When the schedule was released, if you’re like me you looked at the game with “Louisiana” and said “Holy biscuits, who is that?” OK, maybe your choice of exclamation at the start of the sentence differed slightly, but you were likely as vexed as I was by that name. It sounds very official, very Big State School-esque, and yet … never heard of it. Louisiana State is the behemoth SEC team in that state, and as far as I knew, there was no Louisiana University. So what gives?
Turns out, there isn’t. Well, not officially anyway.
The university is known as the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, which you’ve probably heard of because of their distinctive nickname — the Ragin’ Cajuns. But last year, the school’s athletic teams decided that they would rather be known as “Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns” to make them seem like less of a satellite-campus. So the actual university is still named — and referred to as — Louisiana-Lafayette, while the athletic teams are named simply Louisiana. Make sense?
Given all of this, its understandable that even Greg McDermott would be confused as to who the heck Louisiana is. In his postgame radio segment after Sunday’s win, he called them “Louisiana-Monroe” and said they played a Princeton-style offense which would be great preparation for the game with Northwestern next weekend, as the Wildcats famously run that offense. Well, Louisiana-Monroe does indeed run the Princeton offense. Trouble is, that’s not who’s coming into Omaha tonight to play. Its Louisiana-Lafayette, or simply Louisiana, also known as “Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns.” What a hot mess of branding confusion!
To save us all from massive headaches, we’ll refer to them simply as the Ragin’ Cajuns from here on out, so there’s no confusion as to who the heck we’re talking about.
The Ragin’ Cajuns are a team going through a transition to a new coaching staff, after letting Robert Lee go following an 80-100 record in six seasons. He led them out of the abyss following NCAA sanctions that wiped their tournament runs in 2004 and 2005 from the books, but could not lead them back to the tourney, and that was his downfall. In steps Bob Marlin, a highly-successful coach at Sam Houston State that led that program to two NCAA tourneys and six 20-win seasons.
They finished 13-17 a year ago, good for an RPI of 246, and are picked to finish fourth of six in the Sun Belt’s West Division this year. Randell Daigle is the Cajuns’ leading scorer from last season. The senior guard averaged 11.5 points a game and made a career-best 68 three-pointers last season, which was the second consecutive season Daigle had drained 60-plus three-pointers. His three-point shooting percentage from last year ranked fourth in the league (.386), and he was named to the Sun Belt’s Preseason All-Conference Third Team before the season.
As their beat writer from The Daily Advertiser, Joshua Parrott, told us, the Ragin’ Cajuns don’t have a lot of depth inside and as such, are a perimeter-oriented team that struggles to score in the paint. That means Kenny Lawson could be in for a nice game tonight, if he can manage to avoid early foul trouble for the first time this season. But just because they don’t have depth doesn’t mean they don’t have talent; forward Travis Bureau put up a 16-point, 14-rebound game in the team’s win last week over Louisiana College (jeez, how many variations on that school name ARE there?).
Given the Jays propensity to give up three-pointers, especially during that absurd seven-threes-in-seven-possessions sequence on Sunday, be on the lookout for junior guard David Perez. He wears #15. Watch him closely, and hope the Jays defenders watch him closer — he’s an astounding 9-12 from behind the arc this season (that’s 75%), and is averaging 19 points a game. Overall, he’s 14-20 from the floor in two games since transferring from Centenary. No, not the Centenary in New Jersey that everyone’s heard of, the other Centenary, the one in Louisiana that plays in the Summit League and is dropping down to DIII after this season. Keeping track of college names in that state is like solving an Agatha Christie mystery, isn’t it? Holy smokes.
They hit 56% of their shots in game two, albeit against some pretty bad competition in Louisiana College. But in their first game against New Mexico State, a pretty decent opponent, they were plenty lethal offensively. Perez was 4-5 from long range, 6-9 from the floor, and had 16 points, while Bureau had 21 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks, 3 steals and an assist. They did have 17 turnovers, with Daigle giving it away a staggering 8 times by himself, which no doubt played a role in their 16-point loss.
Like many Sun Belt teams, their frontline talent can be pretty good but their depth is pretty much non-existent. It didn’t always used to be that way. In the 1980s and into the early 90s, the Sun Belt was regularly among the top ten leagues, and they made a habit of sending multiple teams to the NCAA Tournament (10 times in 15 years, to be exact, from 1980-95), with their peak coming in 1986 when they got four bids. Since 1995, however, the league has slipped considerably into a one-bid conference, and its corresponding seed average has dropped from a #10.9 (1985 to 1995), to a #12.6 (1995 to 2005), to a #13.8 seed in the last five years. Its been a fall from grace for a once-proud league, to be sure.
One Big Paragraph with Lots O’Dots™: Greg McDermott can become the first Creighton coach in 89 years to start his career 3-0 with a win tonight. Each of the school’s first three coaches accomplished it, but none have since … This will be Louisiana’s first road game of the year, and they are 0-5 the last five seasons in such games. They were 3-12 on the road a year ago, and 2-4 against non-conference opponents. That could be ominous given that five of their next seven games take place away from the friendly confines of the Cajundome … Creighton swept the weekly awards handed out by the Missouri Valley Conference on Monday, as Antoine Young was named MVC Player of the Week and Doug McDermott named MVC Newcomer of the Week … A win tonight would be the 100th in Creighton history at Qwest Center, coming in just 118 games. By comparison, Creighton needed 138 games to reach 100 wins at the Omaha Civic Auditorium. In those 118 games, the Jays have outscored their opponents 8,639-7,310, an average margin of 11.4 points per game; the 18 losses have been by a combined 99 points (5.5 points per game). Creighton has led wire-to-wire 25 different times … The Bluejays have shot 53-of-61 (86.9%) at the line through two games, while its opponents are a combined 10-of-17 (58.8%) from the charity stripe. In the final three minutes of games, the Jays are a perfect 6-for-6 while opponents are just 1-for-4.
The Last Time They Played: The two schools last met on December 20, 1977, a game won by the Ragin’ Cajuns 94-87 in Lafayette. With the score tied at 75 with 8:14 remaining, the Cajun’s ran off an 8-0 run to take the lead for good. Cordy Glenn, who finished with 25 points, had 11 over the final 8:14 of the game. It was that kind of night: Andrew Toney had 34 points to lead all scorers, while Wayne Julian had 21, as the Cajuns shot 57.5% from the floor (42-73).
Creighton’s Rick Apke softened the seven-point loss with a 40-foot buzzer beater.
Gratuitous Linkage: This will be trouble. Netflix has added “Strange Brew” to their list of movies available for instant streaming, meaning there’s a 100% chance I will impulsively click the “Watch Instantly” button at least four times the next month to watch all or part of this classic. On the other hand, there’s a 0% chance I’ll take the advice of Bob & Doug in this classic SCTV bit they later adapted into a major plot point in their movie. Only because I may or may not have actually tried to do this with a Coke bottle when I was 11, and if I tried it, which I may or may not have actually done, I would have found out it doesn’t work. Not that I’d know, because like I said, I may or may not have really tried this in a pre-teen attempt to get free Cokes.
Out of Context Simpsons quote: “Oh, loneliness and cheeseburgers are a dangerous mix.” – Comic Book Guy
This Date in Creighton Hoops History: The Jays have played three times on November 17, winning by an average of 37 points. Creighton beat Texas-Arlington in 2002 by a 106-50 score, Mississippi Valley State by a 76-46 count in 2007, and Florida A&M by a 78-53 differential last season.
The 2002 game was particularly noteworthy, as it was opening night and the first win of the magical 2002-03 season. In a sign of things to come that season, Creighton controlled the opening tip and scored 10 seconds later on a dunk by Larry House. On the next possession, Michael Lindeman followed a House miss with a putback, followed by consecutive Kyle Korver three-pointers just 2:10 into the game to make it 10-0. Korver led the Jays with 18 points in 21 minutes while converting 6-for-6 from three-point range, and moved into first place on the school’s all-time three point list with 248, passing the previous mark of 245 held by Ryan Sears. It remains the second-largest victory in school history, surpassed only by a 63-6 victory in 1925 over Midland College.
Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day: Keeping with the SCTV theme and taking a bit of a liberty with the theme of this section, its 80s duo Hall & Oates in the hilarious “Chariots of Eggs” skit.
Prediction: If the Jays play better perimeter defense and don’t allow David Perez to make anything close to 75% of his three-pointers, as he has through two games, the Jays should win by 10-15 points. That’s within the range of the official line, incidentally, which is 11.5. But if they don’t, and Perez gets hot … who knows.
I think the game will be tight early, but Creighton will pull away late and be led by Kenny Lawson, who stands to benefit from the Jays dribble penetration getting the Ragin’ Cajuns few interior players in foul trouble. I think Creighton wins 77-65, with Lawson scoring 16.
You bet.
