Men’s Basketball: Marlin excited as March Madness begins – SBC Tournament Schedule

Men’s Basketball: Marlin excited as March Madness begins – SBC Tournament Schedule

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • March 2, 2011

Bob Marlin’s favorite time of the year finally arrived when the first-year UL men’s basketball coach recently flipped the calendar from February to March.

After an exciting regular season in college basketball, conference tournament play started across the country Tuesday with the Big South and Horizon League. The Atlantic Sun, Ohio Valley Conference and Patriot League start their conference tourneys today.

Conference tournaments for the Missouri Valley, Northeast, Colonial Athletic, Metro Atlantic, Southern, West Coast, Summit and Big Sky begin later this week. The Sun Belt tournament starts Saturday in Hot Springs, Ark., with the championship game at 6 p.m. Tuesday.The Ragin’ Cajuns (14-14, 11-5 Sun Belt) earned a share of the league’s West Division title and a first-round bye for the conference tourney with an 11-game winning streak to close the regular season. That’s the nation’s second-longest active win streak and tied for the second best in school history.

They play Saturday’s UL Monroe-Western Kentucky winner at 6:45 p.m. Sunday."It’s March Madness for a reason, and I certainly think it’s the most exciting sporting event in the country on a yearly basis," Marlin said. "The NCAA tournament, with the television package that it’s put together with CBS and now the other networks, pays over 90 percent of the NCAA’s total budget."It’s a very profitable tournament for student-athletes across the country, but it’s also very exciting."With a first-round bye, the Cajuns need to win three games in three days instead of four in four. ESPN.com writer Pat Forde said the Sun Belt "could be the most wide-open tournament" in the country this season and actually picked the Cajuns to win it.

Extra points

If the Cajuns win the conference tournament, they will set a school record with a 14-game winning streak. The current school mark of 13 consecutive wins was set during the 1971-72 season "» The Cajuns are 24-14 all-time in the Sun Belt tournament but haven’t reached the second round since the 2005-06 season "» UL led the Sun Belt this season in home attendance. The Cajuns averaged 3,919 for all games and 4,742 in Sun Belt contests "» The Cajuns are 12-0 this season when leading with five minutes left, 2-12 when trailing and 0-2 when tied. Both wins when trailing came in overtime "» UL is 8-3 when leading at halftime, 5-11 when behind at the half and 1-0 when tied at intermission "» The Cajuns have three double-digit scorers this season in freshman J.J. Thomas (11.7 points per game), junior Josh Brown (10.6 ppg) and senior Travis Bureau (10.2 ppg), and senior La’Ryan Gary (9.9 ppg) just missed being in double figures. The program hasn’t had four double-digit scorers since the 2004-05 season.

MEN’S SCHEDULE

Saturday
n 6:30 p.m. "” UL Monroe vs.
W. Kentucky
n 6:45 p.m. "” Troy vs. North Texas
n 8:45 p.m. "” FIU vs. Denver
n 9 p.m. "” South Alabama vs. UALR
Sunday
n 6:30 p.m. "” Florida Atlantic vs. Troy-North Texas winner
n 6:45 p.m. "” UL vs. ULM-WKU winner
n 8:45 p.m. "” Arkansas State vs. USA-UALR winner
n 9 p.m. "” Middle Tennessee vs. FIU-Denver winner
Monday
n 6 p.m. "” Semifinals-UL bracket
n 8 p.m. "” Semifinals-ASU bracket
Tuesday
n 6 p.m. "” Championship Game (ESPN2)

WOMEN’S SCHEDULE
Saturday
n Noon "” North Texas vs. Western Kentucky
n 12:15 p.m. "” Fla. Atlantic vs. Arkansas State
n 2:15 p.m. "” Troy vs. UL Monroe
n 2:30 pm. "” Louisiana vs. South Alabama
Sunday
n Noon "” Middle Tennessee vs. FAU/ASU winner
n 12:15 p.m. "” Denver vs. NT/WKU winner
n 2:15 p.m. "” UALR vs. UL-USA winner
n 2:30 p.m. "” FIU vs. ULM/Troy winner
Monday
n Noon "” Semifinals
n 2:30 p.m. "” Semifinals
Tuesday
n 1 p.m. "” Championship Game (ESPNU)

Athletic Network Footnote:

Click here for the photo gallery of the Jan. 21-22, 2011 Basketball Reunion
(Over 300 photos in eight links and New Stories Link has over 40 stories)

Click here for the January 18, 2003 Basketball Reunion

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