Challenging a power
Cajuns take on traditional power in No. 2 Jayhawks
Allen Fieldhouse on the University of Kansas campus is one of the special places to play in college basketball.
It can be daunting for visiting teams, however, as TCU?s Horned Frogs found out in Thursday night?s 93-74 loss to the No. 2-ranked Jayhawks.
Now it?s time for Louisiana?s Ragin? Cajuns to accept that challenge.
?People have told me ?you?re not going to believe the atmosphere there,? ? said UL coach Robert Lee, whose Cajuns face Kansas at 7 p.m. today.
?One of our coaches was in New Orleans last night, recruiting, and he ran into (former Kansas coach) Roy Williams. He asked Roy what was the best piece of advice he could give, and he said, ?just don?t go.??
It?s too late for that now.
Lee?s Cajuns (3-3) are coming off a week of final exams, but still managed to make some progress on the court while working around UL?s test schedule.
?It got to be a challenge a little later in the week,? Lee said Friday. ?We had a number of players in study groups. In fact, we flew up in two different groups today because some of them had Friday exams. Only 7 of the players are here. The rest will get here at 9 o?clock tonight, so we won?t have the opportunity to practice as a whole team.
?It?s something we?ll just have to be mentally tough to overcome.?
The Cajuns? last game was a 79-63 win over St. Mary?s of Texas last Saturday in the Cajundome, a performance which prompted a crucial week of work on the floor.
?The best thing we did was concentrate on defense,? Lee said. ?We got better defensively. We had by far the best intensity we?ve had since preseason practice.
?The players were focused, very intense, and they concentrated well throughout practice.?
UL?s defensive scheme is simple enough. The problem has been execution.
?A lot of it has to do with mixing in kids who haven?t played on this level before,? Lee said. ?They don?t know (yet) how hard they need to play. And some of the players think they have the athletic ability to over-compensate.
?We have to play hard on every possession, and we have to keep ourselves between our man and the basket. It?s pretty simple.?
Lee was 16 years old the only other time the Cajuns and Jayhawks met in basketball, when UL topped Kansas 54-45 in the finals of the 1983 Sugar Bowl Classic in the Louisiana Superdome. It?s sure to be a bigger challenge tonight in front of a partisan Jayhawks crowd.
?I think there have been times when it has been juiced,? Kansas coach Bill Self said of the fans. ?Our crowds are great. Every time you walk out on the floor, there is a full house.
?I think that is harder when you play teams that they are not familiar with. It?s harder for them to get amped up about the game. Just like the players do.
?I think that as we go, the crowds will get more into it. Our student body has been great. There are going to be a lot of games where in the last five minutes it will be anyone?s game. Our crowd has to play a role then. I think our crowd has been really good in spots, but I don?t think they have got as geeked up as they are going to be.?
Kansas (5-0) doesn?t need a boisterous crowd to be impressive. Against TCU, All-American Wayne Simien had 20 points, Christian Moody had 10 points and 10 rebounds, Keith Langford scored 17, J.R. Giddens scored 13 and the Jayhawks hit 37-of-66 shots.
?We?ve got tape of every one of their games, including TCU,? Lee said. ?There?s not any weakness there. They?ve got the total package.
Cajuns take on traditional power in No. 2 Jayhawks
Allen Fieldhouse on the University of Kansas campus is one of the special places to play in college basketball.
It can be daunting for visiting teams, however, as TCU?s Horned Frogs found out in Thursday night?s 93-74 loss to the No. 2-ranked Jayhawks.
Now it?s time for Louisiana?s Ragin? Cajuns to accept that challenge.
?People have told me ?you?re not going to believe the atmosphere there,? ? said UL coach Robert Lee, whose Cajuns face Kansas at 7 p.m. today.
?One of our coaches was in New Orleans last night, recruiting, and he ran into (former Kansas coach) Roy Williams. He asked Roy what was the best piece of advice he could give, and he said, ?just don?t go.??
It?s too late for that now.
Lee?s Cajuns (3-3) are coming off a week of final exams, but still managed to make some progress on the court while working around UL?s test schedule.
?It got to be a challenge a little later in the week,? Lee said Friday. ?We had a number of players in study groups. In fact, we flew up in two different groups today because some of them had Friday exams. Only 7 of the players are here. The rest will get here at 9 o?clock tonight, so we won?t have the opportunity to practice as a whole team.
?It?s something we?ll just have to be mentally tough to overcome.?
The Cajuns? last game was a 79-63 win over St. Mary?s of Texas last Saturday in the Cajundome, a performance which prompted a crucial week of work on the floor.
?The best thing we did was concentrate on defense,? Lee said. ?We got better defensively. We had by far the best intensity we?ve had since preseason practice.
?The players were focused, very intense, and they concentrated well throughout practice.?
UL?s defensive scheme is simple enough. The problem has been execution.
?A lot of it has to do with mixing in kids who haven?t played on this level before,? Lee said. ?They don?t know (yet) how hard they need to play. And some of the players think they have the athletic ability to over-compensate.
?We have to play hard on every possession, and we have to keep ourselves between our man and the basket. It?s pretty simple.?
Lee was 16 years old the only other time the Cajuns and Jayhawks met in basketball, when UL topped Kansas 54-45 in the finals of the 1983 Sugar Bowl Classic in the Louisiana Superdome. It?s sure to be a bigger challenge tonight in front of a partisan Jayhawks crowd.
?I think there have been times when it has been juiced,? Kansas coach Bill Self said of the fans. ?Our crowds are great. Every time you walk out on the floor, there is a full house.
?I think that is harder when you play teams that they are not familiar with. It?s harder for them to get amped up about the game. Just like the players do.
?I think that as we go, the crowds will get more into it. Our student body has been great. There are going to be a lot of games where in the last five minutes it will be anyone?s game. Our crowd has to play a role then. I think our crowd has been really good in spots, but I don?t think they have got as geeked up as they are going to be.?
Kansas (5-0) doesn?t need a boisterous crowd to be impressive. Against TCU, All-American Wayne Simien had 20 points, Christian Moody had 10 points and 10 rebounds, Keith Langford scored 17, J.R. Giddens scored 13 and the Jayhawks hit 37-of-66 shots.
?We?ve got tape of every one of their games, including TCU,? Lee said. ?There?s not any weakness there. They?ve got the total package.
