Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball

2016–17 Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball team

University

University of Louisiana at Lafayette

First season

1911–12

Conference

Sun Belt

Location

Lafayette, LA

Head coach

Bob Marlin (7th year)

Arena

Cajundome
(Capacity: 11,550)

Nickname

Ragin' Cajuns

Colors

Vermilion and White^[1]

Uniforms

Home

Away

NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen

1972*, 1973*

NCAA Tournament Round of 32

1992

NCAA Tournament appearances

1972*, 1973*, 1982, 1983, 1992, 1994, 2000, 2004*, 2005*, 2014

Conference tournament champions

Southland: 1982
Sun Belt: 1992, 1994, 2000, 2004*, 2005*, 2014

Conference regular season champions

Gulf States: 1964, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969
Southland: 1972*, 1973*, 1977, 1982
Sun Belt: 1992

Conference division season champions

Sun Belt West: 2002, 2003, 2004*, 2008, 2011^[2]
*vacated by NCAA

The Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball program represents intercollegiate men's basketball at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The school competes in the West Division of the Sun Belt Conference in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and play home games at the Cajundome in Lafayette, Louisiana. Bob Marlin is in his sixth season as head coach.

History

Conference affiliations

1914–15 to 1924–25: Louisiana Intercollegiate Athletic Association
1925–26 to 1940–41: Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association
1941–42 to 1946–47: Louisiana Intercollegiate Conference
1947–48 to 1970–71: Gulf States Conference
1971–72 to 1981–82: Southland Conference
1982–83 to 1986–87: NCAA Division I Independent
1987–88 to 1990–91: American South Conference
1991–92 to present: Sun Belt Conference

NCAA sanctions

1968 infractions

In 1968, Southwestern Louisiana was placed on two years' probation and barred from postseason play during that time for recruiting violations and for student-athletes receiving financial assistance from an outside organization.^[3]

1973 death penalty

In August 1973, Louisiana–Lafayette—then known as Southwestern Louisiana—became only the second school to receive the so-called "death penalty" from the NCAA. The basketball team was found guilty of over 120 violations. Most of them involved small cash payments to players, letting players borrow coaches' and boosters' cars, letting players use university credit cards to buy gas and buying clothes and other objects for players. However, the most severe violations involved massive academic fraud. In the most egregious case, an assistant coach altered a recruit's high school transcript and forged the principal's signature.The NCAA Council found the violations so egregious that it wanted to throw Southwestern Louisiana out of the NCAA altogether. It settled for scrubbing the Ragin' Cajuns' 1972 and 1973 NCAA Tournament appearances from the books and canceling the 1973–74 and 1974–75 seasons.^[4]^[5]

2007 major violations

In 2007, The Ragin Cajuns were found guilty of major violations in its men's basketball program. An NCAA investigation found that now-former player Orien Greene had relied on 15 hours of correspondence courses taken through another institution in order to remain eligible for the 2004 spring semester and the entire 2004–05 academic year. NCAA rules do not allow student-athletes to use correspondence courses taken from another institution to remain eligible. According to the NCAA, this was an "obvious error" that should have been caught right away, but the school's then-compliance coordinator, director of academic services and registrar all failed to catch it. When school officials learned about the violations, they vacated every game in which Greene participated—43 games in all, including NCAA tournament appearances in 2004 and 2005—and scrubbed Greene's records from the books. The NCAA accepted Louisiana–Lafayette's penalties and also imposed two years' probation.^[6]^[7]

Postseason

NCAA Division I Tournament results

The Ragin Cajuns have unofficially appeared in ten NCAA Division I Tournaments. However, they have officially only appeared in six; the other four appearances have been vacated. In 1972, they became the first school to make the tournament in their first year of eligibility, advancing to the Sweet Sixteen. They repeated this feat in 1973. However, both of these appearances were scrubbed from the books as a result of the 1973 infractions case. The Ragin Cajuns participated in the 2004 and 2005 NCAA tournaments, but both appearances were vacated due to major violations involving Orien Greene. Their official combined record is 1–6. All appearances prior to 2000 were when the school was still named Southwestern Louisiana.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result	Notes
1972*	First Round Sweet Sixteen Regional 3rd Place Game	Marshall Louisville Texas	W 112–101 L 57–61 W 100–70	Vacated Vacated Vacated
1973*	First Round Sweet Sixteen Regional 3rd Place Game	Houston Kansas State South Carolina	W 102–89 L 63–66 L 85–90	Vacated Vacated Vacated
1982	First Round	Tennessee	L 57–61
1983	First Round	Rutgers	L 53–60
1992	First Round Second Round	Oklahoma New Mexico State	W 87–83 L 73–81
1994	First Round	Marquette	L 59–81
2000	First Round	Tennessee	L 58–63
2004*	First Round	NC State	L 52–61	Vacated
2005*	First Round	Louisville	L 62–68	Vacated
2014	Second Round	Creighton	L 66–76

* appearance and records vacated

NCAA Division II Tournament results

The Ragin Cajuns appeared in the 1971 NCAA Division II Tournament. However, that appearance was later vacated due to the same rules violations that stripped them of their 1972 and 1973 Division I Tournament results.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result/Score	Notes
1971*	Regional Semifinals Regional Finals Elite Eight Final Four National 3rd Place Game	New Orleans Tennessee State Assumption Evansville Kentucky Wesleyan	W 113–107 W 86–82 W 110–99 L 74–93 W 105–83	Vacated Vacated Vacated Vacated Vacated

* appearance and records vacated

NAIA Tournament results

The Ragin Cajuns have appeared in two NAIA Tournaments. Their combined record is 3–2.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result/Score
1965	First Round Second Round	Colorado State-Pueblo Oklahoma Baptist	W 66–59 L 82–95
1967	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals	Findlay Central Michigan Oklahoma Baptist	W 110–73 W 70–62 L 65–66

NIT results

The Ragin Cajuns appeared in five National Invitation Tournaments. Their combined record is 6–6. All appearances prior to 2002 were when the school was still named Southwestern Louisiana.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
1980	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals	UAB Texas Minnesota	W 74–72 W 77–76 L 73–94
1984	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Third Place Game	Utah State Weber State Santa Clara Notre Dame Virginia Tech	W 94–92 W 74–72 W 97–76 L 59–65 L 70–71
1985	First Round Second Round	Florida Tennessee	W 65–64 L 72–73
2002	Opening Round	Louisiana Tech	L 63–83
2003	First Round	UAB	L 80–82

CIT results

The Ragin Cajuns appeared in three CollegeInsider.com Tournaments (CIT). Their combined record is 4–3.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
2012	First Round	Rice	L 63–68
2015	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals	Incarnate Word Sam Houston State Evansville	W 83–68 W 71–70 L 82–89
2016	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals	Texas A&M–Corpus Christi Furman UC Irvine	W 96–72 W 80–72 L 66–67

Home venues

Earl K. Long Gymnasium

Main article: Earl K. Long Gymnasium

Blackham Coliseum

Main article: Blackham Coliseum

Cajundome

Main article: Cajundome

References

↑ "ULLBrand Guide and Graphic Standards Manual" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-03-27.
↑ "Sun Belt All-Time Standings" (PDF). 2011–12 Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Media Guide. Sun Belt Conference. pp. 93–95. Retrieved 2012-03-06.
↑ 1968 USL infractions report
↑ 1973 USL infraction report
↑ Bradley, John Ed. "An Accidental Hero: Beryl Shipley, 1926–2011." Sports Illustrated, 2011-05-02.
↑ 2007 Louisiana–Lafayette infractions report
↑ http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/friv/forfeits.cgi

External links

Official website

Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball

Venues	Earl K. Long Gymnasium (1939–1950) Blackham Coliseum (1950–1985) Cajundome (1985–present)

Culture & lore	Cayenne "Ragin' Cajuns Fight Song" NCAA sanctions

People	Head coaches

Seasons	1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17