The Louisiana Ragin Cajuns after a tough road trip looked pretty consistent over the weekend in the friendly confines of the Cajundome with a pair of wins over Troy and South Alabama. Are these the top of the conference teams? Not even close, especially after Saturday’s results played out but you can’t help but to be glad that they’ve turned things around after going 1-2 on the road including a 13-point loss to the king of the conference in Georgia State.
Heading into conference play I was concerned about the program’s stability with Malik Marquetti out for the rest of the season with an injury he suffered in their non-conference finale, but some of those concerns have waned once I saw JaKeenan Gant become an absolute monster on the hardwood. Heading into this week’s action, he’s averaged 28.9 points and 9.7 boards in the month of January. That’s an impressive stretch that feels hard to keep up once the calendar flips over to February, especially with the slate of games that they have after Thursday’s game against the cellar dweller that is Appalachian State. They have Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, and a primetime matchup against that behemoth that is Ron Hunter’s Panthers.
Thankfully, the final stretch of games is a little better for the Cajuns after that point but you’ll need someone else to help take some of the load off of Gant. Marcus Stroman is one of those players I’m looking at to step up on the offensive side of the ball. He’s improved as a facilitator once conference play has started, but I’d like to see what he can do when it comes to putting up points and he’s starting to do that with 21 points vs the Troy Trojans.
When it comes to the Conference crown, their prospects are a little weak largely because of all that I’ve said at this point along with the competitiveness of the Sun Belt Conference. As of right now, it’s Texas State, Georgia State, and then there’s a big battle for the rest of the spots with five teams sitting with three losses. If I were to put a number on their chances of winning the conference title as we head into the month of February, give me about a 33% chance of them winning it all and punching their ticket to the big dance. If Marquetti was playing, I’d bump those odds up significantly because him being out has really hurt the way that this team likes to play, especially when it comes to shooting beyond the arc.
-Clint Domingue