Men’s Basketball: Cajuns two wins away from clinching first-round bye

Men’s Basketball: Cajuns two wins away from clinching first-round bye

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • February 23, 2011

A number of scenarios remain for the UL men’s basketball team going into the final week of the regular season.

It boils down to this for the Ragin’ Cajuns: Win their final two games, and they will clinch at least a share of the Sun Belt Conference’s West Division title and a first-round bye in the league tournament. The Sun Belt tournament is March 5-8 in Hot Springs, Ark.

"We’re not worried about what everybody else is doing," said UL forward La’Ryan Gary. "We need to worry about how the Cajuns play. We’ve got the mindset of winning each game, one by one."

UL (12-14, 9-5 Sun Belt) will take that just-win mentality into Thursday’s 7:15 p.m. game against Denver (13-14, 9-5) in the Cajundome. The Cajuns will honor the team’s three seniors that night as Gary, Travis Bureau and Randell Daigle play their final home game.

The regular season concludes for UL at 6 p.m. Saturday against UL Monroe (7-22, 2-13) in Monroe.

UL, Denver and Arkansas State (15-14, 9-5) are tied atop the West Division. Coming into this week the Cajuns have won nine consecutive games, tied for the nation’s second-longest active streak with Morehead State. George Mason’s 13-game win streak currently leads the nation.

Despite having an overall losing record, UL is still in position to realize some goals but could use some help from Sun Belt East Division champion Florida Atlantic (19-9, 11-3) and Arkansas State.

If the Cajuns win their final two games and FAU falls to Troy on Thursday and at South Alabama on Sunday, UL would be the Sun Belt regular-season champion and earn the league’s automatic bid to the NIT. The Cajuns would still get the NIT berth if Arkansas State beats North Texas (17-9, 6-7) on Thursday and Arkansas-Little Rock (15-13, 7-6) on Saturday to create a three-way tie because UL would have the best composite record between the three teams.

Now if the Cajuns beat Denver and ULM, FAU wins a game and Arkansas State loses at least once, UL would be the Sun Belt’s West Division champion and secure a first-round bye for the league tournament.

With two wins by the Cajuns, a win by FAU and two Arkansas State victories, UL would be the West Division co-champion with the Red Wolves and get a bye for the conference tournament as the division’s No. 2 seed.

If the Cajuns, Arkansas State, Denver and UALR all finish tied with a 10-6 conference record, UL would be the West Division co-champion and be the division’s No. 4 seed for the league tournament.

(Four-team composite is tied if UL beats Denver because all teams split head to head. Denver would win the tiebreaker with the best division record (7-3), followed by UALR (6-4), Arkansas State (6-4) and the Cajuns (5-5). If Denver beats UL on Thursday, the Pioneers win the composite in a 10-6 scenario.)

For added context, the Cajuns (4-4) would lose any tiebreaker to Denver (6-2) or Arkansas State (5-3) due to West Division records. If the Cajuns finish with a 9-7 record in Sun Belt competition, they would also lose tiebreakers to UALR and UNT.

The Cajuns won a share of the West Division crown in the 2007-08 season and the outright divisional title, Sun Belt regular-season championship and league tournament trophy in the 2003-04 season (later vacated for NCAA violations).

UL’s most recent postseason appearance came in the 2004-05 season when the Cajuns last won the league tournament and advanced to the NCAA tournament (also later vacated for NCAA violations). The Cajuns played in the NIT most recently in the 2002-03 season.

Instead of getting caught up in the potential scenarios, the Cajuns are more concerned with their daily preparation for the last two games of the regular season.

"We’re just taking them one game at a time," Bureau said. "If we get them (Denver) and get Monroe, we’ll have a good chance at winning the Sun Belt."

Athletic Network Footnote:

Click here for the photo gallery of the Jan. 21-22, 2011 Basketball Reunion
(The News Stories link contains over 40 entries and over 300 photos in eight links)

Click here for the January 18, 2003 Basketball Reunion

Click here for the Nov. 1-2, 2001 Shipley Basketball Reunion