westendfirst

Lamar is playing fairly well thus far. They started out playing very solid defensively and not very good the last 10 minutes or so. They are getting beat of the dribble quite often and having to foul as the Tech players drive by them. However, their effort has been great..they are really playing hard. Offensively they've played much better than I anticipated. There is ball movement and player movement. Not much screening going on and not too many complex plays but they are moving around some. I would like to see more screening and less dumb shots but overall I think they've played pretty well offensively. They could easily be leading this game if not for several boneheaded shots and a couple of poor passes. Barrow is shooting the ball very well. McThay is playing well in transition (but he's taken two horrible shots). And Nwevo has had a great first half. Our interior guys are dominating them in the first half. Tech's interior defense has been poor but our interior guys aggressiveness has played a big role in that. Should be interesting to see how we hold up in the 2nd half. We could either shore up some of the dumb mistakes and make a run at beating them..or, we could totally fold. I expect the Red Raiders to come out VERY aggressively to open the 2nd half...hopefully we will weather the storm and make a game of it.

thanks

You hit the nail on the head!!!! Maybe we should make some new conference predictions on where LU will finish now that reality has set in and we see actually how they are playing. And we see how the other SLC schools are playing. Let's see: 1. SHSU 2. SFA 3. UTA 4. SE La 5. Texas State 6. LU So, I will go with 6th at best. I'm not sure we are better than anyone in the conference right now so I'm being optimistic.

Wow...I suppose I can stick out 3 more years of losing. I've done it for 20...what's another 3.

I think you are probably right on this but I'm not sure it's the route I would go. Unless, of course, we could do something like abtr said. Hire this name guy for looks and someone like Stump as the heir apparent. I think the best thing would be to hire a proven winner at the college level...of course it would have to be at the small college level. Or we'd have to hire a proven winner with a lot skeletons in his closet like Schnellenberger. I hope we DO NOT hire some hot shot assistant coach from anywhere. Again, I want someone that's proven they can win at some level.

Ok then...312 sounds good. Maybe after year 5 he'll have us all the way up to 301!!!! Programs are supposed to make PROGRESS each year not go in reverse. As far as Mike Deane is concerned...he made Bobby Knight look tame. Also, his coaching was exciting as watching paint dry. He could go 30-0 and we'd still only draw 2,500 because that's the only people that would be able to stand all the hollering and cussing and yanking of players every 30 seconds.

You know that may not be a bad idea. Apparently it couldn't be much worse.

Yep..it's amazing what all they've been doing with the campus. Simmons is the best thing that's happened to LU in a long long time.

Are you serious??? He's not even able to start for us...how in the world could he go pro?????

I remember when I had your 'the glass is half full' attitude regarding the program. Man, I wish I could muster up that positive attitude somewhere....but 20+ years of losing has wiped out all of my patience. I want the program turned around and I want it turned around yesterday!!! Hopefully things will get better, Roc will be the man, and I will gladly eat 500 lbs of crow. (PS I was on campus a month ago and bought a brand new pullover hoody LU sweatshirt. Sweet looking. I wear it with pride...even though our basketball team has been horrible for 20+ years. Again, I don't say these things because I'm not a fan...I say them because I am and I want things to get better.)

I think he played a few minutes the other night...maybe he isn't eligible to be redshirted???

No way. I think the guns are bogus on ESPN. We've had some West End kids throwing unbelievable hard...big kids too. And they are throwing 65-68. I can't see ANY way there is a kid out there throwing 12-15 MPH harder than them. And that kid from Groves a year or two ok...K-Rod??? He threw VERY hard as well but I think it was 'only' 68-70. You might be able to convince me a 12 year old could throw 70-74 but beyond that...I'm not buying it.

Not at all!!!! I love LU. I graduated from LU. My wife graduated from LU. I've followed the basketball program since 1977. I was a season ticket holder from around 1985 - 2004. My problem is I AM DISGUSTED!!! I AM SICK AND TIRED OF LOSING!!! Like abtr said...if we were 8-0 we WOULD average 6,000 fans. I've been in the Montagne with 8 and 9 thousand fans in there. When we had good teams that could compete with anyone. I've hung in there thru: Tony Branch, Tom Abatemarco, Mike Newell (probably the best coach we've had since Foster), Grey Giovanine, Mike Deane (one of only two good hires ON PAPER that we've had since Foster. And a little bit of research into his coaching style should have been a clear NO to offer him a job.), the return of Tubbs, and now Roccaforte. My problem is why in the world don't we hire a coach that's proven he can win. I know we can't hire any of the big boys but we certainly can hire someone from NAIA, or a JUCO, or a small D-1 school. We don't have to always hire a 'great recruiter' from a big school. We need to hire someone that can coach!!!! And I am arrogant enough (if you want to call it that) to believe that we have more to offer, and what should be a much better program, than NWSU or SHSU or SFA...yet they've all managed to hire and keep much better coaches than we get. WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am sick an tired of seeing there success while we continue to try an convince ourselves that it's good to lose close games and it's ok to finish with just a winning record in conference. LU should be in that mid major to 25 at least every once in a while if not every year. If we continue to shoot for the toilet then that's where will land. I AM DISGUSTED BEYOND BELIEF. THERE WAS A DAY NOT TOO LONG AGO THAT I WOULD NEVER MISS A HOME GAME...BUT YOU CAN ONLY GO OUT AND WATCH US PLAY TERRIBLE BASKETBALL SO MUCH. Additionally, there was a day when a lot of the students were proud to go to LU. And proud of LU basketball. When I was in school we would actually spend the night at the Montagne so we could get the best tickets for our whole fraternity. We'd bring 50 or 60 people just from our fraternity. Now when you go out there you see about 20 students. Where is the support???? My guess is the students don't like to go out and watch mediocrity (and that may be generous given the fact we are ranked around 270 in the latest RPI"s) either. So...am I negative toward the program??? I suppose so. Do I hate LU??? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!! However...I do expect much more from the program. I am tired of losing. And I am tire of "well, lets give em a 3 or 4 years". Ok, I'll give someone 3 or 4 years IF I see some signs of hope. RIGHT NOW, I SEE NO SIGNS OF HOPE. THE COACHES PICKED US TO WIN THE SLC AND WE CANNOT EVEN BEAT A D-1 TEAM??? WHAT DOES THAT TELL YOU???? The other coaches think we have the talent to win but apparently our coach can't get the job done. I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is. And it will continue to be that way until we make a good hire. Period.

Ok...yall have convinced me to change my negative attitude towards the program, at least for this one game. I forgot we were at home on this one and didn't realize how bad Rice is. I think we win this one easily 74-60.

[Sam Houston, UTA, and now SFA...but no LU??? Oh yeah, I forget, they are 'elite' basketball programs and we are second rate and shouldn't expect to be any good!!!! [Hidden Content] > > >

Where do you get your stats: 2001/2002: LU 57, SFA 56 SFA 65 LU 62 2002-2003: SFA 77 LU 73 SFA 74 - LU 62 2003-2004: LU 63 SFA 60 2004-2005: SFA 70 LU 60 2005-2006 LU 65 SFA 70 SFA 72 LU 54 2006-2007: SFA 73 LU 72 SO, IN THE LAST 9 GAMES SFA HAS WON 6 AND WE'VE WON 3. LOOKS LIKE YOU GOT YOUR STATS BACKWARDS! ALSO KASPAR HAS THE 19TH BEST WINNING % AMONG D-1 COACHES WITH AT LEAST 5 YRS EXPERIENCE. HIS CAREER RECORD IS: Danny Kaspar 327-142!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT IS DAMN GOOD!!!!!!! FINALLY, VISIT SFA'S WEBSITE AND YOU'LL WITNESS A PROGRAM HEADING IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION OF OURS. (FOR THE RECORD...I HATE SFA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) [Hidden Content]

Based on what I've seen with our basketball team. We don't need some assistant coach who is supposed to be a recruiting whiz. We've gone that route several times with the basketball team with miserable results. I think we need someone that's proven they can coach and win. If it's high school, jc, or a small university...I don't really care...but I definitely think we need a proven winner.

I don't know but this list is unimpressive. The kid from Central may be pretty good but the other two??? One is a undersized football player and the other was being recruited by Division II schools??? Looks like 4 more years of losses to me.

RICE 66 LU 61

I couldn't agree more!!!! This has been a problem with all of our teams for the last 20+ years. And I don't necessarily mean just one of the phases. We've consistently had teams that could not play defense, could not shoot, AND turned the ball over way too many times. I think this has some things to do with the players but it's mainly coaching! We need to get a guy in here that knows how to coach!!!!! And I AM SICK AND TIRED OF LOSING TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'VE BEEN PATIENT FOR 20+ YEARS (SINCE PAT FOSTER LEFT). I HAVE NO MORE PATIENCE. I'M GOING TO BE DEAD BEFORE WE GET A GOOD BASKETBALL TEAM AGAIN. I MISS THE DAYS WHEN WE HAD GOOD BASKETBALL AND WHEN WE COULD AND WOULD COMPETE AGAINST AND BEAT SOME OF THE TOP SCHOOLS IN THE COUNTRY. WHAT HAS HAPPENED??? WHEN WILL THE BLEEDING END????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I could not stand coach Deane but that's when we quit playing defense. Deane got his kids to play defense but that's all he could coach. His on court approach was despicable (hollering at the kids, yanking them every time they mad a mistake...and he couldn't coach offense at all). Naturally, I've always been a Tubbs fan but his teams would not play defense during his second stint here. And coach Roc's teams don't play defense. I don't mean to put anyone down but the fact is Marlin is 10 times the coach that Roc is. Defense is all about the coaching. Almost any kid can play defense if the coach has the right schemes and if the coach makes defense a priority. We won't do squat until we hire a coach that has proven he can coach and win. Marlin, McConathy, and Kaspar can all get their kids to play defense and play well together as a team. We just haven't had the caliber of coaches they have. Our only hope is to either hire one of those guys or hope that someone hires all 3 of them out of the conference.

OU is ranked 52nd, Texas Tech is ranked 65th, Wichita State is ranked 102. These are all teams that SLC schools have beaten this year. And why is it we've already gone from beating BYU last year to just hoping they can be competetive. That right there should tell you the outlook for this team. Based on our performance thus far, I fully expect us to get embarrassed. And we'll come up with some reasons why it's ok. As for comparing apples to apples: Oral Roberts is 111, Wyoming is 159, UNO is 161, and Northern Illinois is 243..and we played ORU and Wyoming at HOME and still couldn't win. I've been an LU fan for 28 years. The last 5-10 have worn me down to a nub. I'm tired...tired of the losing, tired of the excuses, tired of the 'moral' victories, tired of these other schools doing well and us continuing to suck. I hope you are right and I hope this awful start doesn't mean anything but I'm afraid it does. We don't play defense, we don't run any semblance of an offense, we don't have any big guys that can score, and our outside shooting has been lousy. I'm hoping for the best but fully expecting the worse. I appreciate coach Roc's commitment to LU but he obviously isn't ready to be a D-1 head coach. One of these days we are going to HAVE to hire a proven winner (one who's not an a-hole like Mike Deane was). Whether that's a proven winner in high school, jr college, NAIA, D III, D II, or D-I...I really don't know or care. Again, I think Marlin is an outstanding coach and so is McConathy...and Kaspar is right there behind them. Even in the little old SLC, Roc is way out of his league. (And, quite frankly, I thought all 3 out-coached Tubbs at the games I watched as well.)

Are you serious?? You think it would be a lateral move for one of them. Have you ever been to one of their games? Have you ever seen their facilities? It may be a lateral move in the sense that our community has some to expect the LU basketball team to be awful but I don't think Simmons and Tubbs have come to accept that. And, I would imagine we pay much more than those schools pay their coaches. Also, in regards to Kaspar, have you ever been to a LU vs SFA game? He schools our coaches every time!

BYU 94 LU 59

Cool article!!!! Unlike the men's program, I'm very optimistic about the direction of the women's program!