The well-traveled UL basketball team has another stamp on its collective passport, and the locale for this one is a land of sun and fun.
For the Ragin? Cajuns, however, a Thanksgiving week journey to the Caribbean amounts to little more than a business trip.
The 2-1 Cajuns open play in the Cayman Islands Classic, in George Town on Grand Cayman, at 11:30 a.m. central Monday against Iowa, which has exhibition wins over William Jewell and Belmont Abbey and is 3-0 with regular-season wins over Chicago State, Alabama State and Grambling.
On Tuesday ? depending on Monday?s results ? UL will face either Wyoming or 2016 and ?17 NCAA Tournament-qualifier South Dakota at either 11:30 a.m. CT or 1:30 p.m. CT.
The Cajuns will close in the Caymans against a to-be-determined opponent at a to-be-determined time Wednesday.
Also in the field are No. 13 Cincinnati, Buffalo, Richmond and Alabama-Birmingham.
While in the Caymans, the Cajuns will stay along famed Seven Mile Beach in the British territory?s capital city.
Sightseeing will be on the backburner, but it?s an experience to savor nonetheless.
And it is yet another international destination for UL, which lost its first two exhibition games but won its last against the Cuban National Team last August in Havana, Cuba.
This trip, Marlin suggested, is being taken to toughen up for postseason play a veteran Cajun club that returns four starters from last season ? Bryce Washington, Frank Bartley IV, Johnathan Stove and Justin Miller ? and has added three transfers from major-conference programs in Marcus Stroman (South Carolina), JaKeenan Gant (Missouri) and Malik Marquetti (Southern Cal).
It all starts with a game against the Big Ten-member Hawkeyes, who are well-traveled themselves this year having played and won four exhibition games against all-star teams in Heidelberg, Germany; Baden, Switzerland; and both Milan and Vicenza, Italy.
?To play three days in a row is practice for your conference tournament,? Marlin said. ?That definitely came into mind (in accepting the tourney invite). ? It made sense to go test our guys early.?
The last time Sun Belt-member UL took an exhibition trip like the one it took to Cuba this year was in 2013, when a team that featured current NBA Elfrid Payton and ex-NBA player Shawn Long (now playing in China) traveled to Spain and later made it to the 2014 NCAA Tournament.
Payton also traveled to the Czech Republic as a Cajun while representing USA Basketball in the FIBA Under-19 World Championships, and Long was a member of USA Basketball?s entry in the 2015 Pan-American Games in Toronto, Canada.
Besides going to Cuba and now the Caymans, Washington and Stove took a 15-day tour with Athletes in Action for games in New Zealand earlier in their Cajun careers.
?You wake up every day,? said Washington, a product of St. Augustine High in New Orleans who became a 1,000-point career scorer in UL?s 115-82 win over Savannah State last Friday night at the Cajundome, ?and you just think about how blessed you are, just to travel to different cities, different states, different countries.
?The experience that Coach Marlin has blessed us with ? especially that Cuba trip ? you realize you have a lot of things that you don?t realize you have, and you learn so much.
?Just me coming in as an 18-year-old kid, and now 21-, about to be 22-year-old, young man, you see so many things,? he added, ?(and) you see the knowledge, and you retain a lot of knowledge that you can teach a lot of young kids, especially young recruits, that you can?t take this for granted, because it?s going to go fast.?
Bartley also has traveled to China as part of the same Reach USA offseason touring program that both Payton and ex-Cajuns point guard Jay Wright took part in during various years, and he?s played during the offseason with Sports Reach in Belize as well.
?It?s the total student-athlete experience,? Marlin said.
?To use the passports again and go to Cayman ? is another good experience for guys. That?s something we talk about in recruiting: We?re gonna provide opportunities for the individual player, as well as a team, to go travel and to grow as young men.?
For the Ragin? Cajuns, however, a Thanksgiving week journey to the Caribbean amounts to little more than a business trip.
The 2-1 Cajuns open play in the Cayman Islands Classic, in George Town on Grand Cayman, at 11:30 a.m. central Monday against Iowa, which has exhibition wins over William Jewell and Belmont Abbey and is 3-0 with regular-season wins over Chicago State, Alabama State and Grambling.
On Tuesday ? depending on Monday?s results ? UL will face either Wyoming or 2016 and ?17 NCAA Tournament-qualifier South Dakota at either 11:30 a.m. CT or 1:30 p.m. CT.
The Cajuns will close in the Caymans against a to-be-determined opponent at a to-be-determined time Wednesday.
Also in the field are No. 13 Cincinnati, Buffalo, Richmond and Alabama-Birmingham.
While in the Caymans, the Cajuns will stay along famed Seven Mile Beach in the British territory?s capital city.
Sightseeing will be on the backburner, but it?s an experience to savor nonetheless.
And it is yet another international destination for UL, which lost its first two exhibition games but won its last against the Cuban National Team last August in Havana, Cuba.
This trip, Marlin suggested, is being taken to toughen up for postseason play a veteran Cajun club that returns four starters from last season ? Bryce Washington, Frank Bartley IV, Johnathan Stove and Justin Miller ? and has added three transfers from major-conference programs in Marcus Stroman (South Carolina), JaKeenan Gant (Missouri) and Malik Marquetti (Southern Cal).
It all starts with a game against the Big Ten-member Hawkeyes, who are well-traveled themselves this year having played and won four exhibition games against all-star teams in Heidelberg, Germany; Baden, Switzerland; and both Milan and Vicenza, Italy.
?To play three days in a row is practice for your conference tournament,? Marlin said. ?That definitely came into mind (in accepting the tourney invite). ? It made sense to go test our guys early.?
The last time Sun Belt-member UL took an exhibition trip like the one it took to Cuba this year was in 2013, when a team that featured current NBA Elfrid Payton and ex-NBA player Shawn Long (now playing in China) traveled to Spain and later made it to the 2014 NCAA Tournament.
Payton also traveled to the Czech Republic as a Cajun while representing USA Basketball in the FIBA Under-19 World Championships, and Long was a member of USA Basketball?s entry in the 2015 Pan-American Games in Toronto, Canada.
Besides going to Cuba and now the Caymans, Washington and Stove took a 15-day tour with Athletes in Action for games in New Zealand earlier in their Cajun careers.
?You wake up every day,? said Washington, a product of St. Augustine High in New Orleans who became a 1,000-point career scorer in UL?s 115-82 win over Savannah State last Friday night at the Cajundome, ?and you just think about how blessed you are, just to travel to different cities, different states, different countries.
?The experience that Coach Marlin has blessed us with ? especially that Cuba trip ? you realize you have a lot of things that you don?t realize you have, and you learn so much.
?Just me coming in as an 18-year-old kid, and now 21-, about to be 22-year-old, young man, you see so many things,? he added, ?(and) you see the knowledge, and you retain a lot of knowledge that you can teach a lot of young kids, especially young recruits, that you can?t take this for granted, because it?s going to go fast.?
Bartley also has traveled to China as part of the same Reach USA offseason touring program that both Payton and ex-Cajuns point guard Jay Wright took part in during various years, and he?s played during the offseason with Sports Reach in Belize as well.
?It?s the total student-athlete experience,? Marlin said.
?To use the passports again and go to Cayman ? is another good experience for guys. That?s something we talk about in recruiting: We?re gonna provide opportunities for the individual player, as well as a team, to go travel and to grow as young men.?
