Basketball: Debate continues over Dome floor – ESPN TV Coverage of WKU game on Thursday

Tim Buckley, Daily Advertiser, January 15, 2013

Cajundome and UL basketball officials are odds over what led to ma­jor playing-floor safety concerns at the arena in the Ragin’ Cajuns’ dou­ble-overtime loss to South Alabama last Thursday night.

But one thing they agree on is this: Air tem­perature in the building was much too warm, and that’s what caused the problem.

 

UL head coach Bob Marlin last week, and again Monday, said one of his players, senior shooting guard Alan-Mi­chael Thompson, was re­injured on the unusually wet floor.

 

Asked to do so during his weekly media gath­ering Monday, Marlin shared the explanation he got from a Cajundome of­ficial regarding the situa­tion .

 

Marlin said he “got an email about 12:45 (a.m. Friday) on my way home — a lengthy email — from someone at the Cajun­dome explaining all kinds of things to justify the court.” But he wasn’t exactly buying all of what he’s read and heard, and instead suggested again Monday that part of the cause was Louisiana IceGators minor-league hockey ice under the hardwood floor combining with the warm air to produce “condensa­tion” on the floor.

 

Thompson re-sprained an ankle, at least two Ca­juns avoided potential groin injuries and a South Alabama player man­aged to avoid serious in­jury despite slipping on a night play was frequently stopped in largely futile efforts to keep the floor dry.

 

Game referees pon­dered postponing the game to a later night, but ultimately did not.

 

Cajundome officials, meanwhile, have taken is­sue with the condensation reference, and — when contacted late Monday afternoon — Cajundome director Greg Davis re­sponded by saying the arena’s floor did not sweat as Marlin and the Cajuns had suggested.

 

“The court itself was not sweating,” Davis said.

 

“We have not ever had a problem with court ‘sweating’ as a result of the ice rink.” Instead, Cajundome officials said the wetness stemmed from exten­sive player perspiration prompted by the basket­ball program’s insistence on raising building tem­perature – especially on a particularly humid and rainy night.

“There was 100 percent humidity. It was warm on the outside. And the bas­ketball coach wanted it to be around 74 degrees dur­ing the game,” said Davis, who along with operations director Phil Ashhurst added that optimal Cajun­dome temperature is his­torically 68-to-70 degrees. “What that caused was a very warm situation in­side the arena.” Consequently, Davis said, players on the court “sweated a lot more than usual.” Marlin disagreed on the player vs. floor sweat issue.

 

“It was too hot in the building,” he said later Monday night. “We want it to be comfortable based on the outside conditions, and … I did not ask for the heat to be 74.” Marlin did say “the players like it (hot),” but added that “it makes the court unsafe at times.” “I was wanting the heat turned down the two days previously in practice,” he said, “and told (UL director of basketball op­erations) Brock (Morris) before the tip that it was too hot.

 

“The floor,” Marlin added, “was slippery be­cause of the outside com­binations that were going on.” The two sides did con­firm there was a leak last week in part of Cajun­dome’s roof that caused some water to get onto the floor — and both agreed that issue was fully ad­dressed prior to, and mon­itored during, the game.

 

Air temperature inside the Cajundome was con­siderably cooler for UL’s win Saturday over Arkan­sas State, something Mar­lin noted Monday.

 

“Didn’t have a problem on Saturday, which was nice,” he said. “It was a much safer environment.”

 

Being careful

 

A recent rash of in­juries for UL — from Thompson’s sprained an­kle to Donovan Williams’ strained knee to Kevin Brown’s broken foot bone to Bryant Mbamalu’s fresh thumb-ligament tear — has the Cajuns be­ing extra protective these days .

 

All of their freshmen, in fact, are wearing brac­es on both knees in games merely as an extra pre­caution. “We’ve put a lot of wear and tear on those young legs,” Marlin said, “and we’ve got to keep those guys fresh and strong down the stretch.”

 

Full Court coverage

 

According to Western Kentucky’s sports infor­mation department, UL’s game Thursday night at WKU has been confirmed for the ESPN Full Court TV pay package in addi­tion to previously planned ESPN3 internet coverage.