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Men’s Basketball: Marlin era officially underwayJoshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • April 13, 2010 Last week, Travis Bureau soaked up the Florida sun in Panama City Beach during spring break along with UL basketball teammates La’Ryan Gary, Raymone Andrews and Phillip Jones. That fun is now a distant memory. The Ragin’ Cajuns went back to work on the court Monday as the team officially started its first offseason program under new head coach Bob Marlin Bureau and Gary joined fellow rising senior Chris Gradnigo in the first group of players for individual workouts on Monday afternoon at the Leon Moncla Indoor Practice Facility. It was the first supervised on-court work for UL since Marlin took over the program two weeks ago. "I was kind of shaky after just getting back from spring break," said Bureau, who averaged 6.2 points and 3.3 rebounds during an injury-filled junior season. "We were a little out of shape, but we basically spent last week just having fun and hadn’t touched a basketball in about a week or two. "I made some shots, but I was just a little out of rhythm." Former Sam Houston assistants Neil Hardin and Darby Rich led the individual workouts. Hardin and Rich are working as unpaid assistants until they can be recommended to be hired by UL athletic director David Walker Gradnigo returned to the court for the first time since missing the final three games of this past season with a bruised nerve in his back. The 6-foot-7 forward was second on the club in scoring at 14 points per game and was a third team All-Louisiana selection as a junior but wants to do even more in his final college season. "First impressions are always a big key, so I just wanted to make a good impression on our coaches," Gradnigo said. "We know that we need to work hard and need to put in the work to get better. "I didn’t really have any nerves. I just wanted to do well and show them that I want to work hard. We want to win." Marlin watched the workouts from the sideline in a button-down shirt, tie and slacks, taking careful mental notes as he saw his new players work out for the first time.
"We’re finally getting down to business," Marlin said. "That’s something that we had certainly been looking forward to." Per NCAA rules, student-athletes are allowed only eight hours of supervised team activity per week during the offseason. That includes a maximum of two hours spent on individual skill workouts. The Cajuns will have three 40-minute sessions for individual workouts per week, with the remaining time going to strength and conditioning. The players will work in groups ranging from one to four depending on class schedules. "Our philosophy has always been that this time is very important," said Marlin, who won 225 games at Sam Houston. "It’s mostly those two things, offensive footwork and fundamental passing. We’re trying to give these guys a different perspective on offensive footwork and how they can attack. "The guys in the first group today struggled with some basic things, but they caught on near the end of the session and had improved." The Cajuns are eager to end a streak of five consecutive non-winning seasons, including a 13-17 record in Robert Lee’s final year. They expect to return nine players from last season — including four starters — but must replace the Sun Belt Monday’s work was one of the first steps in getting the program moving back in the right direction. "One of the main reasons for individual workouts is for us to work on getting better in the upcoming days, weeks and months," Bureau said. "Hopefully, we will be a better team next year."
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