished the season just over .500--a huge disappointment at the time. TA never recovered. It was all downhill for the Apps until TA's contract was non-renewed and a guy named Buzz was hired. You know the rest of that story!

The fact that we are 4-point favorites against any DI team, after what we have endured the past few years, is a credit to Coach Fox and his assistants. I have seen us play twice this year; our guys never stop hustling, and the improvement in fundamentals is obvious. Yes, this is a rebuilding year, but we are going to surprise some folks along the way, simply because our kids play their tails off from start to finish, and we finally have some real leadership in the coach's chair.

And by the way, Jeff Capel III can kiss my fanny.

I'm afraid we are 4 point 'dogs:







Still impressive for the line to be within 5 with the defending Sun Belt tournament champs coming to town given the state of our program after last season.

Guess I used a more positive prognosticating source.

http://realtimerpi.com/cgi-bin/rpi/scou ... date=01-05

GAMER Score Prediction: La Lafayet. 70 App St. 74
GAMER Likely Score Range (68% chance): 61 ~ 79 64 ~ 84
GAMER Winning Probability: 41.0% 59.0 %
GAMER Winning Odds: 1 to 1.4 1.4 to 1

The Cajuns have averaged 97.2 points in their last six games, although that includes scoring 115 twice against sub-D1 teams. This could be a high-scoring game and that doesn't help the home team.

App is going to sneak up on some teams this year. (VA Tech and stAte) Hopefully we can get the students back and create a real home court advantage. If they supported basketball half as well as they have football it might be worth a couple of wins a year.

Go Apps!

T-Dog wrote:The Cajuns have averaged 97.2 points in their last six games, although that includes scoring 115 twice against sub-D1 teams. This could be a high-scoring game and that doesn't help the home team.

No one can deny that UL-L can light up the scoreboard and that they've done so consistently. That said, they're only 1 - 5 on the road. Here's hoping the 23 degree temp in The High Country helps to bum them out.

KenPom predicts 72-70 bad guys. Win or lose I will be happy with a competitive game and I am certainly enjoying the "culture" change of the program.

asu66 wrote:
*Flashback* The last time the Ragin' Cajuns were in The HIgh Country was for a basketball game in the '90-'91 season. The Apps were off to a HOT start under coach Tom Apke and were on a five game December win streak including wins over UNC-W, Montana State, UNCC and ECU. Hopes were sky-high for a break-out Mountaineer season.

The team then known as Southwest Louisiana rolled into VG with a 6-9, 6-9, 6-8, 6-6, 6-3 starting lineup and played the entire game over the heads of the much shorter Apps. They put on a slam-dunk show on the court; and their coach, former VMI mentor Marty Fletcher (dressed like a Brooks Brothers model), put on a show on the sideline. The Cajuns left town with an 89-84 win--but it seemed much worse than that. They left the Apps embarrassed and App fans with a bad taste in their mouths. I, for one, have never forgotten. I've waited a long time for this game tonight.

Anyway, the Apps really never recovered from that experience and finished the season just over .500--a huge disappointment at the time. TA never recovered. It was all downhill for the Apps until TA's contract was non-renewed and a guy named Buzz was hired. You know the rest of that story!

I was at that game and remember it well. We had decent height, but they we long and super athletic. Also played Southern Miss and Clarence Weatherspoon that year. Kept it close until Spurlock got into foul trouble. Kemp Phillips, Rodney Peel, Sam Gibson, Billy Ross, Steve Spulock, Ben Miller, Tim Smart, Ed Ward ... that was a good team. Lost in the Conf Championship to Mister Jenning's ETSU team after Gibson hurt his back. THAT was a GREAT rivalry! Varsity was PACKED when they came to town. Attendance was higher then (4100) than it is now by about 1300 people. 3 of our 5 largest home attendance games were ETSU 90-92 at Varsity including the highest attendance. Need that kind of Rivalry again!!

Our women just pulled out a 63-51 victory over the lady Ragin Cajuns. Men up next!

Why is this game not on ESPN3

asucrutch23 wrote:I'm afraid we are 4 point 'dogs:







Still impressive for the line to be within 5 with the defending Sun Belt tournament champs coming to town given the state of our program after last season.

I'll admit, I thought the worst when scrolling down and saw the text at the top of the graphic.

At the fifteen minute mark, Apps down by 16. ULL doing just about whatever they want to against us.

Only three assists through 28 minutes. We don't have the horses to play with an athletic team like ULL while shooting 37%.

Saint3333 wrote:Only three assists through 28 minutes. We don't have the horses to play with an athletic team like ULL while shooting 37%.

Yep, this is the kind of team that will really give us lots of trouble.

wb247 wrote:

asucrutch23 wrote:I'm afraid we are 4 point 'dogs:







Still impressive for the line to be within 5 with the defending Sun Belt tournament champs coming to town given the state of our program after last season.

I'll admit, I thought the worst when scrolling down and saw the text at the top of the graphic.

Buck Fuzz!!!

Interestingly enough, Anthony Covington was at the game tonight. No idea why.

APPARJ wrote:Interestingly enough, Anthony Covington was at the game tonight. No idea why.

He's best friends with Mia Marshall. She was tweeting about him being here earlier.

firemoose wrote:

APPARJ wrote:Interestingly enough, Anthony Covington was at the game tonight. No idea why.

He's best friends with Mia Marshall. She was tweeting about him being here earlier.

Well excuuuuuse me, Moose.

LOL!

Just back home from the game. Too disgusted to post. ASU is now 0-3 against UL-L and we'll have little chance to play with them on relatively even terms until we have more talent. We were completely outmanned endline to endline. AGAIN!