It’s 2019 and it’s the perfect time for some New Year’s Resolutions! Odds are whatever resolutions you have might not be adhered to by the time the calendar flips to February, but I’m almost certain that your favorite teams have some goals and aspirations as 2019 is just beginning. So here’s some New Year’s resolutions for the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns across all of the major sports.
Football: Win the Whole Thing
The first year of the Billy Napier era of Cajuns football was a rousing success, winning the Sun Belt West Division and participating in the inaugural Sun Belt Conference Title Game. After falling to Appalachian State in the title game, it’s definitely something that Napier and his coaching staff have thought about since the season ended.
The future of Cajuns football is incredibly bright headed into the 2019 season, especially when you look at the recruiting class that is coming in, highlighted by several Louisiana talents including Chandler Fields and Peter Leblanc, there’s no reason why the expectations in the locker room during spring practice isn’t wanting to win the conference title.
One of the big frustrations for many fans of the vermillion and white was that they didn’t go to the New Orleans Bowl, instead they headed to the Cure Bowl as the runner-up of the aforementioned title game. If everything stays the same from this season, the only way to make it back to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome is to win your conference title.
Men’s Basketball: Win In March
Cajuns Men’s basketball has been doing some outstanding things in the last couple of seasons, including a 16-2 record in conference play last season. It’s felt like this team has all the ability to get things done on the court, but once the calendar flips over to March, it’s a whole different team. Having a 27-7 record is impressive, but with the current construct of college basketball they need to win the conference tournament in New Orleans if they want to make it to the big dance.
That being said, that road got a little tougher with Malik Marquetti ruled out for the rest of the year. The senior had been one of the most consistent shooters for the Cajuns this season, averaging 15.1 points per game and combine that with JaKeenan Gant still recovering from injury, it’s going to be a different start to 2019 for the Cajuns once conference play opens up on Thursday.
Women’s Basketball: Get It Together
With a lot of youth on the roster for Cajuns women’s basketball, there was no doubt that there’d be some growing pains, but 2-9 in non-conference play is a suboptimal start to the 2018-19 season. Keep in mind that this isn’t just losses to SEC programs like LSU and Mississippi State, these include losses to programs like Dillard and Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
The conference slate is going to be a tough one for Garry Brodhead’s team, but they have a chance to salvage this season after a poor start.
Softball: Make It Back to Oklahoma City
It’s been a while since the Cajuns had an extended stay in Oklahoma City for the Women’s College World Series and this year really feels like they have a chance to crack that proverbial glass ceiling after being held back by LSU softball the last couple of seasons. The big thing that helps them is without a doubt the addition of Megan Kleist. The All-American out of Oregon addresses something that has been an issue for the Cajuns the last few seasons and that’s an over-reliance on one pitcher instead of using two or possibly three pitchers.
Now some of the stress can be taken off of Summer Ellyson and the workload can be divvied up between her, Kleist, and perhaps one of the other pitchers, especially during non-conference play with several tournaments on tap.
Baseball: Get Back to Normalcy
The last couple of seasons have seen their fair share of ebbs and flows. Last year’s team still felt like they could be a contender, but after getting bounced out early in the Sun Belt Conference tournament they had to watch the postseason play out from home.
The way it ended was without a doubt a disappointment, but this season has some potential to be much better with Gunner Leger coming back along with another solid pitching staff in general coming back.
-Clint Domingue