Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball

Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball
2015–16 Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball team
University	University of Louisiana at Lafayette
First season	1911-1912
Conference	Sun Belt
Location	Lafayette, LA
Head coach	Bob Marlin (6th year)
Arena	Cajundome (Capacity: 11,550)
Nickname	Ragin' Cajuns
Colors	Vermilion and White
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 *vacated by NCAA

For information on all University of Louisiana at Lafayette sports, see Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns

The Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball program, often referred to by the nickname Louisiana or Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns, 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.

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. Several boosters arranged for surrogates to take college entrance exams for prospective recruits. 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.

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.

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

See also

• List of NCAA Division I men's basketball programs